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The Israel-Palestine conflict has led to arguments and hurt feelings all around the world for centuries. The Wilson Building is no exception now. 

The Middle East may be thousands of miles away from the District, but Loose Lips hears that the violence in Gaza has prompted all manner of conflict among D.C. politicos over the past few months. Disputes over how to address the situation have pitted councilmembers against each other, against a variety of activists, and even against their own staff members. Although many of these arguments have been held out of the public eye so far, some lawmakers could soon force the matter into the open.

A group of councilmembers is considering introducing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the coming days, according to activists working on the issue. The measure would meet the demands of many who have been trying to draw attention to the plight of Palestinians ever since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas kicked off an intense retaliation by Israel. Organizers are hopeful that a majority of the Council will back the resolution, which is purely ceremonial. But the situation remains fluid, largely thanks to the two staunchest opponents of a ceasefire bill: Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau and Council Chair Phil Mendelson.

There’s been interest among some several of the Council’s more left-leaning lawmakers in supporting a call for a ceasefire for some time now to at least provide some symbolic acknowledgment of the current horrors in Gaza, bringing D.C. in line with other major cities to do so, such as Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston. Plus, it would quiet the vocal demands of activists who have taken to disrupting Council meetings with some regularity and urging lawmakers to take a moral stand against a situation described by some observers as a genocide. Although the precise list of supporters has fluctuated, LL is told that Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George; Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker; and At-Large Councilmembers Anita Bonds, Christina Henderson, and Robert White have been the most consistent in supporting the resolution. 

Yet Mendelson and Nadeau have been maneuvering behind-the-scenes on the issue for several months, according to three sources in and around the Wilson Building. Their opposition to the resolution has chilled many discussions of the matter over fears of retaliation from the pair. A group of Council staffers even began organizing a letter to their bosses demanding they take action on a resolution before the legislature’s July 15 recess (a draft of which they provided to LL). But that push fell apart when Nadeau and other councilmembers caught wind of the effort.

“It’s been creating some real rifts within the building itself,” says Dante O’Hara, an organizer with the Claudia Jones School for Political Education who has been helping to lead the ceasefire efforts. “We didn’t think it would take this long or be this hard to even get something introduced. It’s been really daunting.”

For a closer look at why this issue has gotten so heated inside the Wilson Building, and whether a ceasefire resolution may ever come up for a vote, check out our full story online.

—Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• Tiffany Taylor Gray is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Fasil Teklemariam, who was found dead in his apartment, with his right thumb severed, in April. One witness told police that Teklemariam was Gray’s “sugar daddy,” and that Gray used his severed thumb to access a finance app on his phone. Police have not verified those claims. [NBC Washington]
• “Out of Our Cells,” a program in the DC Jail, pairs incarcerated musicians with other local musicians to turn poems and lyrics written in jail into professionally recorded tracks. [Post]
• Four people were shot in the 1000 block of 12th Street SE Monday evening. The victims, two men and two women, were taken to the hospital and are expected to survive. D.C. police are searching for a blue SUV. [NBC Washington, FOX5, WTOP]
• In order to afford market rate rent in D.C., a minimum wage worker would need to hold down two full-time jobs, according to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. [WUSA9]

By City Paper Staff (tips? editor@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• The Council will consider legislation Tuesday setting up a pilot program testing out Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed changes to truancy enforcement. She wants to see whether the Department of Human Services may be more equipped to intervene and help kids get back in class, rather than the court, though lawmakers still have questions about whether the agency has the capacity to take on this new responsibility. [Post]
• United States Attorney for D.C. Matthew Graves is hailing a recent decline in carjackings as the result of important changes by police and prosecutors. But he is also complaining, once again, that a law allowing for more lenient sentences for young people convicted of carjacking is making his job more difficult, despite extensive evidence that longer sentences don’t serve as effective deterrents. [WJLA, FOX5, WTOP]
• Prosecutors introduced evidence they shouldn’t have in a D.C. double murder case, prompting a judge to declare a mistrial. Both of those decisions irreparably tainted the case against Alphonso J. Walker, the city’s appeals court ruled, barring another trial on those same charges. Legal experts say the case will be a consequential one for D.C.’s court system, perhaps convincing judges to be more hesitant to order new trials. [Post]

By Alex Koma (tips? akoma@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• Prince George’s County’s first Sheetz will open Thursday, July 11. Customers at the gas station and convenience store off Crain Highway can enter to win multiple prizes, including free Sheetz for a year (in the form of a $2,500 gift card).  [WTOP]
• River Club, a new restaurant in Georgetown, offers Italian, Spanish, and Lebanese dishes. The name comes from a shuttered nightclub that co-owner David Nammour’s father ran from 1988 to 1999. The new River Club takes over for Bangkok Joe’s on the waterfront. [Washingtonian]