Somerville City Council voted to file a ballot initiative for Somerville’s divestment from companies in business with Israel on Thursday night, requiring activists to collect about 5,500 voter signatures to secure the question a spot on the city’s November ballot. The council’s 9–2 vote was preceded by a rally organized by Somerville for Palestine, attended by hundreds of Somerville community members outside Somerville City Hall.
“We know that Somerville is a leader across the state, and it would show that our Somerville values demand us to take action, and then it would be up to the city to follow through on that, to take action,” Leila Skinner, one Somerville for Palestine organizer, said.
Somerville was the first Massachusetts city to pass a ceasefire resolution in January 2024. Despite the landmark resolution, Somerville for Palestine argues that the city’s million-dollar contracts with Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar Inc. make the city still complicit in genocide.
“Somerville is invested in Israeli apartheid,” Skinner said, “So that’s why what we’re doing tonight matters so much. It’s because when we see footage of the West Bank of Israeli apartheid — we’re contributing to that, just like our tax dollars are going to pay for the bombs that are falling in Gaza.”
Local residents at the rally said the recent arrest of Rümeysa Öztürk on Tuesday strengthened their incentive to participate in the protest.
“It was definitely really startling to see the videos of Rümeysa being detained just right here on our streets, in our neighborhood, and the genocide has been going on for so long,” Somerville resident Anna Doctor said.
Another Somerville resident, Ally Sass, said part of the reason she wanted to attend the rally was to advocate for the protection of freedom of speech in Somerville, in addition to supporting the ballot question.
“I was horrified that someone was detained in our neighborhood for just writing an op-ed, it sounds like. I’m Jewish, and I went to Jewish summer camp, Hebrew school — by all accounts, I’ve been raised in Zionist framework, but I am staunchly against the occupation of Palestine because I think to be Jewish means to stand up for other ethnic and religious minorities,” Sass said.
At 7 p.m., Somerville police opened the door to more than 50 people who filled council chambers. The council heard four speakers, in favor of and opposed to the addition of the ballot question, before voting.
Jamal Halawa, a Somerville High School teacher, spoke in favor of putting the question on the November ballot.
“I can’t understand why our elected officials cannot bring themselves to condemn this anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate here in Somerville, in the U.S., much less in Palestine,” Halawa said. “Now, masked men are driving across the street, stealing them away and throwing them into unlawful detention for speaking the truth about Palestine, where an apartheid regime is currently conducting a genocide against Palestinian people.”
Council President Pineda Neufeld sponsored Amanda Joseph, New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League and Somerville resident, to speak next. Joseph accused the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement of antisemitism and said there would be disruption to the community because of the ballot question.
“The city solicitor has already confirmed that what is on the ballot question — what it asks for — is illegal. So why are we even here?” Joseph said. “This question is nothing more than a symbolic gesture driven by bias rather than what’s best for this community.”
Councilor Jefferson Thomas Scott then sponsored Alan Jehlen to speak. Jehlen, a member of the Jewish caucus of Somerville for Palestine, said community members should all have the opportunity to vote on Somerville’s divestment from companies in business with Israel.
“The boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is a call to destroy Israel economically," speaker Daniel Engel, a Somerville resident, said, urging the council to reject the ballot question. "Both of these strategies have the same effect here in Somerville. Jews and Zionists feel that they are endangered and unwelcome in this city.”
After hearing from the four speakers, council members voted on the ballot question petition at around 8:40 p.m.
Neufeld made a motion to file the petition. All but two councilors voted to file. Councilor at-Large Willie Burnley Jr. and Scott voted no.
“For a ballot initiative brought by residents and voters, they will now have to gain the signatures of 10% of all voters in Somerville, which is around 5,500 people, in order to get this on November’s ballot,” Burnley Jr. said.
Burnley Jr. expressed disappointment at yesterday’s vote, yet also expressed optimism for the upcoming signature collection process.
“It takes real leaders to … take a stand, and many of my colleagues did not take a stand today, and I’m really disappointed in them for that,” he said. “But I am excited because we are a leader-full community, full of people who will do the work and take that moral stand about our municipal dollars.”
Matthew Sage contributed reporting.
