West Lafayette city council votes down resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire

The West Lafayette city council this week voted down a resolution calling for a bilateral ceasefire in Gaza.

Communities across the country have taken up the issue. In West Lafayette, residents have increased pressure on the council over the last four months to take action.

Protestors have demanded the council consider a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in previous months to no avail.

This time, councilors introduced a resolution that called for national leaders to support humanitarian aid to Gaza and the release of any hostages.

Councilor Iris O’Donnell Bellisario introduced the resolution.

“We hope that this resolution communicates to the public that we are here to be a voice that listens and responds,” she said. “We took this decision very seriously.”

West Lafayette residents turned out to speak for and against the resolution.

City Council Vice President Kathy Parker said the city shouldn’t be addressing a global issue.

“My concern is that we set this precedent that our scope of business will just be taken to heights that it’s not in our bounds,” she said.

The resolution failed with only two votes in favor. Residents erupted into calls for a “ceasefire now.”

City resolutions are not binding in any legal sense. Advocates and local leaders say they serve more as a symbolic move sending a message to national leadership.

As of February, over 70 cities across the U.S. have passed resolutions on the Israel-Palestine conflict with at least 48 calling for a ceasefire. The details of these resolutions varied but many called for a ceasefire from both sides, the return of hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack, which Israeli authorities said killed 1,200 people, and the delivery of humanitarian aid to starving Gazans.

Contact health reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org.