DORAL, FL—A City of Doral Democratic Councilwoman who voted in favor of Republican Mayor Christi Fraga's "peace and security" resolution between Palestine and Israel, which was largely written by a pro-Palestine activist, has now reversed her position on the proposal, claiming Mayor Fraga tried to sneak the resolution past the council without discussion.
Last Wednesday, the Doral City Council unanimously voted for a resolution calling for an end to all hostilities in the ongoing Israel-Palestine War, making it the first South Florida city to push for a ceasefire in the conflict.
The resolution, sponsored by Mayor Fraga, was largely penned by the Miami-based, pro-Palestine activist and lawyer Zohra Mehdi Khorashi. Khorashi, as The Floridian first reported, has been known to regularly post anti-Zionist writings on her Instagram platform, which boasts nearly 200k followers.
A post from last month reads, "We went from demanding a ceasefire to starting a whole revolution faster than I could breathe. They tried to erase Palestine, but the world has become Palestine."
Following Republican backlash and whisperings of pro-Israel protests throughout the South Florida city, Democratic City Commissioner Maureen Porras told The Floridian Publisher Javier Manjarres that she would support a proposal to walk back the "no hostilities" resolution, claiming that Fraga initially tried to sneak the resolution into a separate agenda to avoid discussion on the topic.
"Fraga had originally put the resolution on the Consent Agenda, and when you put an item for a city council meeting on the Consent Agenda, you don't get to discuss it—it basically just gets approved automatically," Porras said, explaining that she was the one to pull the resolution up for discussion.
"I think that our Jewish community feels very hurt. [This resolution] is something that we can bring back and revisit and revise. We can do a motion to reconsider during the next council meeting on June 12th," Porras continued. "I don't think that it's something that truly reflects what the city should—or at least from my personal opinion—what we should be supporting."
"I think that the city of Doral was fine the way it was," she added.
The Resolution's First Draft? A March at the City
Porras moved to the topic of Fraga personally, revealing that Khorashi and Fraga had held a Ramadan dinner in the city before the resolution passed, and that the first proposal draft called for a "march at the city".
"We're a city that has not been disrupted by any sort of protests and doing that would have been inviting these people that are these disruptors like we're seeing at Columbia University. To have these people come into our city and potentially disrupt our communities— I was not going to be supportive of that," she said.
"I think that Fraga's leadership is..." Porras paused. "I've come to question it. And this is a perfect example. This is something that was requested by the Mayor, and she put the entire council in this position."
This is not the first South Florida discrepancy over religious relations—last month, the Democratic Party came under fire from within for refusing to reschedule its Miami-Dade Committee Chair election until after Passover, causing one Jewish candidate to claim that "Democrats have a Jewish problem."
This follows an apparent break in the party, in which a number of leftists have set up encampments on college campuses in favor of Palestine, despite Jewish Democrats condemning what they say is anti-Israel sentiment.
Now, Florida Republicans—who have been markedly united on the pro-Israel front—face a reckoning as their party's Doral mayor calls for a resolution that some see as a ceasefire demand.
Both Khorashi and Fraga, however, have maintained that their resolution is not a ceasefire—with Khorashi saying that "ceasefire" wasn't used because "the term is so political and controversial," Axios reported.
Fraga, meanwhile, insists it is simply about "peace and taking a stand on innocent life."
Political insiders disagree.
"As a fervent supporter of Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas—a terrorist organization that uses its own people as a shield—this is no time to waiver in our support and we must resolve to once and for all eliminate this evil from the face of the Earth," Republican County Commissioner and former State Senator Rene Garcia told The Floridian.
When The Floridian asked Governor Ron DeSantis about his thoughts on the controversial resolution at a press conference in Coral Gables, the governor called Doral's move a "total fraud" and a "joke."
"It calls for the permanent end of all hostilities, and that is exactly what a ceasefire resolution is—if you're proposing something I think you need to call it what it is, which is a ceasefire," Porras said.
Porras, who ended up voting for the resolution, said she only did so because she "did not think that it would get a motion or a second". In other words, she didn't think it would get enough traction to continue.
"When I saw that my colleagues were in support of it I felt that I should contribute to that. But reconsidering right now, I don't think that this is what the city should—or in my opinion—stand for."
When asked for comment, Fraga told The Floridian that she is currently in talks with Jewish leaders and organizations, and will put out a statement when she is ready to do so.
Khorashi did not respond to a request for comment.
Publisher Javier Manjarres contributed to this story
