The Cobb County Board of Commissioners withdrew a resolution declaring “unwavering support for Israel and the Jewish community,” after criticism that it lacked any acknowledgment of Palestinian loss of life in the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell wrote the resolution to acknowledge and support Israel and the Jewish community: “The Cobb County Board of Commissioners offers full and unwavering support of Israel’s self-defense and offer our condolences to those families that have lost loved ones in this horrific war,” the resolution says.
Israel’s military has ramped up its aerial offensive against Hamas as calls grow to let more aid into the besieged Gaza enclave, and more than 5,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, CNN reported Monday.
The board discussed the issue at Monday’s agenda review meeting and decided to withdraw it from Tuesday’s meeting agenda. They plan to revise the resolution so that it is more inclusive of other groups in the Cobb community who have been impacted by the conflict.
Amjad Taufique, a board member for the Masjid Al-Furqan West Cobb Islamic Center, asked for the board to reconsider the resolution or to create a separate one supporting the Palestinian people.
“Although we understand the deep grief, shock, and understandable anger that Americans, Jewish people and Israelis feel for the murder of Israeli citizens by Hamas, we feel that 2.5 million Palestinian civilians are being forgotten,” Taufique wrote in the email to chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
Cupid read the email to the board Monday and said she has received an onslaught of pushback, both locally and nationally, over the resolution. Cupid said she does not support its current form.
“We are a local organization weighing in to an international conflict that’s fraught with a history that I don’t have the ability to even fully comprehend,” Cupid said. “This could have a broader impact beyond just simply expressing support for our Jewish community.
“We are stirring the hornets’ nest.”
Birrell defended the resolution and said it only denounces Hamas specifically, not the Muslim community.
“That is a terrorist organization that has attacked our allies in Israel and we need to support them. That’s my position,” Birrell said.
Commissioner Jerica Richardson pointed out the rise in Islamophobia and antisemitism in Cobb County in recent months, and said the resolution should be more inclusive of the county’s other ethnicities and religions.
Other local governments in the metro Atlanta area have responded to the international news and have drawn criticism from Jewish and Muslim communities. Atlanta Public Schools issued a statement that Jewish parents criticized for not more forcefully condemning Hamas’ attack, while some Muslim parents in Cobb County criticized the school district’s alert as “fear-mongering.”
The conflict and subsequent responses have highlighted deep political rifts in Georgia and nationwide.
