“Hmmm … I didn’t know the city of Denton was bombing Gaza,” wrote a commenter in reply to a Facebook post Friday with a photo of a rally in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, held by Free Palestine Denton, a new grassroots organization, last weekend on the Square.
“Yes! Denton is not bombing anyone,” replied another commenter.
Last Saturday afternoon’s peace rally was one of several events that have taken place in Denton to raise awareness of the Palestinians’ plight in Gaza.
Since Oct. 7, about 1,200 Israelis and more than 27,000 Palestinians, most women and children, have been killed and more than 66,000 wounded, The Associated Press has reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in November that “far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks, and we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets to them.”
In December, President Joe Biden sidestepped Congress twice to approve hundreds of millions in military equipment for Israel.
“We continue to be clear with the government of Israel that they must comply with [international humanitarian law],” a State Department spokesperson said, according to a Dec. 29 CNN report. “[They] must take every feasible step to avoid harm to civilians.”
Free Palestine Denton is now taking its own steps to encourage the Denton City Council to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The organization plans to present the idea at the Feb. 6 council meeting, in hopes that passing a resolution will send a message to Biden, similar to the council sending messages to state legislators.
Seventy cities around the country have passed ceasefire resolutions. Chicago was the latest and the largest on Wednesday night.
“Despite how far we are from Gaza, the tax dollars we make in Denton goes to those bombs and funding the Israeli military,” said Amira Sultan Rasoul of Free Palestine Denton.
And while people may think it doesn’t impact Denton, Rasoul, who is a Palestinian American, pointed out that a large Palestinian community also exists here in North Texas with families still in Gaza. One Free Palestine Denton member, Rasoul said, has had 40 family members murdered in Gaza.
That’s another reason why they’re demanding that Denton council members pass a ceasefire resolution. It isn’t only Hamas fighters who are being killed but innocent civilians, many of whom Rasoul said weren’t alive or were too young to vote when Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in 2006.
The local activists have also created an online petition seeking public support for the ceasefire resolution:
“Residents of Denton, Texas are calling for the Denton City Council to pass a ceasefire resolution. This is not just an appeal, but a demand from the citizens who have elected these officials into power to stand against genocide. A ceasefire resolution would be instrumental in promoting peace and stability in Gaza.”
Nearly 600 people have signed it, as of Friday morning.
“I do not wish to have my hard earned taxes going to fund a genocide,” one signee wrote in late January on the petition.
“My therapist is Palestinian and I think of her when I fight for justice for Palestine. Palestinians deserve freedom and justice and liberation from occupation,” wrote another, then adding, in all caps: “No more tax dollars spent on genocide. End genocide. Support a permanent enforced ceasefire now. How many more children need to die???”
In January, the Israeli government denied genocide accusations and claimed it is executing a legitimate defense in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, according to a PBS report.
As PBS NewsHour reported, Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker said the country is fighting a war it didn’t start or want.
“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” Becker said, claiming the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to level that charge.
That’s another reason why they’re demanding that Denton council members pass a ceasefire resolution. It isn’t only Hamas fighters who are being killed but innocent civilians, many of whom Rasoul said weren’t alive or were too young to vote when Hamas took power in the Gaza Strip in 2006.
The local activists have also created an online petition seeking public support for the ceasefire resolution:
“Residents of Denton, Texas are calling for the Denton City Council to pass a ceasefire resolution. This is not just an appeal, but a demand from the citizens who have elected these officials into power to stand against genocide. A ceasefire resolution would be instrumental in promoting peace and stability in Gaza.”
Nearly 600 people have signed it, as of Friday morning.
“I do not wish to have my hard earned taxes going to fund a genocide,” one signee wrote in late January on the petition.
“My therapist is Palestinian and I think of her when I fight for justice for Palestine. Palestinians deserve freedom and justice and liberation from occupation,” wrote another, then adding, in all caps: “No more tax dollars spent on genocide. End genocide. Support a permanent enforced ceasefire now. How many more children need to die???”
In January, the Israeli government denied genocide accusations and claimed it is executing a legitimate defense in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, according to a PBS report.
As PBS NewsHour reported, Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker said the country is fighting a war it didn’t start or want.
“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” Becker said, claiming the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to level that charge.
Of course, the likelihood that Denton City Council will pass the ceasefire resolution is slim.
Some council members follow a similar thought pattern as some of the Facebook commenters when it comes to politically divisive resolutions: It’s not a local issue.
“The loss of innocent life in Israel and Gaza is, of course, horrific,” said Paul Meltzer, District 3 council member. “As an individual, I have opinions on national and international policy like anyone else, but that’s outside of my role as a City Council member, and frankly outside of the role of City Council as a body.
“Our work and how I use my brief time on council is to actively pursue making progress on city issues, including, when necessary, calling for advocacy from our state delegation.”
Rasoul said that a lot of misinformation about what Palestinians are experiencing has been spreading and called it purposeful and necessary to dehumanize them.
“No human with a heart can stomach the death of 25,000 families without strategic misinformation,” Rasoul said. “A lot of people are misinformed. … [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu was the one who put Hamas in power many decades ago. [Palestinians] did not want to run elections [in 2006]. The country was not ready to do fair elections.”
According to an Oct. 8 report by The Times of Israel, Netanyahu had taken an approach that divided power between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, kneecapping Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas while propping up Hamas.
“The idea was to prevent Abbas — or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority’s West Bank government — from advancing toward the establishment of a Palestinian state,” The Times of Israel reported.
If the Denton City Council refuses to pass the ceasefire resolution, Rasoul said Free Palestine Denton and other supporters will continue coming to council meetings and keep protesting.
“We are asking them as humans to stand up against genocide,” Rasoul said. “I need them to know that if they don’t pass it, when they go to bed at night, they have the blood of Palestine children on their hands.
“In the future, when we look back on this, they were on the side of complicity.”