Minneapolis City Council overrides Frey’s Israel-Hamas veto

The Minneapolis City Council on Thursday overrode the veto of Mayor Jacob Frey on a contentious statement on the Israel-Hamas war.

Last week, Frey vetoed a City Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in the conflict, as well as an end to U.S. military support for Israel. Frey said he could support a basic statement supporting a cease-fire and the creation of an independent Palestinian state, but he called the wording approved by the council “one-sided,” saying it “uplifts the history of Palestinians and all but erases that of Israeli Jews.”

Nine of the 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution — just enough to override a veto, so someone would have to change their vote to allow the veto to stand. None did, and many of the resolution’s supporters in the audience and overflow room cheered.

Council Member Andrea Jenkins quickly admonished them.

“Please do not cheer or jeer,” said Jenkins, who voted to override the veto. “It disrespects the lives of Palestinians and Israelis. This is not a football game or a sport.”

After the vote, Frey issued his own proclamation that called for a cease-fire and a two-state solution, as well as “the investment of federal, state, and City funds towards efforts abroad and domestically to create the conditions for reconciliation, which are necessary for the self-determination and peaceful, safe futures for both Palestinians and Israelis.”

While the resolution called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel “unacceptable,” parts of it were contentious in how it characterized the historical conflict. For example, it put Israel’s bombing of Gaza in the “context of the 75-year displacement of Palestinians” but made no other mention of the 75-year history of Israel, which the United Nations established as a refuge for Jews after the Holocaust.

Leading up to the vote, eyes were on Jenkins, who expressed reservations at how the resolution referred to South Africa’s allegations of genocide against Israel in international court. Previously, Jenkins supported alternate wording that would have made the resolution more neutral, akin to a symbolic resolution approved by the Hastings City Council last month. That effort failed.

On Thursday, she said the resolution was “lopsided” but maintained her support because its central message was a call for peace and the protection of human life — the same framing that the resolution’s authors used.

Thursday’s action in Minneapolis comes a day after activists pressured the St. Paul City Council to take a stance. Council members there indicated they were unlikely to take a formal position as a council.

The Minneapolis resolution was supported by a number of Palestinian-rights and Islamic groups, including the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, several progressive groups pushing for boycotts and disinvestment from Israel, and at least one Jewish group highly critical of Israel’s policy toward the Palestinian territories. It was opposed by several prominent Jewish groups, including the Minnesota Rabbinical Association. The four council members who voted against the resolution or abstained, along with Frey, said they feared that the council’s focus on a contentious resolution would inflame local tensions.

Those tensions are reflected in the backgrounds of the city’s elected officials. Frey is Jewish; the City Council’s four Muslims — Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai and council members Jeremiah Ellison, Jamal Osman and Aurin Chowdhury — all supported the resolution.

While mayoral veto overrides are uncommon, they’re not without precedent in Minneapolis. Three years ago, for example, the council overrode Frey’s veto in order to put the idea of replacing the Minneapolis Police Department on the ballot.

Thursday’s 9-3 vote, with one abstention, was identical to previous votes.

Voting in favor were Council President Elliott Payne, Chughtai and council members Robin Wonsley, Ellison, Osman, Katie Cashman, Jenkins, Jason Chavez and Chowdhury.

Voting against were council members Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw and Linea Palmisano.

Council Member Emily Koski abstained, as she has on every previous vote on the matter, explaining that she didn’t feel it was possible to vote for or against without “disappointing, angering, triggering, dividing or isolating part of my community or the other.”

After the vote, a crowd of supporters rallied in the lobby of the Public Service Center, where the City Council currently meets. Cheers and speeches were punctuated with chants, such as, “Cease-fire motion’s passed, put that veto in the trash,” and “free, free Palestine.”

As several leaders of Jewish groups opposing the resolution walked through the lobby, the crowd chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a phrase that many Jews have long contended is antisemitic because it suggests the destruction of Israel. Many in the pro-Palestine movement reject that characterization.

Many speakers at the impromptu rally praised the resolution as having the strongest language of any major American city.

“Minneapolis stands with Palestine,” one speaker said.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, asked a question of the crowd: “So now we go from Minneapolis to where?”

”St. Paul!” the crowd responded.