Local activists press Champaign council to place Gaza ceasefire and divestment resolution on agenda
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Summary
Speakers representing UC Jews for Ceasefire and other activists urged the City Council to consider a permanent ceasefire and divestment resolution and said dozens of local organizations have endorsed the request; no council action was taken during the meeting.
Speakers at the Champaign City Council public‑comment period on Feb. 8 asked the council to place a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for divestment from the state of Israel on a future agenda.
Al Kagan, who identified himself as a Champaign resident and a member of UC Jews for Ceasefire, said local organizers support a ceasefire and divestment effort and told the council 47 local organizations and businesses had endorsed the group’s resolution. "Please put our resolution on your agenda," Kagan said.
Maya Novick, who identified herself as a resident of the Urbana‑Champaign area and prefaced remarks with an acknowledgment of Indigenous nations on whose land Urbana‑Champaign is located, read several poems and urged the council to divest. Novick said the request was prompted by what she described as civilian deaths in Gaza and ongoing violence in the West Bank; she asked the council to move toward divestment from the state of Israel.
Council members did not take up the requested resolution during the meeting, and no motion to place the item on a future agenda was recorded.
Speakers and context
- Al Kagan, member, UC Jews for Ceasefire — urged a ceasefire and a council resolution on divestment; said 47 local organizations and businesses endorse the resolution. - Maya Novick, resident — read poems and requested the city move to divest.
No formal council response or action on the requested resolution was recorded at the Feb. 8 meeting.
