A motion seeking to have Montreal cut institutional ties with Israel, which was supposed to be presented at Monday’s council meeting, will instead be heard in August.
The motion had been brought forward by the opposition Projet Montréal party, which denounced that the issue was pushed to the next council meeting.
“We were ready to discuss it today … but there seems to be some discomfort,” Projet Montréal Leader Ericka Alneus told reporters at city hall. “I think people want to have this conversation, and I think we’re capable of handling it with dignity.”
The motion called on the city to “recognize and denounce the apartheid regime in Palestine and the genocide being perpetrated there.” It also called on the city to show solidarity with Palestinians and other civilian victims in the Middle East.
More concretely, it urged the city to suspend institutional ties with Israel’s government, including by not inviting representatives of the state to official events held at city hall.
The motion was filed two weeks ago and scheduled to be heard Monday.
Projet Montréal, however, denounced that it only learned that morning that Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada wanted to present a separate declaration before council about “civil peace, intercultural dialogue, and social cohesion.”
Martinez Ferrada, for her part, accused the opposition of not consulting the administration on the pro-Palestinian motion.
“It would have been more unifying to work on a motion of this importance with the entire city council and civil society to arrive at a position that was far more unified and inclusive than the one presented to us today,” the mayor said.
After a brief debate, the administration instead pushed the issue to the next council meeting in August. The city council does not sit in July.
Since being elected in November, Martinez Ferrada has faced repeated questions from the public about the Israel-Hamas war at nearly every city council meeting or Ville-Marie borough council meeting, where she serves as borough mayor.
The mayor has expressed sympathy for those affected by the conflict, but has maintained she is focused on municipal issues and does not feel Montreal should become involved in international conflicts.
The opposition argued Monday that people have been pressing the city to take a stance on the conflict since the outset of the war, noting the city has often spoken out against other conflicts abroad.
Ahead of the council meeting, pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside city hall to push the administration to act.
“The federal government doesn’t seem to listen to us,” one person said. “We have governments of proximity here with the municipal government, and the city should listen to its citizens, at least.”
Martinez Ferrada also faced questions about the issue during question period, and was accused of putting forward her own declaration to avoid debating the pro-Palestinian motion.
She said she hopes the opposition and administration will be able to work on the matter before the next council meeting.
“This conflict can’t continue dividing populations, and dividing people here in Montreal,” she said.
When the city council refused to take further questions on the issue — because only three questions can be asked about the same topic — chants of “Free Palestine!” erupted in the building’s main hall.
Confrontations and shouting matches then ensued between pro-Palestinian supporters and others, forcing security to intervene.
The Gazette’s Abby McLaughlin contributed to this report.
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