Dallas City Council passes resolution of ‘unequivocal support of Israel’ despite strong opposition
Dallas, TX – Approximately 70 community members attended a Dallas city council meeting on October 11, passionately demanding the council to reject a proposed resolution calling for “unequivocal support for Israel.” Despite the outpouring of community rejection of this proposal and over 75% of the speakers expressing their strong disapproval, the council passed the resolution unanimously.
Community members and grassroots organization leaders, many of whom were mobilized to attend by the Palestinian Youth Movement Dallas Chapter, spoke for over an hour about the history and present reality of life in Gaza under the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. One speaker compared the institutional silence on the killings of Palestinians to the silence of city officials on the killings of local community members by the police.
A member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization gave an impassioned speech and concluded with “We cannot stand with Israel while they compound their criminal occupation with further war crimes. We must stand up to demand that our country stops funding this occupation to the tune of $3 billion a year.”
Meanwhile, a small number of resolution supporters spoke and shared widely debunked rumors accusing Palestinians of beheading children, leaning into harmful Islamophobic stereotypes. City Council Member Adam Bazaldua amplified these false statements and when community members tried to correct the record, the council began clearing the room.
The closing statements by Dallas City Council members and Mayor Eric Johnson further inflamed tensions in the room as a new version of the bill with even more inciting language than the previous draft was announced after public statements. As the remaining audience members began protesting the proceedings, City Council Member Jaynie Schultz stated, “This resolution is not about the Palestinian people, it is about their leaders and the willingness of those monsters to murder innocent Jews and put their own fellow Muslims at risk,” ignoring reality and every point that the participants brought up.