Sheffield Council debate Palestine but defer decision to Resources Committee.

You can see full details of the Council Meeting and the Webcast here.

The petition, which attracted over 7500 signatures in just two weeks is here.

To cut a long story short, after many moving speeches the Lord Mayor declared that they couldn’t vote on the motion for legal reasons. These reasons were not made clear but are explained in this Sheffield Star report. Sheffield Greens tried desperately to get the Council to vote, Cllr Dimond asking for the motion to be taken in parts, Cllr Turpin asking the Lord Mayor to define “exceptional circumstances” (Genocide in Palestine is apparently not an exceptional circumstance according to the Lord Mayor) and Cllr Holmshaw proposed standing orders be suspended so they could vote. It appears this call was ignored by the Mayor.

So now the petition is referred to the Resources Committee. Despite many calls from the Public Gallery, it was not made clear if this will be on the agenda at the next meeting which is Tuesday 12th March at 3pm.

There is a comprehensive report on this in the Star.

Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid issued the following press release.

PRESS RELEASE: Sheffield City Council sells itself short

Sheffield City Council was presented with a petition this afternoon calling on them to stand in unity and solidarity with Palestinians currently faced with a genocidal assault in Gaza following years of living under occupation by Israel which Amnesty International, among several international organisations, has designated an apartheid state.

“Supporting the International Court of Justice ruling on genocide, accepting Amnesty’s designation of Israel as practising apartheid, and issuing a statement of unity and solidarity with Palestinians is the next crucial moral step which recognises the reality of life in Palestine and the legally incontrovertible explanations for it.  That would be a major step.” Annie O’Gara summing up in support of the petition.

The petition was signed by over 7,500 people, collected in less than two weeks; it represents the overwhelming view of Sheffield citizens

Offered this opportunity, the Council neglected their duty to set a moral climate, hiding behind narrow legalistic “advice” which they couldn’t adequately explain. But even this advice would have allowed them to make a decision in “exceptional” circumstances. What more “exceptional circumstances” do they need than genocide in Gaza?

As Jonny Feldman said in presenting the petition “For these reasons the council must step up and not be silent. Do not betray your humanity, your basic decency by looking the other way or by kow-towing to external pressures and then pretending that what is happening is justifiable”.

That is precisely what the leadership of the Council then did. Every speech from the floor of the Council gave moving and powerful support to the petition and in favour of accepting it.  As Councillor Peter Price said, in his last meeting after 53 years as a Councillor, said: “if this was Russia we’d be screaming the room down…. I don’t accept that we don’t have influence. Our history is built on this Council taking leads, whether it’s on apartheid or Vietnam, always took a stance and made a statement. It doesn’t change the world but it helped to change minds”.

But the leaders, the Lord Mayor, and senior officers of the Council called an adjournment and then instructed all Councillors, except the Greens, to kick the discussion into the long grass by referring it to the Strategy and Resources Committee that next meets in June! How many more Palestinians have to die before they can decide that this is genocide?

“At the end of their joint statement on Ukraine, the 3 party leaders said the Town Hall would be lit in Ukrainian colours and promised Sheffield will do all it can to “be a light in the darkness.” How dark does life for Palestinians have to get before you do the same for Palestine? You can do it today” said Annie O’Gara speaking to the Council today.

The full text of the petition was as follows.

Gaza is enduring barbaric genocidal attacks in which the victims are predominantly children and women. 30,000 have been killed so far, of whom 11,000 are children, thousands are buried in the rubble, presumed dead. The injured and those close to starvation face an unimaginable future and the final “safe” refuge of Rafah is now under attack.

In the West Bank, Palestinians are being expelled from their lands, hundreds killed and 7,000 held hostage in Israeli jails, without charge or trial.

This is the culmination of 75 years of policies designed to discriminate against, displace and ultimately remove all Palestinian people.

As citizens standing up for justice, we call on Sheffield City Council to:

1) Welcome the work of the International Court of Justice as it proceeds to try Israel for genocide and issue a statement saying that they stand in “unity and solidarity” with Palestinians [as the Council did with Ukrainians]

2) Accept the Amnesty International designation: “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: a cruel system of domination and a crime against humanity” and declare Sheffield an “Israeli Apartheid Free Zone” [as the Council did in 1981 in relation to South Africa]

3) Have the above two issues debated in full council in the interests of democracy.