A highly anticipated Chicago City Council vote will have to wait. 

The council delayed voting on a cease-fire resolution that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, a move urged by more than two dozen alderpersons that does not necessarily indicate how they might ultimately vote.

But on the same day, Mayor Brandon Johnson — in a major announcement — declared his support for the resolution and called for a cease-fire.

“I condemned the actions of Hamas, but, at this point now, I believe we’re looking at 25,000 Palestinians that have been killed during this war, and the killing has to stop,” Johnson said during a news conference. ​“So yes, we need a cease-fire.”

Meanwhile, the delay on the vote for a cease-fire resolution in the city council was framed as necessary because of its concurrent timing with Holocaust Remembrance Day, reasoning that leading Chicago progressive Jewish groups calling for a cease-fire described as ​“disgraceful.”

“I see this attempt at delay as a shonda—that’s a Yiddish word that means a disgrace, or an utterly shameful act,” says Maya Schenwar, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, Jewish Fast for Gaza, and editor-at-large of Truthout, according to WBEZ. ​“To me, there is no better way to remember the Holocaust than to pass a resolution demanding an end to an ongoing genocide.”

The mayor’s announcement and the council’s delay come as calls for cease-fire have become increasingly common and the majority of U.S. voters continue to support an immediate end to the violence in Gaza. So far, more than 25,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7.

On Monday, for example, the two-million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) also joined the call for a cease-fire, becoming the largest U.S. union to do so and joining other major unions like the United Auto Workers and the American Postal Workers Union in the call for an immediate and lasting peace.

Wherever violence, fear and hatred thrive, working people cannot,” SEIU’s president Mary Kay Henry said in a statement, according to Common Dreams. ​“SEIU members understand that working people often feel the impact of war most deeply and bear the brunt of its terrible consequences.”

Chicago has emerged as a national locus for the cease-fire movement since the violence began October 7 with what have been a seemingly countless number of persistent marches, nonviolent direct actions and other efforts to demand immediate peace and an end to the occupation and system of apartheid in Palestine. 

One of the most high-profile of these efforts came earlier this month when the storied Rainbow PUSH Coalition, founded by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., held an ​“Emergency Summit for Gaza.” That gathering saw many of the nation’s leaders who are calling for a cease-fire descend on a snowy Chicago to strategize on how to further peace efforts in the face of Israeli and U.S. governments that do not appear to have any interest in slowing the war machine.

Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid (D-Ill.), the only Palestinian American in the Illinois State Legislature, used his platform at the conference to urge the Chicago City Council to follow the will of the American public and join the growing cease-fire chorus.

“The city of Chicago … could be the largest city in the country calling for a cease-fire,” Rashid said at the conference. ​“Call every single alderman in the city of Chicago and ask them to cosponsor the cease-fire resolution led by Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez [Sanchez] and Alderman [Daniel] La Spata.”

A city of Chicago’s size calling for a cease-fire would no doubt be impactful on the public discourse around the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza. Chicago is home to the largest population of Palestinians anywhere in the country. U.S. cities that have already officially called for a cease-fire include San Francisco, Detroit and Atlanta, among others.

“We should ask every single member of Congress to insist — to commit — that they will not vote to send a single [additional] dollar to Israel until this issue is resolved,” said Rashid. ​“So cease-fire and no more military aid.”

Several members of the Illinois congressional delegation, including Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), have joined and led the calls for a cease-fire while others have stayed silent or refused to participate in the discussion.

One of those Illinois members of Congress calling for peace at the emergency summit was Rep. Jesús ​“Chuy” García (D-Ill.) who noted that ​“more members of Congress are confronting the reality of this moment.”

“The group of members calling for a cease-fire is growing every week, thanks to the work of so many people out there,” said García. ​“But even as the cease-fire coalition grows, even as organizers around the world demonstrate for peace and accountability, the United States is still materially supporting Israel’s war.”

Despite the postponed vote, cease-fire supporters who had already planned to pack Chicago City Hall Wednesday morning still showed up en masse to demand political support and leadership in the call for peace. While many of the alderpersons who requested the delay have not indicated what their ultimate stance on the resolution may be, opposition to the cease-fire resolution could indicate their separation from the majority of U.S. voters — and especially from an increasing number of young people.