The Delaware House passed a concurrent resolution supporting a permanent ceasefire in Gaza on Muslim Community Day.
State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Newark) hosted several local and regional Islamic groups at Legislative Hall on Thursday to share their thoughts on policy issues affecting the Delaware Muslim community.
Among their concerns were better religious accommodations in state institutions, probation and criminal justice reform, recognizing Muslim holidays as state holidays, and advocating for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine.
Wilson-Anton introduced legislation in January calling upon Delaware’s federal delegation and President Biden to work towards a ceasefire, but pushback from both sides of the aisle quickly ensued.
Her resolution followed the passage of a resolution sponsored by House Majority Leader Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle County), which "expresses the State of Delaware General Assembly’s concern for the loss of life in the Israel-Hamas war and calls on the legislature and the citizens of Delaware to recognize our common humanity and the shared strength of our diversity."
Wilson-Anton said there was "nothing to object to" in Minor-Brown's resolution and voted to pass it, but argued the resolution only called for the legislative body to "continue to do [their] jobs, which is to recognize all Delawareans."
Furthermore, she argued: "Because this is a situation of Palestinians and Israelis, it's extremely important that if we're going to talk about uniting, that we have Palestinian representation, which was severely lacking from this presentation. The word Palestinian is not even mentioned in this resolution, the word genocide is not mentioned."
After her remarks, Wilson-Anton introduced her own resolution titled: "Recognizing the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and calling on the Biden Administration and federal delegation from Delaware to support a permanent and lasting ceasefire."
During the initial debate, State Rep. Peter Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach) argued calling on the federal delegation to work towards a ceasefire goes against standing House policy to not "entertain resolutions directing the president or congress to do something."
State Rep. Jeff Spiegelman (R-Clayton) expressed his personal opposition to Wilson-Anton's resolution, opening with "If you were Israel, what would you do?" and going on to explain his disappointment with the double standard regarding the language used to describe the Palestinian experience versus the Israeli experience and his belief that news headlines were down-playing the rise of antisemitism.
After an hour of floor debate, Wilson-Anton tabled her resolution.
Now, just over three months later, she believes the discourse has changed.
“A few weeks back when the aid workers were clearly targeted and murdered for the entire world to see, I think there was a major shift in public opinion, not just among regular people like you and me, but also among folks that are in elected office that were scared before to say anything," she says.
Wilson-Anton introduced a new resolution during Thursday’s floor session with some changes, still calling for a permanent ceasefire but omitting the word “genocide” and no longer calling on the federal delegation for action.
“The impact is local. Whether we have the power to change it at the federal level – we don’t have that necessarily – but we do have what they call the bully pulpit, right, where we can talk about things, we can get issues like this brought to the attention of our federal delegation," Wilson-Anton says.
The bill garnered co-sponsorship from all three members of the Delaware House Democratic leadership team, including Speaker of the House Valerie Longhurst (D-Bear), House Majority Leader Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle) and House Majority Whip Kerri Evelyn Harris (D-Dover).
“While our primary focus remains on the state of Delaware and all who reside within it, we understand that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza does affect Delawareans and their families across the globe," House Democratic leadership said in a statement. “We, with a bipartisan vote, voiced our continued dismay at the act committed on Oct 7th and. that we support a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and hope that the region will soon see long-term and mutually agreeable peace."
“Just as importantly, we stand united in calling for an end to anti-semitism, Islamaphobia, anti- Arab sentiments, and all other forms of bigotry. We are a stronger state when we stand as one," they added.
The House Republican leaders say they have no further comment on the legislation beyond the content of the resolution itself.
The resolution passed on a bipartisan voice vote and now awaits consideration in the Senate.
