Palestinians give public comment criticizing local leadership’s statements on Israel and Palestine – The Cauldron

Several Palestinian-Americans, including CSU alumni, attended public comment at Cleveland City Hall to voice their opposition to local leaders’ statements on the escalating violence in Palestine and Israel on Monday, Oct. 16.

Fateh Odeh, interim executive director of the Cleveland and Northern Ohio chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, gives public comment at Cleveland City Council meeting Monday. | Photo Credit: Cleveland City Council

Many directly addressed Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb for making a “hurtful, one-sided statement” on X/Twitter in response to the Oct. 7 attack against Israel led by Hamas, the governing authority of the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.

“My prayers are with the people of Israel today as they confront these attacks. Terrorism has no place in our society,” reads Bibb’s tweet. “Cleveland stands in solidarity with Israel in the face of terror and condemns these acts of evil.”

In the attack, Hamas militants killed over 1,000 Israelis and abducted others, many of whom were celebrating the Jewish holiday of Sabbath. Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to inflict an “unprecedented price” against Hamas.

Israel quickly retaliated by launching a continuous series of airstrikes onto the densely-populated Gaza, killing an estimated 3,500 Palestinians and injuring another 12,500. The strikes have targeted residential areas, hospitals and refugee camps. 

The first Palestinian to give comment was Faten Odeh, the interim executive director of the Cleveland and northern Ohio chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“To state that Cleveland stands with Israel is not only a gross misuse of your position as a civil servant,” Odeh began. “But a complete disregard of the tens of thousands of Palestinian-Americans who reside right here in Greater Cleveland.”

Odeh said that Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack occurred in response to “the cruel and brutal oppression and illegal occupation that the Palestinians have been enduring for decades from the Israeli apartheid state.”

“The 2.2 million people of Gaza,” Odeh added. “Many of whom’s families were ethnically cleansed by Israel, have been living for nearly two decades in an open air prison, often living without basic necessities like food, water and electricity.”

Similar statements were made by other Palestinian community members. They discussed the systemic oppression of Palestinians that preceded the Oct. 7 attack, labeled by leading human rights organizations as apartheid, and the siege on Gaza that has since followed. The audience, which included several people who attended to show support to the Palestinian community, erupted in applause after each speech.

CSU alumna and Palestinian Haneen Hamideh said she agreed with Bibb’s statement that “terrorism has no place in our society,” to begin with: 

“Because we are in agreement [that terrorism has no place in our society], I wanted to address the acts of terrorism taking place today regarding the collective punishment against 2 million people in the Gaza Strip.”

She followed with a series of questions about the violence Israel has enacted against Palestine in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack.

“Did you know that Israel warned the Palestinian people in Gaza to evacuate to the South because they were going to bomb the North?” Hamideh asked. “Did you know that when the Palestinian people listened to the warning and traveled south, the Israeli military decided to bomb them in the south anyway?”

Hamideh continued her line of questioning, asking if Bibb knew that 724 of the Palestinian casualties were children. Since the meeting, this number has surpassed 1,000.

“Because we are in agreement that terrorism has no place in our society and you didn’t make a statement [on the violence against Gaza],” said Hamideh. “I’m going to assume that you didn’t know.” 

Jordanian-American businessman Omar Kurdi, also a CSU alumnus, spoke on the violence faced by Arabs and Muslims in the United States since Hamas’ attack, including a Palestinian child in Chicago who was stabbed multiple times and killed by his landlord, who yelled, “You Muslims must die!” during the attack on Saturday, Oct. 14. The child’s mother was also severely injured.

Kurdi added that this violence was due to “biased media coverage in the U.S., where Palestinians have been dehumanized consistently for the past 10 days.”

“I have poured my heart and soul into this city,” said Kurdi. “But for what? What is Cleveland going to do to protect me and my fellow Arab-Americans?”

Kurdi demanded that the city call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The call was echoed hours before the meeting on X/Twitter by Ward 12 Council Member Rebecca Maurer, who is Jewish-American.

“A ceasefire is immediately needed to save what is left of Gaza and its people,” said Kurdi. “Humanity will remember that you only cared for one side and not the other.”