Activists pressure Wichita City Hall to pass Gaza ceasefire resolution. Will it happen?

After seven months of calling on the Wichita City Council to pass a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, activists have yet to see action from city officials.

On Oct. 7, Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist political and military movement, attacked Israel. Following the surprise attack, the Israeli government declared a “complete siege” of Gaza.

Israeli officials said 1,200 people were killed in the October attack. According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the following months.

With the ongoing war, more than a dozen individuals have visited the City Council since January, asking for council members to pass a resolution that would support a ceasefire to end the conflict.

“These resolutions are important, and I know some of you have asked why would you get involved in something like this,” Friends University history professor Gretchen Eick told council members on March 5. “They demonstrate how unpopular Israel’s policy of total war against Palestinians in Gaza is with growing numbers of Americans. (Israel) may put a break on the indiscriminate murder and destruction that Israel has leveled on Palestinian people.”

Hopes for a resolution

Advocates have told city officials a resolution would not be choosing a side, but instead show Wichita’s support for an end to violence and death.

“These resolutions are very balanced in that they’re concerned for both Israelis and Palestinians,” activist Liesl Wright said. “So I’m trying to help them see that they can make a resolution that would appeal to most people in Wichita.”

Some pro-Palestine activists also hope that passing a resolution will send a message to Wichita aviation companies that send aircraft to Israel.

“Wichita has a lot of connections to the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and Israel, like a lot,” Peschka said.

Textron Aviation, which owns Cessna and Beechcraft, has sold training planes and Boeing, which is returning to Wichita after buying back Spirit AeroSystems, has sold air tankers to the Israeli Air Force.

Wright pointed to other cities that have adopted statements or resolutions on a ceasefire in Gaza, such as Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis and more than 70 others.

If a resolution were to pass in Wichita, the city would become the second in Kansas to make a statement on the Israel-Hamas war, following a Lawrence proclamation that condemned violence in Gaza.

Several advocates for the ceasefire resolution in Wichita have also pointed to Wichita State University’s student government, which passed a resolution in April following more than a month of calls to do so from the city and university community.

Maria Peschka, an exercise science major at the university, was one of the people behind efforts to move this resolution along.

While she’s been an activist for Palestine for several years, Peschka increased her efforts after the war started. Peschka formed Free Palestine ICT and the WSU organization Students for Justice in Palestine.

Peschka and other activists think that getting Wichita to pass a ceasefire resolution would lead to action at higher levels of government.

“We’re also hoping that if we get the city of Wichita to pass it, we can also coordinate with other towns and cities, so that they can pass their own ordinances,” Peschka said. “And then hopefully, if enough of us do it, our hope is that the state will as well.”

In May, a ceasefire resolution came before the City Council in Kansas City, Missouri. But it was removed from the agenda, as some members of the council said they didn’t want to weigh in on the war.

Some members said they took the action they did so they “will never be asked to comment on events in Gaza again,” according to the Kansas City Star.

Response from city officials

On March 19, activist Bill Anderson called on each City Council member to individually state their position on passing a ceasefire resolution, saying that “silence is complicity.”

Council members Maggie Ballard, Mike Hoheisel and Brandon Johnson said they would support a ceasefire resolution at the meeting.

With a seven-member council, though, four are needed to pass a resolution.

When asked by Anderson, council member Dalton Glasscock made it clear he would vote no to a resolution, while Mayor Lily Wu deflected the question.

“I will remain thoughtful and listening, but I will also be mindful that I have a focus on taking care of local government with my fellow council members,” Wu said.

The last two council members, J.V. Johnston and Becky Tuttle, did not respond.

In a separate interview, Johnson said he doesn’t expect any other council members to support the resolution and he’d rather have no resolution presented than have one fail.

“We kind of heard there wasn’t support for it to pass,” Johnson said. “And so rather than have some embarrassing 4-3 defeat of it, it just hasn’t (been introduced). He said he hasn’t pushed it “because I don’t want that to send a message that we support Israel.”

After this, Johnson said a resolution could be redrafted, but he doesn’t like “watered-down” resolutions.

“I’d rather be more specific about what it is we’re saying, our intent, and what we’re calling on people to do,” Johnson said.

So for the foreseeable future, it seems the Wichita City Council is at a standstill with a potential ceasefire resolution for Gaza.

Despite this, Peschka said pro-Palestinian activists are going to continue to do one thing: “We’re just going to keep showing up.”