A resolution calling for the Boston City Council to condemn the Hamas terror attack on Israel ahead of the first anniversary of the event that sparked war in the region led to some unexpected fireworks to cap an otherwise uneventful meeting.

The drama began Wednesday when the body’s lone Jewish councilor, Benjamin Weber, objected to a docket included at the bottom of the consent agenda — a matter typically approved without discussion at the end of each meeting — which turned out to be a resolution pertaining to the Israel-Hamas war put forward by Councilor Ed Flynn, a supporter of Israel who voted against a prior cease-fire resolution.

Weber’s objection led City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune to remove the resolution from the consent agenda, per Council rules, and refer the measure to a subcommittee for further discussion — a decision that ticked off Flynn, who, by way of how he had placed the measure on the meeting agenda, was seeking immediate approval without a hearing.

“This is the first I’m hearing of any objection from Councilor Weber,” Flynn said. “I wish he had the common courtesy to come before me and ask me and talk to me about this instead of catching me off-guard at the last second and not listening to my explanation.”

Flynn went on to explain why he filed the resolution, which calls for the City Council to “condemn the horrific acts of terror that Hamas has inflicted on that day, Oct. 7, and continue to call for the release of the remaining hostages.”

“Not sure what’s so controversial about that, Councilor Weber,” Flynn said. “What are you objecting about?”

Weber, who withdrew a cease-fire resolution he filed early this year before ultimately voting in favor of one that passed after it was put forward by Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, said his objection was not centered around the language condemning the “horrible attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.”

Rather, he said, it was about the process. Weber, the Council’s only Jewish councilor, said his office was not consulted about the resolution ahead of time, and he was “surprised” to see it on the consent agenda.

He said he spoke Wednesday morning with a “prominent Jewish organization,” which relayed that it had not been consulted about the matter either and suggested that “other organizations” were also not told it would be on the consent agenda.

“This docket relates to an important matter that I believe should be before the whole body, rather than voting in silence,” Weber said.

He pointed to an action the resolution calls for as having the potential to exacerbate tensions that already exist in the city around the Israel-Hamas War. The language calls for the Israeli flag to be raised on City Hall Plaza in place of the City of Boston flag on Oct. 7, in recognition of the first anniversary of the terror attack.

“It’s incredibly important to mourn and honor the loss of lives and condemn Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, but it warrants discussion of the best way to do so, in partnership with Jewish leaders and other community leaders, so soon after a shooting in Newton at a rally for Israel,” Weber said.

“With temperatures extremely high, this move seems more about inflaming passions on both sides than healing,” he added.

While Weber said it is important for the Council “to find a way to come together to call for peace” as the “anniversary of the horrible massacre approaches,” he said that he doesn’t “think turning City Hall Plaza into a flash point for people who are suffering on both sides will accomplish that.”

Flynn took issue with those remarks, saying that he doesn’t see a resolution recognizing the Oct. 7 anniversary as “controversial,” and noted that the cease-fire resolution approved by the Council this past May “didn’t even acknowledge” the “horrific” terror attack — an omission that was criticized by prominent Jewish organizations at the time of its passage in May.

“There’s nothing controversial about this, about recognizing Oct. 7,” Flynn said. “I wish, Councilor Weber, you would have come to me, as I mentioned earlier, in a professional manner and had a conversation with me instead of doing this at the last minute.”

Measures pertaining to the Israel-Hamas War have been a consistent source of division on the City Council, in light of the significant loss of life on both sides of the conflict and resulting protests that continue to exacerbate tensions.

Local tensions escalated last week, when a Massachusetts veteran and pro-Israel demonstrator allegedly shot an anti-Israel protester who tackled him to the ground at a rally in Newton.

Flynn’s resolution was referred to the Committee of the Whole for a hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.

Louijuene, when referring the docket to committee, made it a point to thank Weber for his “very somber words and for expressing what you feel and what this means to you as both a city councilor and as a Jewish resident in our city.”

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