City officials take a stand on Palestine

By Charles Sercombe
In an act of solidarity with the people of Palestine, the Hamtramck City Council voted to rename Holbrook as “Palestine Avenue.”
But that vote did not come easy at Tuesday’s last council meeting of the year.
At first, Councilmembers Mohammed Alsomiri, Mohammed Hassan, Muhith Mahmood and Abu Musa voted to remove the item from the agenda.
Mayor Amer Ghalib then intervened, and asked the council to reconsider the proposed resolution, which was introduced by Councilmember Khalil Refai.
The council agreed to bring the resolution back on the agenda.
The resolution was prompted by the Oct. 7 attack, by Hamas, on Israel, where Hamas killed 1,400 people and took over 200 more as hostages.
Since then, Israel has retaliated by invadingGaza and, according to media reports, the Israeli military has (so far) killed about 20,000 people, including about 8,000 children. As of the day The Review went to press on Thursday, Israel has not let up on its attack, despite worldwide calls for a ceasefire, vowing instead to eradicate Hamas leadership in the area.
President Joe Biden has also become critical of Israel, saying that more and more people are coming out against the war in Gaza.
Later in Tuesday’s meeting, Councilmember Mahmood explained why he is opposed to the honorific renaming.
“My personal opinion is stay away from renaming streets. It’s not taking us anywhere,” he said.
Mayor Ghalib said that, at first, he was undecided about this proposal, “but the more I think about it, this is the last country in the world that’s occupied. It’s the hottest and most pressing topic that’s going on now.”
Later in the meeting, Ghalib said that passing the resolution “will not hurt us. It will hurt us if we reject this resolution within our community. I am not worried about what’s going to happen outside of our community.”
In the vote on the resolution, the council deadlocked with Councilmembers Alsomiri, Mahmood and Musa voting against it, and Councilmembers Hassan, Refai and Nayeem Choudhury voting in favor of it.
The tie vote required Mayor Ghalib to cast his vote, which he did in favor of the resolution.
The resolution read, in part:
“The mayor and city council acknowledge the profound impact of the recent and ongoing events in Gaza resulting in the loss of almost 20,000 people since October 7, 2023. …”
Also, in the resolution, the council said it took this action “as a gesture of solidarity.”
Earlier in the week, on Monday, there was a worldwide call for people to strike for Palestine by not going to work or go shopping.
According to sources, hundreds of Hamtramck Public School District students stayed home for the day.
The street renaming issue drew a number of comments on social media.
On the Facebook page “Hamtramck Square,” Robert Bajer said:
“I’m all for Palestine. But let’s not start changing street names. Very, very pointless.”
An administrator of that Facebook page, who goes by the pseudonym “Hjmahh Klaham,” supported the resolution, saying:
“It is not a name change. It is an honorary name addition. Just like Bangladeshi Ave.or Mayor Karen Majewski St., Algazali St., etc.This is a solidarity move, nothing more.”
Posted Dec. 15, 2023