Speakers at recent Saugerties Town Board meetings have almost universally asked the board to call for a cease fire in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At the board meeting on Wednesday, April 17 nearly a third of the roughly 50 speakers opposed the board’s taking a position on the issue.
Opponents of the resolution in general said the board should stick to issues directly affecting Saugerties and its immediate neighbors and that the board has no power to affect international events.
Bart Phillips, a volunteer with the Jewish Federation of Ulster County, said the proposed resolution is “divisive and hurtful to the bulk of the people in Ulster County and supporters of Israel. Such a resolution has no standing in national politics, it has no standing in the UN, it has no standing internationally and it definitely has no standing in Israel. Israel, when it is ready, will promulgate a cease fire with Hamas; when and if the hostages are returned and when the terror attacks are stopped.”
Several other speakers asserted that Saugerties has no international influence and that the board should stick to issues over which it has some control.
On the other hand, the majority of the speakers again pressed the board to pass a resolution in favor of a cease fire in the war, which has displaced nearly all the Palestinians in Gaza and resulted in more than 30,000 deaths. Several asserted that as taxpayers, Saugerties residents are paying for the war through American military aid to Israel, a local effect of the war. We have sent some $18 billion to Israel, she asserted, money that could have helped our communities in need.
Marjorie Leopold said there are several polls indicating that a majority of Americans favor a cease fire in Gaza. She cited a poll showing “60 percent of likely voters support a cease fire, including 76 percent of a billion Democrats, 57 percent of Independents and a plurality of Republicans — 49 percent — support calling for a permanent cease fire and a de-escalation of violence.” Polling also indicates that 75 percent of Muslims want a cease fire.
“This is not a typical war,” said Richard Levy, who identified himself as a Sephardic Jew. “This is a situation of indiscriminate killing of thousands and thousands of people. These are violations of the rules. What are we going to tell our kids about it? While this war is new, Israel has been mistreating the Palestinian people for 75 years,” he said. “In 1948, some 750,000 people were driven out of the country in violation of all rules of engagement.”
When the 50 or so speakers concluded after nearly an hour, supervisor Fred Costello thanked them all for their opinions and their orderly presentations and again said board members are concerned and are considering the issues.
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