NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton City Council has approved a resolution that endorses an embargo on U.S. arms to Israel in an act of protest against the war in Gaza, although only after the inclusion of a single word during its second reading.

The resolution, sponsored by Ward 4’s Jeremy Dubs and introduced during the council’s Oct. 17 meeting, called on the council to endorse proposed legislation by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that would block the sale of more than $20 billion in offensive U.S. weaponry to Israel. It also called on Congress to introduce legislation that would impose an embargo on sales and shipment of U.S. weapons to Israel.

But the amended version of the resolution during a second hearing last Thursday clarified that the second part on the resolution would support embargo on “unrestricted” sales and shipment of U.S. weapons, a word that was not in the original draft submitted by Dubs.

Ward 1 councilor Stanley Moulton said the inclusion of the word made the resolution consistent with a similar resolution the council passed in February that called for a cease-fire in the war, as well as “suspension of unrestricted military aid from the United States” to Israel and the “provision of unrestricted, life-saving humanitarian aid in Gaza.”

“I know that from our experience in February that these are very difficult resolutions to work on,” Moulton said. “I do believe that big changes can come from small changes and can come from the grassroots. I see this resolution as building on the February 27th cease-fire resolution that we approved.”

The February resolution had been accompanied by the attendance of numerous anti-war activists in solidarity with the opposition to the war, with an earlier council meeting shut down prematurely due to protests that erupted in council chambers when the resolution had not yet been included.

Thursday’s meeting did not include the same level of theatrics from activists, although there was an outcry chant of “full embargo now!” when councilor Marissa Elkins began explaining why she supported including the word “unrestricted.” The disruption led to a five-minute recess by the council, after which the council resumed normal business.

As with February’s resolution, there were plenty of people who attended to share their views on the matter, with the public comment period of the meeting taking up its maximum allotted 90 minutes of time.

“There are weapons manufacturers right here in Northampton, so how could this not be a local issue?” said resident Phoebe Hannon, referring to the defense contractor L3Harris, which has an office in Northampton. “I want to join the voices who say there are so many better ways for us to spend these tax dollars.”

Though most of the comments urged the council to pass the resolution, there were a few members of the public who spoke in opposition, such as Northampton resident Roni Gold.

“If this resolution was a paper in school, the teacher would send it back and fail it due to false information, poor citations and intellectual dishonesty,” Gold said. “I ask you to vote it down, move it to committee, or postpone it until feedback and discussion can happen.”

The council, however, did choose to vote on it and it passed unanimously, leaving in the included word of “unrestricted.”

“I’d like to take it out, but I would keep it in there if that means we’re going to pass the resolution,” Dubs said regarding the change. “I think there’s no reason we can’t make a statement on this issue. It affects so many people in this town, and I feel like this is our opportunity. We have this position, we have been elected into this office to represent people, and the people are telling us that they want this to happen.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.