The Kansas City Council has scrapped a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, in response to a threatened veto from Mayor Quinton Lucas and vocal opposition from a Northland representative.
4th District Council member Eric Bunch, who sponsored the legislation, also pulled another resolution that would recognize the work of a local group of Palestinian medical professionals.
Bunch told KCUR that he removed the two items from a full council vote after conversations with members of the Kansas City-based Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA) and local Palestinian organization Al-Hadaf KC.
Bunch’s ceasefire resolution demanded unrestricted humanitarian aid to people in Palestine.
“We do hereby call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire to end the ongoing violence in Gaza; the release of all prisoners of war, hostages, and political detainees; the unrestricted entry of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and the restoration of food, water, electricity, fuel, and medical supplies; respect for and compliance with international law and treaties; and a resolution that protects the security of all innocent civilians,” the resolution read.
Lucas announced Thursday morning that he planned to vote no on the ceasefire resolution, in an interview on KCMO Talk Radio’s Mundo in the Morning show.
Lucas went on to say that he would consider vetoing the item if it passed council. That would have been his first time issuing a veto — in fact, no Kansas City mayor has used the veto since Mayor Mark Funkhouser in 2008.
Lucas declined to speak to KCUR, and deferred to his comments on the radio show and on X.
If it had passed, Kansas City would have joined more than 100 cities across the U.S., including St. Louis, that have similarly called for an end to the ongoing violence. Al-Hadaf and their supporters, including citywide tenant union KC Tenants, have been pushing the Kansas City Council to adopt a ceasefire resolution for months.
Over the weekend, more than 500 people marched through the County Club Plaza during a protest for Gaza. Advocates also hoped to pressure council to recognize the PAMA, which has been providing health care to people in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.
After the event, Al-Hadaf released a video of Palestinian children in Gaza personally asking each city council member for their vote.
Kansas City Council often approves special actions that honor a local group or Kansas City resident. They're normally passed without much controversy or debate.
But on Tuesday evening, Lucas sent an email to council members that questioned PAMA’s Palestinian links and how it operates. In a copy of the email obtained by KCUR, Lucas wrote that the resolution’s language was “geared toward one perspective of the conflict and ignores lives of other nationalities that may also be in harm's way during the current conflict.”
Bunch said he heard from other council members that the special action recognizing PAMA was itself “too political,” even though it was not connected to the ceasefire call.
“I think that that's a distraction from the really amazing work that PAMA does to provide medical aid in the conflict in Gaza and the war on the Palestinian people,” Bunch said. “I don't want to take away from that.”
Both agenda items appeared on a legislative agenda posted on the city clerk’s website Thursday morning. But they did not appear on an updated agenda printed out before the council’s 3 p.m. legislative meeting.
PAMA and Al-Hadaf ended up requesting that Bunch pull the resolutions to protect the humanitarian organization's efforts “from unnecessary discrimination.”
“It is regrettable that opposition, both external and within the Kansas City City Council, including from Mayor Quinton Lucas’ office, has arisen regarding the symbolic recognition of PAMA,” Al-Hadaf said in a statement.
Debate over antisemitism
In addition to Lucas, both resolutions received strong opposition from 1st District Council member Nathan Willett, who represents parts of Kansas City’s Northland.
Willett posted on Facebook on Thursday morning that “a few of my fellow Councilmembers want to turn KC city hall into what we have seen on college campuses all around the county these past few months.”
Willett said he got more than 1,000 emails calling for him to support a ceasefire resolution. During a heated Council discussion on Thursday, Willett held up a large stack of papers that he said contained that feedback.
But he argued that local government should focus on local issues, and criticized the emails for not mentioning the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“One of the biggest tools that antisemites use is leaving out facts about atrocities that our Jewish friends have faced like the Holocaust and, in this case, October 7th,” Willet said in the post.
6th District member Johnathan Duncan disagreed with Willett, saying that the council had a moral imperative to take a stand on a ceasefire.
"We have Palestinians here, who are suffering, who have requested to meet with every single member in this body to tell their story and say why this matters to them," Duncan said. "Councilman Willett held up thousands of emails asking us to pass a ceasefire resolution. I received not one email from a constituent, from a resident in Kansas City, that spoke to the opposite of that."
As an answer to the ceasefire motion, Willett introduced a separate resolution that would update the city’s definition of antisemitism. Currently, Kansas City uses language adopted from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Willett’s resolution would add language specifying that antisemitism includes denying the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel has reported that 1,200 people were killed in the terrorist attack. According to the United Nations and the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians. The United Nations reports that 52% of those deaths are women and children.
Members of the Kansas City chapter of Jewish Voices for Peace opposed Willett’s proposal. At Thursday’s meeting, members attended wearing shirts that said, “Not in our name.”
Jewish Voices for Peace member Sam Brian accused Willett of using antisemitism as a scapegoat to politicize humanitarian aid.
“We as Jews are here because, frankly, we don't like being used as a political football by Councilman Willett,” Brian said. “We're here to show that we're upset about that. And we won't have the city council using antisemitism as an excuse to shut down a Palestinian discussion.”
Bunch said accusations of antisemitism couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I think it's unfortunate that we’re at a place where we can’t discuss issues of the atrocities that are occurring on the Palestinian people,” Bunch said. “There have been atrocities on the Israeli people. But right now, we're seeing families destroyed and lives lost in Palestine, and in Gaza, on the Palestinian people. That’s something that is very real, and something that I think local elected officials have a role to play in.”
Willett’s office did not return a request for comment.
Kansas City Council ultimately voted down Willett’s resolution.
"I don't think it's our role," said Kevin O'Neil, who represents Council's 1st District At-Large. "I think we're spending a lot of time on something that doesn't have any place in these chambers."
