Last night the Madison City Council voted not to pass the resolution that would have made them a “sister city” of Rafah, in the Palestinian Authority—a terrorist haven ruled by Hamas, riddled with weapons smuggling tunnels: Rafah bid falls short by 2 votes. (Thanks to all who emailed about this.)

The fools who tried to railroad this loathsome proposal through the Council are seething and whining about what wonderful humanitarians they are, and how hurtful this experience has been for them:

“I think this is a fundamentally political statement whether it’s intended to be or not,” said Cieslewicz, who earlier Tuesday vowed to veto the sister city pact if approved by the council.

“It’s been a very difficult debate for all of us,” he added.

If not obvious before, Ald. Robbie Webber made Cieslewicz’s observations clear.

Webber started to cry when she described the tenor and substance of the acrimonious battle that has now been in the works for months.

She said she was both sad and angry at how “cruel” and “hateful” some of the statements aimed at supporters of the proposal have been.

“You can call me naive. You can call me uninformed. But I really believe the proposal is about person- to-person contact.”

And here’s another statement from a supporter of the proposal that has to win the prize for sheer cluelessness:

Eric Piotrowski said the sister city pact should be approved for one reason: “There are human beings there.”