The Bisbee city council tabled a resolution Sept. 16 that called for a ceasefire in Gaza. The seven-member council agreed in an executive meeting to table the resolution indefinitely.
The biased, anti-Israel resolution was authored by freshman councilmembers Pete Skinner and Trish Damon. Mayor Ken Budge and other council members opposed the measure, with the support of Arizona State Representatives Alma Hernandez and Consuelo Hernandez, both of Tucson, citing both legal and community concerns.
StandWithUs Regional Director Jake Bennett, working in coalition with the Center for Jewish Resilience at Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix, submitted a formal letter of opposition and testified before the council. StandWithUs is an international pro-Israel organization.
Bennett was joined by Rabbi Benzion Shemtov of Chabad of Cochise County, Pastor Jim Cleveland of Community Church of Warren, community members Douglas Levy of Tucson and Jonathan Breakstone of Scottsdale, and Christian and Jewish Bisbee residents. Together, they urged the council to reject divisive rhetoric, emphasizing Israel’s defensive war against regional threats, and highlighting Hamas’s responsibility for initiating the conflict and diverting humanitarian aid for terror purposes.
“Municipal bodies should not be weaponized to spread misinformation and division against our community or against Israel. We are grateful to Mayor Budge, the council, and community members who stood against this misleading resolution,” Bennett said in a press release.
