City Council passes late resolution proffered by pro-Palestinians
By ALAN SMASON
In just a few hours, the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans went from being the belle of the ball to feeling like the goat at the regularly scheduled meeting of the New Orleans City Council. Holding court at their temporary meeting space inside the Orleans Parish School Board office in Algiers, the current members of the Council welcomed back former Council president Arnie Fielkow, who spoke on behalf of a contingent of Jewish community leaders in his capacity as CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.
Federation CEO Arnie Fielkow, right, addresses the City Council meeting on Jan. 10, 2017. From left are Bradley Bain, Saundra Levy and Federation president Henry Miller. (Photo by Caitrin Gladow)
Major representatives side by side with Fielkow were Federation president Henry Miller, Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana executive director Saundra Levy, Federation Jewish Community Relations Council chair Bradley Bain and Federation leader Ana Gershanik. Others including Greater New Orleans Section president of the National Council of Jewish Women, Barbara Kaplinsky, also spoke about their work as part of the New Orleans community-at-large.
Both the speakers and Council members lauded the Jewish community for its many philanthropic endeavors and for the many positive contributions given by its members throughout the city’s history. Video of the Council meeting can be viewed here.
Then, a few short hours later, a resolution (R-18-5) authored by the New Orleans Pro-Palestinian Solidarity Committee (NOPPSC), a social action group who has been associated with the BDS (boycott, divest and sanction) movement, was introduced under suspension of the Council’s rules. The only speakers who spoke on the resolution came from the NOPPSC and, surprisingly, the non-binding resolution passed by a vote of 5-0.
When learning of the Council’s action, Fielkow and others expressed disappointment, even though the measure is non-binding and does not specifically mention Israel or companies doing business with Israel. “If you read the resolution, the resolution itself talks about universal human rights, which is not generally objectionable,” said Bain in a phone interview with the CCJN. “Unless you know it’s being proffered by the (New Orleans Pro-) Palestinian Solidarity Movement, you wouldn’t realize, on face, that it is actually a pro-BDS resolution and that’s what the motivation is.”
In a statement issued Friday morning following the City Council vote on the resolution late in the day Thursday, Fielkow stated that the process was “patently undemocratic and unfair” in that the suspension of rules allowed the resolution to be passed without public knowledge “six hours into the Council’s session.”
Fielkow went on to decry the procedure as one-sided. “These stealth tactics divide communities and do not provide for an equitable forum whereby all voices can be heard,” he stated.
ADL South Central Region directo Aaron Ahlquist, right, wtih Mayor-elect Latoya Cantrelle, left. (Photo by Alan Smason)
Late Friday, a joint statement by Fielkow and South Central Region director of the Anti-Defamation League Aaron Ahlquist went into detail about the history of the BDS movement and what their concerns are. “Although the text of the resolution does not reference Israel or BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel),” the statement read, “supporters of the resolution are promoting the notion that New Orleans is now the first major southern city to pass a resolution in support of boycotting, divesting from, and sanctioning Israel.”
The joint Federation-ADL statement about BDS can be read in full here.
Council vice-president Stacy Head was reported to be distancing herself from the the resolution, according to several sources. Despite her initials signifying her sponsorship of the measure on the document attributed to Council president Jason Williams, Head now claims she would not vote for the resolution and was the only Council member to miss the vote. Mayor-elect Latoya Cantrelle was one of those who did vote for passage of the resolution.
According to Bain, who was forwarded a video of the discussion that took place prior to the vote, all of the discussion was “very much about the Palestinian issue” in support of the resolution. Videos that were supposed to be posted were either taken down or are no longer available, according to Bain. However, he countered, “It’s difficult for the City Council members who were there for the vote to claim that sort of ignorance.”
(Editor’s note: The CCJN will continue filing reports on this ongoing story.)
