On February 6, 2024, the Tompkins County Legislature rejected a resolution calling for a cease fire in the Gaza War.
Every county in New York State has an elected government to enact ordinances and adopt an annual budget for the county, and Tompkins County, home of Cornell, is no exception. Currently, the county is struggling with major problems such as the inefficient TCAT bus system, solving the homeless problem in the Ithaca “jungle” encampment, and constructing a new county office building in Downtown Ithaca.
Yet, hours have been spent hearing residents’ testimony and fashioning a compromise bill to address US foreign policy concerning Gaza. On December 18, 2023, the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission, passed by an 8-1 vote a resolution which “strongly urges [the] County Legislature to join other jurisdictions in calling on President [Biden] and Congress members to demand an immediate and sustainable ceasefire.”
As the Cornell Review previously reported,on January 2, approximately 30 local citizens attended the meeting of the Legislature and testified in favor of the resolution during the public comment period. Instead of adopting the resolution, the Legislature appointed a group to study it further and rewrite it. The Coalition for Mutual Liberation then tried to gather a crowd for the Legislature’s January 16 meeting, but the topic was not debated.
At the February 6 meeting, over 35 residents spoke in favor of the resolution during a nearly two-hour-long public comment session. The legislature then voted on “Urgent Humanitarian and Local Imperatives Regarding Ongoing Violence in Israel, Gaza and the Middle East,” which recommended to President Biden to push for an immediate cease fire, return of all hostages and a “two-state” solution. The resolution also stated, “the Legislature strongly condemns all forms of intimidation, discrimination, terrorism, and hate, and affirms that the actions of specific organizations or governments in no way justify any form of anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, or anti-Palestinian words or actions.”
Seven members voted yes: Gregory Mezey ’09, Anne Koreman, Travis Brooks, and Veronica Pillar M.S. ’14 Ph.D. ’19, all of whom sponsored the bill and Susan Currie, Shawna Black, and Amanda Champion. Prof. Richard John ’81, Law, Randy Brown ’85 MBA ’86, Michael Lane, Mike Sigler, Lee Shurtleff, and Dan Klein voted no. Deborah Dawson was absent from the meeting. Because a minimum of eight votes were required to adopt the resolution, it failed to pass.
This failure comes on the heels of the Cornell Student Assembly rejecting a resolution on divestment of companies that do business with Israel by a vote of 4-16. The current environment is difficult to gain adoption of recommendatory resolutions on the current Middle East issues.
