Well, that didn’t fly.
The Israeli flag will not be raised over Coral Gables City Hall this week for the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, despite Mayor Vince Lago’s push to do just that. After a wave of opposition from residents—and the painfully obvious lack of support from his fellow commissioners — the idea was quietly shelved last month in favor of more neutral, unifying gestures.
But those got shelved as well, possibly because they were all-inclusive. And, instead, the city’s police department has folded an Israeli homage into their National Night Out event Tuesday night — complete with bounce houses and carnival games.
Isn’t that appropriate?
To be clear: National Night Out in the Gables was always going to be on Tuesday, October. 7. It was always going to be at Temple Judea, which is a community gathering spot. But it wasn’t always going to be about Israel. There was no mention of the dark anniversary in the early flyers and announcements. Only a DJ, bounce houses, carnival rides and a police K9 demonstration.
“National Night Out provides our first responders the opportunity to build stronger ties with the community. It also provides a great opportunity for residents to meet their neighbors,” said Police Chief Ed Hudak in a community announcement sent last week.
Now, a new press release from the police department reads: “The event is being held at Temple Judea to provide support for the affected community, and to ensure a secure and supportive environment for all. On this two-year anniversary of the Hamas attacks, we stand in solidarity with our Jewish community.”
Where did that come from?
Read related: City raising an Israeli flag causes fuss and fury at Coral Gables City Hall
The city commission voted Sept. 25 to forgo the hoisting a foreign flag over a public building — which many saw as the city siding with Israel in the current conflict in Gaza, which has been denounced as genocide by multiple world agencies — and, instead, commemorate the tragedy with a banner, an interfaith vigil, and possibly lighting up City Hall in white and blue.
You know, stand in solidarity with all the community.
That last idea was scrapped because people could see right through those colors — it was a different way to present the flag — and demanded that red be added for all the victims of political violence. It’s the colors of America, anyway. But that would defeat Lago’s purpose. So there will be no lighting at City Hall. Basically, if it can’t be blue and white, they don’t want to do it.
Also, the interfaith ceremony apparently fizzled out when city leaders realized they had to invite an imam, too. After all, the whole idea was likely presented by Lago to appease a pro-Israel base that could help fund his future political ambitions. And they did not want to share the stage with those people. That’s what it looks like.
The city has said it was postponed due to a Jewish holiday and the unavailability of rabbis to attend, but las malas lenguas say they were faced with backlash from the Jewish community and an email to Ladra from Gables Spokeswoman Martha Pantin didn’t mention the holiday. “A new date and further details have not yet been finalized,” she wrote Oct. 2. She never did respond to a question asking why the date had been changed. Some kind of “interfaith ceremony” at some point — though nobody seems to know when, where, or what that will look like — is the kind of vague non-answer that usually means everyone’s trying to move on without saying so out loud.
What started as a supposed symbolic gesture from Lago has turned into a full-blown political headache — and, in the end, the city just decided to skip the whole thing. No flag. No blue-and-white lights. No vigil. Just the lingering tension of a community reminded that even the City Beautiful isn’t immune to global divides.
Is there even going to be a banner? Because Ladra knows there was a lot of concern about the date on it.
Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson, perhaps sensing the consistent heat, asked staff before the Sept. 25 meeting to design a banner that could be hung instead of the Israeli flag. What they came up with is two white doves over the Earth and underneath the date Oct. 7. The messages “In Remembrance,” “May Peace Prevail” and “Honoring those who lost their lives” are also on the banner.
Anderson said it was a way to “honor all individuals that were victims of war … and to support peace.”
But if that were true, she might have left the date off. While the terrible attack of Oct. 7 killed somewhere around 1,200 people and led to the taking of more than 200 hostages by Hamas, the reaction by Israel has already led to the deaths of more than 65,000 Palestinians, including children who are being starved to death because humanitarian aid doesn’t make it to the refugees.
Lago first proposed the hair-raising flag raising at the first meeting in September but deferred after some residents pushed back and even Commissioner Richard Lara, in a rare show of independence, seemed resistant. Lago said he wanted other ideas. But he didn’t really.
Read related: Op-Ed by Michael Rosenberg: KFHA ‘In One Room – Together’ was a success
“If it was up to me and it was only me going to vote on this issue, I would raise the flag,” the mayor said Sept. 25, clearly still standing by his original proposal — even if nobody else was. He claimed the move was “not about marginalizing any community,” though many residents said that’s exactly how it felt. Commissioners heard from multiple residents at the meeting, and every single one who spoke on the flag issue said they were against raising it.
“Raising a foreign flag is inherently political,” said one resident who identified as Catholic and Palestinian. “Imagine if you only raised a Palestinian flag — some residents would feel upset and excluded. And they would be justified.
“I would be here speaking on their behalf.”
Attorney Jalel Shehadeh, a member of both the Florida Muslim Bar Association and the Palestinian American Bar Association who lives on North Greenway Drive, was more blunt about this “totally unnecessary endeavor.
“A vote for this is an endorsement of genocide… and would be a public statement from the city that it differentiates between its residents,” Shehadeh said.
In his defense for the indefensible, L’Ego said he had heard from both Jewish and Catholic residents. “They didn’t see this as anti-Palestinian,” he said. Interestingly that he didn’t say Muslims or Palestinians, but he had also heard from them.
Martha Schoolman, an FIU professor who said her father was a rabbi, called the proposal “an act of deeply offensive war mongering out of touch with the views of many in this community,” that ignored how many Jewish families are being torn apart over the issue. “This is a genocide — a nearly completed one. Who is this commission to rub salt in the wounds of our community?”
Some residents seemed dismayed that the mayor, after having gotten so much pushback, would still want to move forward with the flag. “Despite dozens of emails and calls from residents to reconsider, here we are again,” said Katherine Shehadeh.
It’s worth repeating that not one speaker supported the flag-raising. Not one. In two meetings, the only person who spoke in favor was South Miami Javier Fernandez, a land use attorney at City Hall to lobby on something else, who just came back from an all-expense trip to Israel paid for by the Jewish Federation of Broward. Katie Shehadeh called him a “paid propagandist.”
Maybe Lago is angling for a free junket?
Read related: Miami-Dade still deep in Israel bonds despite budget woes — and genocide
Well, he may not get it. Because the commissioners listened to the residents and decided that foreign policy doesn’t belong on the flagpole at City Hall. The city has previously raised flags for other causes, like LGBTQ+ pride and autism awareness. But those were, arguably, local and inclusive, not a stance on an international war that’s left more than 65,000 Palestinians dead since Israel’s military response began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Still, Lago tried to frame the flag-raising as apolitical, a simple gesture of solidarity with a country that shares American values. And he wasn’t happy with the backpedalling. He went on W Radio last week to defend his idea and take a few jabs at his colleagues.
“We are not talking about Palestine and Gaza,” Lago said. “We are not talking about the problems we all know are happening in the Middle East. We are talking about 1,200 Jewish people who lost their lives to Hamas, 1,200 human beings.”
Because, apparently, the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in the Israeli response are not human beings?
Then Lago accused Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez — who had supported the compromise lighting — of “politicizing the issue.” He even tossed in a mention of their vote to raise commissioner salaries, because why not?
But he forgot to say that Lara was also uncomfortable with it. And Anderson worked on the compromise banner. The mayor is all alone on this hill.
Asked about Palestinian suffering, Lago said his heart goes out to all victims, “but a lot of the 65,000 were soldiers with Hamas.”
That’s not going to help heal any wounds, Mayor. It’s also another blatant mistruth from Lyin’ Lago. But that ignores leaked classified documents that say the Isreali military intelligence database indicates 83% of Palestinians killed in Gaza are civilians.
Coral Gables, like many communities grappling with how — or even whether — to acknowledge global tragedies, found itself walking a tightrope in the past few weeks. This time, at least, it looks like commissioners chose balance over bluster.
But the tension may not be over yet. Castro has said that she may try again at the next commission meeting to promote some type of event that will unite the community instead of dividing them.
Good luck with that.
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