Sheffield Council delays key decisions on 7,500-name Palestine petition demands

After a fraught debate and a halt for party group leaders to hear legal advice, members voted 60-13 to refer the petition to the strategy and resources committee, rather than make an immediate decision. Green councillors voted against.

The petition was presented on Wednesday (March 6) on behalf of Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid by Jonny Feldman and Annie O’Gara. It calls for the council to declare the city an Israeli apartheid-free zone and to issue a statement of solidarity with Palestinian people.

It adds: “Our city must cut ties with all Israeli operations and any companies that are contributing to the genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Jonny Feldman said: “We are presenting this today, the 152nd day of slaughter, because we are horrified at Israel’s relentless assault on Gaza which has killed 30,000-plus Palestinian people, of whom over 11,000 were children. And every day we hear of a new crime.

“While we welcome the [council] motion of ceasefire in November, and recognition of the state of Palestine before that, we insist this is not enough.

Genocide

“It is not enough because the crime of apartheid being committed by Israel is a crime against humanity, because what we are witnessing in Gaza is the type of industrial, technologically-driven slaughter we thought we would never see again and because what this amounts to is genocide.

“For these three 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.”

Coun leader Coun Tom Hunt said: “What is happening in Gaza is a tragedy – over 30,000 people, as has already been mentioned, have died, countless people have been injured and families have lost lives and livelihoods.

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“This council voted for a ceasefire back in November and today, four months on, I repeat that call. There needs to be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“The killing must stop, there should be no ground incursion into Rafa, the international community, not least including our government, must do all it can to put pressure to agree a ceasefire and to restart the peace process for a two-state solution.

“As the petition demonstrates, a great deal of people in this city, and in this chamber, are rightly concerned about the suffering of Palestinian people and have joined demonstrations, raised money to support humanitarian relief efforts and have made their voices heard.

“Last month the strategy and resources committee, a committee that I chair, formally recognised that concern and the committee took a number of important cross-party decisions which speak to those concerns.

“First, we reaffirmed that the council continues to recognise the state of Palestine as a full, sovereign and independent nation. Two, we confirmed that the council has no contractual relationship with companies that are named on the UN list of companies that are listed and enabling or supporting the construction of illegal territories in the occupied Palestinian territories.”

He said that the council would make decisions in line with its ethical procurement policy, which is currently being reviewed.

“I am pleased that we entered into a friendship agreement with Nablus on the West Bank and I look forward to extending the hand of friendship to them,” said Coun Hunt.

He said it was “imperative that Israel complies with the ICJ ruling in full”.

The court’s interim ruling in response to a petition by South Africa states that it is plausible that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and told Israel to take steps to ensure that this does not happen.

Delegation

He said: “The petition also asks us to make a statement of solidarity and to make a similar declaration to the statement that the council made about South Africa in the early 1980s. These are important matters but as we will hear, I think, from the Lord Mayor about the options available to us, these are not tasks that we can fully resolve today.

“Proper consideration of the matters will need to be undertaken by the relevant policy committee and constitutionally this matter will be referred to strategy and resources policy committee.

What councillors can and can’t do is constrained by legislation and I will ensure that the asks of the petition are given proper and due consideration.”

Coun Hunt offered to meet a delegation of petitioners in the meantime.

He proposed forming a cross-party working group to consider the petition, including a statement and the Amnesty International report mentioned in the petition. This named Israel as committing apartheid.

LibDem group leader Coun Shaffaq Mohammed said: “Look, I want this war to stop today, I want those poor people in Gaza to have access to aid but Sheffield City Council – I’m being realistic and looking you in the eye – there’s not a lot that we can actually do that’s going to influence the Americans.

“We voted for a ceasefire in November, we tried, we sent a clear message as a council, but ultimately this is an international issue.”

Slaughter

He said that he would join the cross-party group and sign a joint statement of solidarity.

He added: “I have to be honest with people – passing a resolution at Sheffield City Council in November didn’t bring about a ceasefire. The likelihood of stopping the slaughter in Rafa will not be influenced by people here.

“If you really think that Sheffield City Council passing a resolution is going to change the situation on the ground then I am happy to disagree with you.”

Green Coun Alexi Dimond said: “This is the highest rate of killing since the Rwandan genocide. Despite our resolution, this council has not taken any public action or statements in support of Palestinians.

“It’s stark contrast to our pronouncements of solidarity with Ukraine. That is why today we must vote to issue a public statement of unity and solidarity with Palestinians, to welcome and support the ICJ [International Court of Justice] proceedings and to accept that Israel is an apartheid state, as has clearly been stated by the UN’s special rapporteur, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and numerous others.

Eliminate

“The Green group will propose a motion that we accept the petition. We cannot delay until after the local elections.

“Back in October, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant promised that Israel won’t return to what it was before, ‘we will eliminate everything’. The first part of this promise has already been kept.

“One in 75 Gazans are dead, two million people displaced, half of all homes destroyed, hospitals, universities, schools, places of worship, 80 heritage sites, even graveyards obliterated.

“Thousands of years of history and entire bloodlines permanently erased. It is increasingly likely that a second part of Gallant’s promise will be kept, thanks to the unconditional diplomatic and military support of the US and the UK.”

Coun Dianne Hurst said on behalf of Sheffield Community Group councillors: “I don’t think anyone could fail to be moved by the humanitarian crisis, by the sights that we see on the news every night, of families ripped from their homes, torn apart, their homes destroyed, children starving, wanting medical treatment and food.

"There can’t be a military solution to the situation in Gaza. We called for a ceasefire in November, I stand behind that, the Israelis and the Palestinians have to come together, with support from the international community and talk about a realistic, two-party state solution, so that Palestinians can go about their everyday business without fear of threat, of damage or destruction, and as an international community we have to support that.”

Apologise

Coun Peter Price, who has lost the Labour Party whip pending an investigation into retweets of allegedly anti-semitic comments, said: “I’d like to apologise to my comrades for the embarrassment I may have caused and to my Jewish friends in the community by sharing four pro-Palestinians tweets which some people have interpreted as being anti-semitic.

“I apologise for that. However, what led me to that was being sat in front of the television crying almost, seeing those bodies of children laid out, families trying to dig their people out of the wreckage with no help, people keeping food and water from them, directing whole communities to another part of the country so they can bomb it.

“Bombing hospitals because they suspect passages underneath, bombing schools – you know. There’s war and there’s this.”

He added: “When I see our government and the opposition unfortunately, it’s very low key – if this was happening in Russia they’d be screaming the world down.”

Coun Price said: “I don’t accept that we don’t have influence – our history is built on this council taking leads, in whether it was apartheid, Vietnam, always took a stance and we made a statement. It didn’t change the world, it helped to change minds.”

He said he’d been a great admirer of Israel over the years but “what is happening is genocide and it’s got to stop”.

Summing up the debate, Ms O’Gara said: “At the end of their joint statement on Ukraine, the three 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?

"And I don’t accept that voting for this petition is meaningless, it’s very powerful, moral leadership is hugely powerful.”

Coun Hunt said that he and cross-party colleagues would agree a statement of solidarity as soon as possible.

They would endeavour to agree that “before the pre-election period so that the passion of this chamber, the words that we’ve heard today, are reflected in that statement but it must be one that we can all stand behind”.