Two resolutions seen as overly favorable to the Palestinian side in the Mideast war were surprisingly pulled from the left-wing Kansas City Council’s agenda on Wednesday, though they could emerge again later.
However, the council went out of its way to kill a resolution taking note of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
One resolution profusely praised the Palestinian American Medical Association for its dangerous work in Gaza – though portraying Israeli soldiers as being in the way. The second resolution called for an immediate ceasefire – which would save Hamas terrorists from further attacks without necessarily addressing their hostages or their accountability for starting the war.
Neither resolution even mentioned Hamas’ savage Oct. 7 attacks on Israeli civilians or their rapes, murders or kidnappings.
Councilman Johnathan Duncan announced the pulling of the resolution praising PAMA, allegedly “at their request and for their safety.” No specific threat to the group’s safety was listed.
The pulled Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) resolution, sponsored by Councilman Eric Bunch, notes the “heroic contributions of healthcare workers locally and in Palestine,” noting PAMA’s founding and incorporation in Kansas City.
But the resolution seems to take sides in the conflict, pointedly referring to PAMA working “amidst the targeting of over 900 medical workers, the destruction of 330 medical facilities, and the prevention of medical and humanitarian aid entry by Israeli forces.”
The resolution also claims “unfathomable destruction, loss, and trauma, including being denied exit, the killings of two medical staff, psychological trauma, restriction to 10% of operating capacity, destruction of millions of dollars in PAMA-funded medical facilities, obstruction of 3,200 PAMA scholarship recipients’ medical education, and unfounded accusations against PAMA’s work and credibility.”
Nowhere in the resolution does it mention Hamas’ starting the war with a savage attack on Israeli citizens on Oct. 7 – or the unimaginable toll the attack and the resulting war have taken on Israel, or Israeli organizations providing healthcare and other aid, not only to Jews but to citizens of Gaza.
None of the groups pushing the pro-Palestinian resolutions “recognize the events of Oct. 7th,” Councilman Nathan Willett told The Heartlander. “I’ve gotten over 1,000 emails to my office asking for a ceasefire, and not one single email acknowledges the massacre of Jewish people on Oct. 7th and the hostages that Hamas has taken.”
“October 7th was the biggest killing of Israelis since the Holocaust,” says former Councilwoman Heather Hall, who preceded Willett in office. Hamas and its supporters “are the ones causing the conflict,” she adds. “This is another opportunity for Hamas to hurt the people of Israel again. And I’m not OK with that. And I will never be OK with that.
“The bottom line is, I will stand with whatever we are doing to protect Israel.”
As a response to the pro-Palestinian resolutions, Willett offered his own – an amendment adding a denouncement of the Oct. 7 attacks to the city’s standing resolution decrying anti-semitism. After the pro-Palestinian resolutions were withdrawn he withdrew his.
Or so he thought.
Even after letting the pro-Palestinian resolutions live on and perhaps come back for a vote at a later date, the council went out of its way to retrieve Willetts’ Oct. 7 resolution in order to kill it right away – which the council did.
