By ED KDONIAN

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of Israel and against acts of terror at their scheduled monthly meeting On October 12.

“This resolution this evening is in recognition of the atrocities that have occurred on October 7 to innocent civilians, and in this resolution we are looking to stand in support of those innocent victims,” Council President Jessica Marino said. “I have heard from many people, in our local community as well, affected by this, and it has touched all of us I’m sure as well, these awful atrocities. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims regardless of their ethnicity, all the innocent victims, and to the hostages currently that we keep in our thoughts and prayers as well.”

The resolution, originally sponsored by all but one member of the council until Councilwoman Aniece Germain asked to be added as a sponsor as well, received a motion to approve before discussion of it was allowed on the floor.

Germain asked the council to entertain a motion to amend which Councilwoman Lammis Vargas seconded. At this point Germain referred to the last section of the proposed resolution which condemned “senseless acts of terror in Israel,” and asked that the amended language include a condemnation of acts of terror in Israel and the whole world.

Councilman John Donegan asked she read aloud the proposed language of the final portion of the resolution to clarify exactly what it would say for everyone in the room.

“Now, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT, the Honorable Cranston City Council Condemns senseless and horrific acts of terror in Israel, ‘in Palestine and everywhere in the world’ and stands in support of the innocent who are unnecessarily suffering as a result of such terrible, unconscionable acts,” Germain then read aloud (The bold text being the added language).

After Germain’s reading of the proposed amendment, Marino suggested that she would be amenable to the language “in Israel and throughout the rest of the world,” and she said that should suffice to encompass what Councilwoman Germain was requesting without diminishing any of the atrocities that occurred on October 7.

“This hits close to home for some of my family, and I want to thank the council president for bringing this forth and for everyone for signing on as cosponsors,” Councilwoman Nicole Renzulli said in response to the resolution. “I think it’s a testament to our unwavering commitment to promoting peace, tolerance and cooperation both at home and abroad. I’m hoping that all the hostages of all sides will be released soon.”

Councilman Chris Paplauskas also spoke in favor of the motion saying that he hoped that cooler heads would prevail in the situation.

“We’re living in really tough times right now,” Paplauskas said. “We talk about terrorism in this resolution, and the closer we get from 9/11 the closer it feels like 9/10, so I really hope those cooler heads prevail, and we can stop the violence.”

With everyone given a chance to speak on the issue, a vote was called on the motion to amend, and it subsequently passed with no dissent.

Once the amendment was accepted, Councilman Robert Ferri moved to accept the complete resolution as amended, after which Councilmembers were given one last chance to make a comment before voting for or against the resolution itself.

Germain took a moment to thank the council for agreeing to amend the original resolution and expressed compassion, once again, for the victims of attacks and terrorism due to the current conflict.

The resolution was then passed by unanimous consent, one of two resolutions passed at the meeting. The second, a resolution urging the council to ‘recognize and celebrate National Immigrants Day” that was sponsored by Councilwoman Germain, also passed unanimously.