Christi Fraga, the mayor of Doral, Fla., in Miami-Dade County, and the Doral City Council unanimously approved Resolution 24-5675, which advocates for Israel’s right to defend itself and urges for further U.S. military support.
The measure also condemns Hamas and vows to protect the city’s residents from hate crimes.
The resolution follows a city council meeting this past May that featured pro-Hamas advocates who denied the atrocities of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel and claimed that a Zionist conspiracy secretly controlled the federal government.
Fraga had initially put forward the measure before coming to understand that some of her constituents regarded it as biased against Israel, resulting in an apology.
“The process I followed and final wording of the resolution, which was unanimously adopted by my colleagues on the City Council, was naive of me, fundamentally flawed, and has resulted in unintended consequences and a misunderstanding of my true stance on this international and local issue,” she stated in May.
An effort ensued to remove and replace the measure, which succeeded. But opposition that followed caused the vote to be postponed until last Wednesday, resulting in its successful passage.
“The council members witnessed in their own town hall a taste of the antisemitic vitriol our community faces daily from the radical fringe, and they stood up to confront it,” Miri Ketayi, Israeli-American Council South Florida regional director, stated in a release.
“The Jewish community of Florida deeply appreciates Mayor Fraga and the Doral City Council for stating clearly its commitment to protecting civil rights in Florida, and its solidarity with Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East,” said Shawn Evenhaim, IAC for Action chairman, in a statement.
He said Florida “has a great history of solidarity with Israel, and it is heart-warming and reassuring to see that deep and abiding friendship reiterated repeatedly locally in Doral today.”