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<\/a>Opponents of the ordinance fear that in execution it would be akin to a boycott of Israel, and as such would create a negative environment for the city\u2019s Jewish and Israeli residents. The ban only involves companies that work with the municipality and does not impact companies that operate privately in Somerville. It also excludes sole proprietors (individuals operating as companies).<\/p>\nSomerville Mayor Jake Wilson\u2019s office said given that the ordinance passed with a veto-proof majority, the measure is now considered final. <\/p>\n
The ordinance was originally introduced in June by Councilors Ben Ewen-Campen and Ben Wheeler, after the City Council voted in November 2025 to implement ballot Question 3 on Israel divestment, which had been approved by 55.7% of voters earlier that month. Question 3 spoke of banning businesses that sustain \u201cIsrael\u2019s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his campaign in 2025, Wilson did not endorse Question 3. <\/p>\n
Nine councilors on Thursday night offered comments in advance of the vote. <\/p>\n
Ewen-Campen, who wrote and revised the ordinance along with Wheeler, spoke about the importance of a Massachusetts city passing an ordinance about a country across the world, especially at a time when the federal government has clamped down on pro-Palestinian student protesters, noting two incidents of protesters being detained by ICE allegedly for speaking against Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the reason that people want us to be quiet about it is because when you do talk about it, there is just no way to justify it,\u201d Ewen-Campen said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am not under any illusion that Somerville is going to have some enormous impact on the world [by passing this ordinance], but I do think that all of us collectively deciding to be silent about this does have an impact on the world,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is why I think it is worth it to have taken this action, and that is why I have asked for all of your support tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Strezo invoked the Holocaust to explain why she considered the ban antisemitic, referring to Kristallnacht, the Nov. 9-10, 1938, pogrom against Jews in Germany and Austria.<\/p>\n
\u201cA few years before Kristallnacht, the Nazis worked to deter the public from shopping at Jewish businesses,\u201d she said. \u201cTheir efforts started in moments like tonight.\u201d On behalf of her Jewish community, Strezo emphasized that the ordinance \u201cmakes us feel targeted. It makes us feel unsafe. It makes us feel unwelcome.\u201d <\/p>\n
As she spoke, members of the group Somerville for Palestine (S4P), who had gathered outside City Hall for a rally in advance of and throughout the meeting, could be heard through the window, the chanting getting increasingly louder until the words were clearly audible over Strezo\u2019s speech: \u201cDisclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThis ordinance will do nothing to solve the real conflict in the Middle East,\u201d Strezo said. \u201cWhat it will do and has been doing is make Jewish people and Israelis feel less welcome in our city spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n
One councilor pointed out that the ordinance, while worth passing, was not what she\u2019d hoped. Councilor Emily Hardt said, \u201cSupporting Palestinian human rights and standing firmly against antisemitism are not contradictory positions. I believe that both are essential to our commitment to human dignity.\u201d She went on to say that she would have preferred an ordinance that was focused on the actions of the U.S. government, \u201cour government,\u201d but given that this was the ordinance up for the vote, she would support it. \u201cI appreciate the attempts to align use of our resources with our commitments to the rights and dignity of all people, in Israel and Palestine and around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When the vote was finalized, members of the group Somerville for Palestine and other supporters of the ordinance, many wearing keffiyehs, stood up and cheered as they left the chamber. Shalom Somerville members and others opposing the ordinance, many of whom wore white shirts with blue square pins and had stickers with \u201cI\u2019m not welcome here\u201d on their chests, stood silently as most of the room emptied.<\/p>\n