City Council President Ron Salem stood out this week during a City Council meeting where he voted against an emergency resolution expressing support for Israel. The rest of the council voted in favor of the resolution, which was introduced by Councilman Nick Howland. The resolution was prompted by the attack on civilian Israelis by the terrorist organization, Hamas.

The resolution declared Jacksonville’s support for Israel and condemned the terrorist attack.

The emergency resolution passed with a vote of 16-1, with Salem being the sole councilmember who voted against it without providing a reason during the meeting.

Eye reached out to Ron Salem and asked why he didn’t vote for the resolution. He didn’t return our call or our text message.

He evidently released a statement to another news source later in the day where they reported he stated, “I mourn the death of Israeli and Palestinian people in this conflict.” The article went on to talk about his Palestinian heritage and then…left his cold, hardened heart behind for readers to ignore.

There is no excuse for anyone to support the horrific killings, brutal rapes, beheadings of babies, and the carnage of INNOCENT CIVILIANS. None whatsoever.

Hamas – funded by Iran – planned this surprise attack on Jews and anyone who doesn’t support this resolution – stands with Hamas and Iran.

Prove us wrong, Ron Salem.

Ron is a member of the Republican Party and Eye reached out to Dean Black, Chairman of the local GOP, to see if he was going to call out Ron Salem and ask him to step down as council President.

We have not heard back from Dean Black either and thought he would surely call him out after calling out Donna Deegan for sexualizing children at the Pride Parade this weekend.

If sexualizing children caused so much outrage by the GOP Chairman, surely supporting the beheading of children would justify some outrage too.

Or is this issue too politically hot within the party to bring attention to it? Will the tactic be to ignore Ron Salem’s support of Hamas/Iran tactics and let the news cycle filter this issue away?

We find the hypocrisy of all of this unfathomable.

As Dean Black stated regarding Mayor Deegan riding in the Pride Parade, “At best, it is beneath the dignity of the office of Mayor to attend events that seek to push sex on our children. At worst, it is morally repugnant for *any* person, let alone the Mayor, to be endorsing or supporting such behavior.”

We now ask him to do the same with Ron Salem.

Maybe a few changes to his statement above would suffice, “At best, it is beneath the dignity of the office of City Council President to deny supporting Israeli civilians – especially babies – who were brutally murdered and beheaded. At worst it is morally repugnant for “any” person, let alone the City Council President, to be endorsing such behavior.”

Rumor has it Ron Salem will be running for Mayor. Remember these days. Remember whom he supported and did not support. Remember the babies.

Additionally, we suggest everyone in Jacksonville be on guard and take care of each other. Just yesterday, the former leader of Hamas called for an uprising – a Jihad – across the globe in support of Palestine tomorrow, Friday, October 13th.

May we be protected from the brutality of evil men who want to kill, steal and destroy all of us. Stand together – no matter your skin color,

your gender, your heritage or your political leanings. That’s the right thing to do during these dark times in our history. In fact, it’s the only thing to do!