20 | JANUARY 25 • 2024 J
N

T

he school board in
Ann Arbor endorsed
a resolution calling
for a ceasefire in the Israel-
Hamas war early on Jan. 18,
more than five hours after
convening for a meeting
expected to be contentious.
The vote made Ann Arbor
Public Schools one of the
only school districts in the
United States to adopt such
a stance, three months after
Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel
ignited a war in Gaza and
fierce debates in public bodies
across the United States.
Several last-minute
amendments tweaked the
resolution’s language to note
that the board has a “limited
role in international affairs”
and called for the “release of
all hostages and unrestricted
humanitarian aid at the levels

recommended by the United
Nations for the Palestinian
people.” Another tweak
condemned “discrimination
against any individual based
on personal background
whether Israeli or Palestinian.”
The final version, after
prodding from Jewish
community members, also
condemns both antisemitism
and “anti-Jewish racism.”
The changes were enough
to tilt the board to favor the
resolution, which only three of
the seven members had said
before the meeting that they
were committed to support.
Four members backed the
resolution, while one person
voted against it, down from
two who had said they
planned to.
Two others abstained — a
move that one board member

said was not encouraged,
but which another said
was essential because the
board was taking a stand on
something outside its purview.
Applause and cries of “thank
you” broke out in the high
school auditorium after the
motion passed.
“I’m very disappointed,”
Eileen Freed, head of the Ann
Arbor Jewish Federation, told
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
after the vote. “
At the crux of
it, it’s a political play … The
people who were pushing for
this wanted to see the words
‘ceasefire.’ They were not
focused on the needs of the
students.”
Ceasefire calls have been
a frontier of tensions across
the United States since
the early days of the war.
Proponents say calling for a

ceasefire represents a powerful
symbolic stand against Israel’s
conduct in Gaza. Critics of
the calls — including Israeli
leaders and many Jewish
leaders in the United States —
say they effectively deny Israel
the right to defend itself.
At least one other school
district has officially called for
a ceasefire, the New Haven
Unified School District in
California’s Bay Area, as
has Randi Weingarten, the
progressive Jewish leader of
the American Federation
of Teachers union who
also sits on the board of the
liberal Zionist group J Street.
Weingarten tweeted earlier
this month that she believed
it was “well past time for a
ceasefire agreement.”
The vote capped a
contentious period for
Ann Arbor, a progressive
Michigan community with
sizable Jewish and Arab
populations. The Ann
Arbor City Council passed
its own ceasefire resolution
the week prior. The local
Council on American Islamic
Relations has filed a federal
civil rights complaint with
the Department of Education
against the district, alleging
that a middle school counselor
called a student a “terrorist.”
And at the University of
Michigan, the president halted
two planned student
government votes about
Gaza, saying that they had
stoked fear in the community.
Meanwhile, dozens of pro-
Palestinian protesters were
arrested after storming an
administration building,
causing the Board of Regents
this week to pass new free-
speech rules.
For the local school board,
the ceasefire vote followed a

Contentious Meeting

OUR COMMUNITY

continued on page 22

Ann Arbor school board endorses call for ceasefire
in Israel and Gaza.

ANDREW LAPIN JTA

PHOTOS BY ANDREW LAPIN

Eileen Freed, executive director
of the Jewish Federation of
Greater Ann Arbor, delivers public
comments opposing a ceasefire
resolution at a local school board
meeting, Jan. 17, 2024.