Chemung County Dems pass Gaza ceasefire resolution

Democrats in Chemung County voted last week to approve a Gaza ceasefire resolution, making the Southern Tier county party apparently the first local Democratic committee in the state to directly signal its support for a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The vote came just a week before Gaza was in the spotlight on the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Committee members voted unanimously on the resolution the evening of Aug. 13 at their regular monthly meeting. The text of the resolution calls for an “immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza to halt the hostilities and end the cycle of violence, release of the hostages, ensuring the safety and security of civilians on both sides.” It also supports “diplomatic efforts … to achieve a just and comprehensive peace agreement that addresses the root causes of the conflict.”

“I’ve been to a couple of state (committee) meetings and (Democratic Rural Conference) meetings, and not a whisper or a mention of any kind of ceasefire resolution came about,” said Chemung Democratic Party Chair Jamal Malik. “So we decided to move forward with it anyway.”  He said the language was crafted with help in part from the Southern Tier Interfaith Coalition, which includes both Jewish and Muslim members. Malik also said that there was widespread interest in the ceasefire resolution; roughly twice as many people as normal attended the meeting where the county party voted on the resolution and seven or eight new members joined the organization.

Chemung County, a rural Southern Tier county whose county seat of Elmira has a population of fewer than 30,000 people, may not seem like a natural hotbed for support for a Gaza ceasefire. Malik described the county’s politics as historically “ruby red.” And calling for a ceasefire has been controversial even in much more heavily Democratic areas of the state.

But Malik said it’s Chemung’s very nature that made passage of the resolution perhaps easier in a small, upstate county than elsewhere in the state. “The population here is pretty monolithic,” he said. The county is about 85% white, with relatively small Jewish, Arab and Muslim populations. Malik said that the county’s Arab and Muslim population is slightly larger than its Jewish population.

Malik said that outside political pressure or influence from groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – better known as AIPAC – isn’t felt in Chemung County. “Our big issue up here is we got three militia groups,” he quipped. Malik added that he’s “very much aware that we are the first, and I'm hoping that other people you know will have the nerve or the gall … to go ahead and do the same.”

After the resolution passed, Malik said he planned to send copies of it to the Democratic Rural Conference and every other county party chair. “And not dare them to do the same thing, but encourage them to do the same thing,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is about being a human being.”

Although the Chemung County Democrats are the first Democratic county committee in the state to approve a ceasefire resolution, several municipalities have passed such resolutions. Albany became the first in the state to do so, followed by the progressive Hudson Valley cities of Newburgh, Hudson and Beacon. The larger cities of Ithaca and most recently Rochester approved ceasefire resolutions as well. 

However, many leading Democrats in the state have resisted calls for a permanent ceasefire. Gov. Kathy Hochul, for example, only voiced support for a six-week ceasefire deal that President Joe Biden tried (and failed) to secure back in March.

Gaza politics were in the spotlight at the DNC this week, with at least three primetime speakers – including Biden – directly mentioning Palestine in their speeches on the first night. New York’s own Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that Vice President Kamala Harris “is working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring hostages home.” The line got loud applause, and her speech overall garnered praise from state Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs, who has been a frequent critic of Ocasio-Cortez and other progressives.