Members of Niagara’s Palestinian Community Continues to Accuse Region of Having a Double Standard
A News Commentary by Doug Draper, editor/publisher of Niagara At Large
Posted July 26th, 2024
Niagara’s Regional Headquarters in Thorold
It all started in October of last year when Niagara Region’s Chair Jim Bradley and/or regional representatives around him decided to raise the flag of Israel and light regional headquarters in the blue and white colours of that flag.
It was show of support for Israel following an attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists who butchered more than 1,000 Israeli citizens and took a few hundred more hostage last October 7th,
At the time, no one appeared to raise any issues about the move with this gesture of support. But by January of this year, after thousands of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza strip, many of them children, were killed by bombs Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition were dropping in retaliation, a coalition of Niagara residents of Palestinian descent believed it was time for the Region to raise the Palestinian flag and cast its colours on the headquarters too.
At a January meeting of the Region’s council, Haley Bateman, a Regional Councillor for St. Cattharines, tabled a motion calling for the flying of the Palestinian flag, along with a call from the council that it support a ceasefire in the Israeli-Hamas War.
More than a dozen residents were placed on a list to speak in favour of Bateman’s motion, but before the motion or the speakers received an airing, two other councillors put another motion on the floor, along with a request from fellow councillors to “call the question” A majority of councillors agreed to call the question which shut any further discussion of Bateman’s motion down.
Supporters of Bateman’s motion left the council chambers angry. Many of them felt that the council was exercising a double standard by not flying the Palestinian flag too, and at least a few accused council members of racism.
On the other hand, a number of Regional Councillors said they feel terrible about what is happening in the Gaza Strip too, but they do not believe that it is the council’s business to get involved in foreign affairs or “geopolitics.”
This journalist posted a commentary on that January meeting at the time, expressing disappointment that the council did not at least give the residents who showed up to speak a hearing.
I do not intend to repeat the points I made in that column here. If anyone wants to read it you can click on – January 25th Niagara Regional Council Meeting Was A Disgrace | Niagara At Large
And that brings me up to date with recommenations Niagara Region’s Chief of Staff and the Region’s head Clerk presented to the Council this July 5th on how the Region should conduct itself in such matters, including how Regional Councillors and members of the public should conduct themselves and interact with each other in the council chambers.
In my view, this meeting was frustrating to watch. And it left me wonder if we would still be here on this matter now if better judgement had of ruled the day doing back to the decision last October to show the Israeli colours in the first place.
After all, if foreign affairs in not part of the Regional Council’s business, then let’s not raise any foreign flags in reaction to events or conflicts nfolding anywhere else world.
As for reforming rules for conduct in the council chambers, I can’t understand why the ones the Region has had for decades now need any changing if they are applied.
I am not going to say any more now about what unfolded at the latest July 25th council meeting. If you haven’t seen and you care to, I am providing the screen for the meeting here. When you click on it, go to the bottom left corner and use your cursor to drag the little dot to 102 minutes in to the proceedings. That is where the discussion and debate on this matter starts.
Here is the link and please feel free to share your views on what you hear and watch in the space provided to readers at the bottom of this post.
Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders
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