For the second time this year, a Massachusetts city is locked in a legal battle over an anti-Israel divestment policy. A group of 10 taxpayers sued Northampton last month, challenging the lawfulness of its resolution to divest from Israel.
The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts Superior Court on behalf of the residents, represented by the National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) and the Gevura Fund—the same two organizations that challenged a similar BDS-style policy passed in Medford, MA this February, in a pending federal case we covered here.
While the Medford resolution was couched as a “Values-Aligned Local Investments Ordinance,” the Northampton measure is an explicit call to divest from the Jewish State. The “Resolution Calling for the City of Northampton to Divest from Entities Complicit in Human Rights Violations in Israel and Palestine” directs the city to pull investments from companies deemed to have “a substantial, ongoing, and intentional complicity” in alleged human rights violations in Israel.
The problem, the plaintiffs’ lawyers say, is that the resolution “provides no objective definitions for its key terms, including ‘complicity’ or ‘human rights violations'”—leaving enforcement “entirely to subjective political judgment.” The ordinance also bans future investment in Israel Bonds and mandates full divestment within two years.
The lawyers argue Northampton’s mandate intrudes on an area reserved exclusively to the federal government, is preempted by both federal and state law, and conflicts with the city’s fiduciary duties. They’re asking the court to declare the resolution unlawful and block its enforcement.
The push to pass the measure unanimously last September was led by the as-a-Jew contingent from the local Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, joined by the Democratic Socialists of America, Demilitarize Western Mass, and Showing Up for Racial Justice:
Northampton—home to Smith College and long a hub of progressive activism—has been building toward this moment for years. Its latest resolution followed an earlier Gaza ceasefire call, a vote to support Senator Bernie Sanders’ embargo on weapons to Israel, and prior divestment measures targeting fossil fuels and nuclear weapons manufacturers.
Organizers view Northampton as part of a broader campaign. After the resolution passed, community activist Eve Glazier predicted their win would have “a ripple effect,” with towns across Western Massachusetts, New England, and Connecticut following suit. Another campaign organizer, Ella Carlson, hoped the Northampton divestment success would “snowball to other municipalities.”
It already has. As we reported earlier, cities in Michigan, Maine, California, and Vermont, have reportedly passed their own BDS-aligned divestment ordinances.
For their part, the Jewish groups vow to push back against the unlawful mandates. As NJAC’s Mark Goldfeder put it, “No city council has the power to transform municipal pension funds and public treasuries into instruments of foreign policy.”
[Featured image via Instagram]
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