This is an extension of the remarks I made at today’s Commission meeting:


I’d like to address this board’s consideration of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. This war began last October 7th, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, murdered over 1400 innocent people, and kidnapped over 200 people, who were then illegally taken back into the Gaza Strip to be held as hostages, where, as of last count, around 130 still remain. In response to that attack, Israel declared war on Hamas. 

Today there are those who want you to take a side in the conflict. If you were to adopt this ceasefire resolution, you would be taking that side, a side that ignores the reasons for the war, that places moral culpability only on one side of the conflict. I am here to implore you not to do this. 

My first recommendation is actually for the board to not say anything. This matter is far beyond the purview of the Alachua County Commission, which should instead be focusing on bonds and roads and the health and well being of the people of this county. You as individuals are completely free to support whatever side you wish in the conflict. But as a board, you should really have nothing to say about any of it. The United States government has a vast military and diplomatic infrastructure dealing with the conflict, and you should just let them do their work.

But, I realize that you have to do or say something. After all, there are a lot of activists who are insisting that you do. 

You might be thinking that many or even most of your supporters want this resolution and therefore if you pass it, at the very least you satisfy some of your own supporters. Well, I have at various times supported, voted for, and defended most of the members of this board. And I can assure you that I am not alone in being someone on our side of the political divide who does not support the calls for a unilateral ceasefire.

The problem is one of omission: The resolution that has been at the heart of this discussion frames the conflict as one in which Israel and only Israel is the bad guy. But as anyone with an ounce of moral sensibility should know, that is simply not the case. We can’t ignore the fact that, as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, there WAS a ceasefire in effect on Oct 6th, one which Hamas broke on Oct. 7th. Any resolution calling for a ceasefire without acknowledging the role Hamas has played in creating and maintaining the suffering of the people of Gaza or the horrors visited upon the victims of the Oct 7th attack is, quite simply moral cowardice. 

The chief problem with the discussion around this entire issue is the unwillingness of either side to acknowledge the suffering of the other. Talking about the wrongs that the Israeli government might have committed without any mention of the role played by Hamas in creating and maintaining this conflict and taking action to turn their own people into targets is morally bankrupt.

There is one thing that the proponents of this resolution are right about: this issue is truly one of the moral tests of our time (along with the war in Ukraine, I would argue, along with a few others), but the people who will come out of it looking the best are not those who negate the suffering of one side over the other. It will be those who recognize the suffering of all the victims, and who condemn the violence committed by any party in the conflict. 

So if you feel you must say something, simple decency requires you to acknowledge the all the suffering that innocent people have endured in this conflict, and not to place the blame only on one side without even mentioning the actions of the other. Both sides have suffered. All of that suffering should be acknowledged. If you need any guidance, I would actually recommend the letter adopted by the Gainesville City Commission, which I think did a good job of doing exactly that: recognizing that innocent people have suffered, and that no one’s suffering is above anyone else’s. 

But please, whatever you decided to do, do not simply adopt a resolution put forth by one group with an agenda. Adopting that resolution degrades the Commission and our county. You can and need to do better. 

Thank you all for your efforts in this and for the people of Alachua County. 

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