In a stunning display of grandstanding to no good purpose, the Chicago City Council wasted its time and the people of the City of Chicago’s money to pass a resolution calling for an end to violence in Gaza:
Mayor Brandon Johnson, who campaigned on a comprehensive criminal justice platform, broke the tie vote on the measure, allowing it to narrowly pass the City Council on Wednesday. The resolution calls for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Gaza, which began after Hamas attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7. However, the resolution essentially does not affect the status of the conflict and is merely symbolic.
Johnson had to clear the council chambers due to disruptions from a crowd filled mostly by pro-ceasefire spectators, the second time he has done so. Support for Wednesday’s resolution was bolstered by Chicago Public Schools students who were allowed to join Tuesday walkouts in support of an end to the violence abroad, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This resolution comes at a time when Mayor Johnson’s Chicago is seeing crime run completely out of control. The Council would do better to resolve to end violence in Chicago:
Students living in Chicago’s North and West Side neighborhoods often have to fear violence in their own backyards. The Windy City recorded 617 murders and 2,450 shootings in 2023, with its murder rate recorded at five times that of New York City, according to Chicago Police Department data.
Between Jan. 22 and Jan. 28, Chicago police responded to 37 shooting reports, two more than the 35 reported during the same time period last year, according to CPD data. Seven murders were also reported in the same seven-day period, which is slightly down compared to previous years.
Mayor Johnson, while he has a few screws that are not altogether tightened, has for some reason gone along with the nitwittery of at least half of the Chicago City Council; kudos to the members who voted against this lunacy.
It’s baffling why the Council bothered to do this. Israel, at whom this resolution is aimed – somehow, leftists are never concerned with calling on Hamas to cease-fire – doesn’t give one ounce of rodent urine about what the Chicago City Council thinks of their operations against Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza. Nor should they. This is political grandstanding of the first water, aimed at appeasing a mob of Hamas sympathizers (thus the “disruptions from the crowd,” noted above) who, in any sane world, would be shown the door and told not to come back.
It seems, though, that not all of Chicago is so worried about Gaza.
Johnson received heavy backlash from social media users on Wednesday criticizing him for caring more about a symbolic foreign policy stance over real-time crime issues plaguing the city. One user wrote that Johnson needed to call for a ceasefire “in your own city.” Another blasted the council for wasting “time and funds on passing a nonsensical ceasefire overseas that will do nothin, while Chicagoans are dying in our streets.”
It’s nice to see that, even in Chicago, you still can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Now, maybe, more of the people of Chicago will consider this when they step into the voting booth in the fall.
