ROTHENBURGER – Why Bepple’s motion on Gaza is suddenly a non-starter
(Image: Hosny Salah, Pixabay.com)
SO THE BEPPLE MOTION on Gaza is dead, gone in the fog of war. The councillor will formally withdraw her notice of motion at Kamloops City council’s regular meeting Tuesday.
Her intention was to join the bandwagon of other municipal councils across the country in demanding that Prime Minister Trudeau seek an immediate ceasefire in Gaza (even though his government is already on record as supporting that), release of hostages and unfettered flow of humanitarian aid.
Apparently, the motion wouldn’t have had enough support from her fellow councillors, so, she said in an interview with CHNL Friday, she’s chosen to withdraw it, though it’s unclear if she’ll try to come up with something that would succeed at another time.
An ArmchairMayor.ca public opinion poll resulted in just over 75 per cent of respondents opposing her motion, which may or may not reflect opinions among members of council.
A key reason for lack of public enthusiasm for the motion is the belief it’s outside City council’s wheelhouse, that council should stick to issues that are within its jurisdiction, even though Bepple penned a well-constructed defence of her reasoning in a column that followed up on one I wrote a week ago.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Edmonton City Hall was attacked this week by a man who appears to have mentioned the Gaza conflict in a video prior to the attack. The man starts the video with an Arabic greeting.
Evidence is preliminary at this stage, but like the Palestinian groups on Facebook and the ones presenting to council, this individual appears to have engaged in what is known as “salad bar extremism”.
The councillor entering the fray by way of formal motion should be paying close attention to this development, as should her colleagues. Yet another reason why council must not entertain extremist conflicts to any degree, and why it was reckless to bring such a motion forward. I heard there was another pro-Palestinian presenter at council this week.
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Canada, the US, and other nations list Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Does Bepple realize this motion is like asking a country to lay down arms and stop pursuing ISIS after it invaded their country, killed and raped their citizens and took hostages back into the caliphate?
I thank the big guy in the sky every day that there are people in this world ready to defend against evil by any and all means necessary, and that people willing to capitulate to terror in the name of a naive worldview aren’t in positions of real authority.
Thank you to the armed forces of Canada and the democratic world for keeping us safe at the point of a rifle, if it comes to that.
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Bepple has single-handedly dragged council, the municipality, and the citizens of Kamloops into quicksand. I feel like she has only inflamed tensions and angered everyone. Even supporters of the motion are likely to be quite upset at the retraction. It takes a special talent to pull that off.
It’s astounding to hear her say she will regroup and try again in statements to local media. Just STOP.
While the eight councillors seem to circle the wagons on every issue, they cannot let this, or future attempts by Bepple to drag city and council, WHO REPRESENT ALL CONSTITUENTS, back into one of the most explosive and divisive topics in current events!
We didn’t ask for this, and I am gobsmacked at the complete lack of foresight displayed by council and the councillor.
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Is this fiasco by Councillor Bepple going to lead to the City issuing an official statement stating that the City is officially taking a neutral stand on the situation in Gaza?
As soon as possible, it may be reasonable to expect a closed meeting with Councillor Bepple and City administration to discuss this matter and where it has placed the municipality if harm is done to any person or persons.
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John, do you think Bepple will bring motions on SOGI, gender identity in schools, or any other flashpoint culture war issues? Do you think the Gang of Eight will have to set boundaries in order to prevent more cracks in solidarity from forming? The hatred of the Mayor can only go so far in bringing them together it seems.
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This could be the catalyst to bring down the gang of 8 but only time will tell. Councillor Bepple has put herself on an island with this one.
There could be interesting times ahead and who knows what the next news conference in front of the horse shoe will reveal.
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I spent some time of Facebook today and viewed the public page of The Palestine Project Kamloops. I don’t recall if this was the same group that was allowed to address council.
Palestine Project Kamloops has two recent posts. One in support of Bepple and the motion. The one directly under states that anyone supporting the IDF or Israel should be interrogated and have terrorism charges brought on them. It refers to supporters of Israel as radicals.
This is an extremely bad look for council as it was one of these groups that was given unfettered access to speak which resulted in the motion. If this is the same group that spoke at council, then this is alarming. I’m debating to contact national media outlets because in my experience council doesn’t typically respond to concerns if you contact them.
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The group that addressed City council was Palestine Solidarity Kamloops.
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I too was confused as I found the Facebook of Palestine Project Kamloops but couldn’t find Palestine Solidarity Kamloops after reading one of the first articles on the motion posted here.
I did see inflammatory and extremist comments on some of those pages by the same group that mentioned support for the motion and the councillor. Surely there isn’t a direct link to the council and this group, but this is still quite troubling.
Thank you for clarifying Mel that these are (presumably) two different groups. Although how can we be sure? It is strange for a political group to not have a social media presence. I wonder if Palestine Solidarity Kamloops is the “good cop” and Palestine Project Kamloops is the “bad cop”, all ran by the same people?
In any event, some of these social media posts are definitely not what any reasonable council person would want their name attached to, directly or indirectly. Go and read the posts from Palestine Project Kamloops. Extremist by all reasonable definition. Yet another reason why this was a very very bad judgment call by Coun. Bepple to bring the motion and for council to roll out the red carpet for the off-agenda speaker.
Do these motions require a second at the stage it was announced by Coun. Bepple? If so, who was the second?
Thanks to all for shining light on the sequence of events. Local reporting is becoming a lost art. This has been a remarkable gaffe in a long string or remarkable gaffes by council.
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A notice of motion doesn’t require a seconder when it is first presented. That comes at the next meeting when the motion is formally made.
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Something isn’t passing the smell test in all of this. Mel attends the in-person council sessions and knows council well. So well that he offered a middle name for one of the councillors- “Point of Order”. Yet the person representing the Palestinian group in town somehow was able to talk interrupted about an issue not on the agenda… with no point of order from anyone. The pro Palestinian groups are posting support for the motion on social media…Was this a set up that didn’t go as planned? Was there any agreement beforehand that the speaker wouldn’t be interrupted? If there wasn’t, I would certainly appreciate an explanation from council on Tuesday as to why this off-topic issue and speaker was given special privilege compared to others. It’s extremely important that council acts and is perceived as acting in an unbiased manner on all matters brought before them, not just the ones they personally support.
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Yes, the smell test. Evidently, Nancy’s decision to withdraw the motion was because she didn’t get enough support from her colleagues. Apparently it had nothing to do with the voices of citizens who expressed outrage over her motion.
Time will tell if the rest of the colleagues understood what the general feeling was for support by the public on this motion and wanted nothing to do with the pounding Nancy got from those who dared to comment.
Might this be a dent in the armour of the gang?
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First, council changed the rules so people could only ask questions related to the day’s agenda. Then council changed the rules again, so that questions on only parts of the day’s agenda were allowed (i.e. anything to do with the minutes of the previous meeting were verboten). Then council introduced a 5-minute time limit. But now it seems that if council likes the person or isn’t afraid of their questions, the person can speak on any topic for any length of time. As one of the people whose right to speak when council’s Public Inquiry agenda item comes up is constantly questioned by councillors and admin, I would also like to know if there’s a double standard operating.
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There certainly does appear to be a biased approach to public input from council and administration. This Gaza motion has exposed it handily. I have experienced it first hand when emailing council with concerns on local issues that have directly impacted my family and property (encampments and disorder on my street from encampment dwellers, garbage and environmental concerns, sharps disposal at the park where my dogs and children play, shootings and crime on my property).
I have never had much interest in municipal politics, but this council is so retrograde, it’s hard to ignore it or not feel upset at how they treat you and how they operate. This whole Gaza thing has been mind boggling.
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So, Nancy sees that the giants are indeed windmills, but not before being knocked off her saddle for charging at them. Sancho Panza was right all along! Kamloops council chambers is not a castle, and the kingdom’s influence does not extend half way around the world. There are no virtuous knights assembled around the table wearing shiny armour, only dingy spaghetti colanders on their heads and a virtuous goal that blinded Don Quixote to reality. Who would have thought that the peasants’ main concerns are plowing the roads, throwing the thieves in the gaol, an affordable plot of land to plant turnips, and getting the absinthe drunkards off the cobblestones? It seems the 1600s still have valuable lessons to teach “enlightened” modern individuals.
Join me in saying the takbir. ٱللَّٰهُ أَكْبَرُ. My prayers are with all who have lost their lives.
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Perhaps modern “peasants” main concern is to pretend righteousness and enlightenment and to join the crowd of comfortable conformists…
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This was the equivalent of strapping on a political suicide vest and pulling the string.
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I am quoting Nancy:
“Kamloops City council should not stay in its lane on Gaza conflict”
“Human rights of the individual, especially the most vulnerable, need to be defended, even in difficult situations, or perhaps especially in difficult situations”.
“There are members of Kamloops whose vulnerable loved ones are trapped in the humanitarian disaster of Gaza. City of Kamloops council should support our community members by writing a letter”.
I don’t understand why Nancy is withdrawing the motion….Shame on her for not following through with this motion, for not standing on her word and principles, for not supporting the innocent civilians that have lost their lives, and for abandoning what she started without seeing it through…
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This episode raises serious questions about the judgment of some on council. To bring such an ill-considered motion to a municipal council makes me question the motives of why some ran for these seats in the first place.
Bepple’s motion was actually a “do nothing” motion, and not just for the fact that it was stupid for council to raise this in the first place, but also due to what it was trying to say. As you said Mel, it tried to take all sides, and in doing so, was effectively not only worthless, but ends up offending everyone.
I’m a bit surprised that she won’t let the motion stand so that we can see the vote. She was so adamant about bringing it in the first place. What happened to the “bravery” of taking a stand? What happened to sending a message? What happened to duty? Why the flip flop?
No doubt the public commentary, thanks to this site and others, had council running scared of allowing this to come to a vote. There must have been some serious sidebar conversations trying to talk Coun. Bepple off the space station and back down to earth.
Let this be a wake up call for council. Get back to the business of working for the people of Kamloops. Focus your time and effort on the local issues that have been raised countless times and still aren’t being addressed.
And above all, remember who you work for.
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The war is outside our jurisdiction until it becomes a larger war involving multiple countries. Then it becomes our problem as well. This is 2024 and yet we still cannot stop a slaughter. People talk about taking sides. Why not take the side of innocent people?
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