The Covington City Commission offered the first public indications of its stance on a proposed resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip at the legislative meeting on Tuesday night.
Commission discussion on the topic was minimal, but Mayor Joe Meyer gave a statement after the public comment section of the meeting where he expressed the commission’s reluctance to support the resolution proposals in their current form.
“You deserve some sense of where the commission stands on on your request,” Meyer said to the attendees, who had filled the commission chambers, carrying signs and flags like in previous meetings.
Meyer stated that the commission had heard the speakers’ appeals and had considered the call for peace, but he added some qualifications for why the commission was unwilling to adopt the resolution.
“The resolution asks for a lot more than peace,” he said.
Meyer said the commission was appalled by both the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza and the deaths of Israelis that occurred during the attacks on Oct. 7.
“We all want peace,” Meyer said. “This board of commissioners as the representative of the people of Covington is not capable of picking sides when all we’ve heard in detail is one side of the argument. So it is beyond our responsibility to handle this, and we as a city have never gotten involved in international affairs.”
He concluded by advising the attendees to contact their senators and federal representatives to make their case further before saying that the meeting would move on to the next agenda item.
“Shame on you!” a cry arose from the crowd. Affirming shouts followed until a chant of “Cease fire now!” broke out among the attendees.
“The blood of innocent children is on your hands!” one speaker said.
“You don’t care about your constituents!” another said.
The mayor recessed the meeting, and many of the attendees filed out, reaffirming their disdain.
This was the third time crowds in favor of a ceasefire came out to try and convince the commission to pass a resolution and the fourth time the topic has been broached to the commission.
Mohammad Ahmad, a Covington resident of Palestinian descent, first proposed the idea of a resolution in November but spoke alone at first. He put out calls for additional support on social media before subsequent meetings.
Ahmad and others spoke during the meeting’s public comment section, taking up the entire 30 minutes allotted for speakers. Most of the speakers reaffirmed the comments they’d made a previous meetings that the commission should make an explicit symbolic gesture in the form a resolution supporting peace in Gaza, the release of prisoners on both sides and the ending of US military support for Israel. Many speakers also reiterated their arguments that criticism of the Israeli government and its actions were not, by default, anti-Semitic.
Many of the speakers had spoken at previous meetings, but there were new speakers as well. Notably, Zeinab Schwen, who lives in Cincinnati but whose husband works in Covington, spoke about communications she had with family members who lived in Gaza.
“One of the texts that I got from one of my family [members] that have three children — a 13-year-old, 11-year-old and an 8-year-old — they say goodnight to each other, and they say goodbye to each other every night because they do not know if they’re going to wake up the next morning,” Schwen said.
The commission didn’t take up additional conversation about the resolution throughout the rest of the meeting.
Ahmad told LINK nky after the meeting that he was disappointed with the commission’s response and that he wasn’t sure what was going to come next.
“I’m not saying the mayor should be ashamed, but it’s certainly disappointing,” Ahmad said. “I think this is a time for him to end his legacy on a good note. I don’t think this is good for his legacy right now.”
Commission Shannon Smith, who had come under criticism from the people pushing the resolution at previous meetings, told LINK nky after the meeting that the commission hadn’t completely discarded the notion of taking up a resolution. The common ground among everyone who’d spoken on the matter was peace, she said, and now it was a matter of coming up with a resolution that every member of the commission could get on board with.
The next meeting of the Covington Board of Commissioners will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. at Covington City Hall on Pike Street.