Somerville City Council votes to ban business with companies linked to humanitarian violations

The Somerville City Council in Massachusetts voted 10 to 1 on Thursday night to prohibit the municipality from conducting business with companies deemed complicit in humanitarian violations. The new ordinance specifically targets businesses operating in Israel and Palestine. Only one of the eleven council members, Kristen Strezo, cast a vote against the measure.

Critics of the proposal argued that the ban effectively functions as a boycott of Israel. They expressed concern that this stance would create a less welcoming environment for the city’s Jewish and Israeli residents. However, the ordinance applies only to companies that hold contracts with the municipality and does not affect private businesses or sole proprietors operating within Somerville.

Mayor Jake Wilson’s office confirmed that the measure is now final because it passed with a veto-proof majority. Wilson had not endorsed the original ballot question on Israel divestment during his 2025 campaign. That earlier proposal, approved by 55.7 percent of voters in November 2025, aimed to ban businesses sustaining what it described as Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.

Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen, who drafted the ordinance with Councilor Ben Wheeler, emphasized the importance of the city taking a stand. He noted that the federal government has recently detained pro-Palestinian student protesters, including two individuals allegedly detained by ICE for speaking against Israel. Ewen-Campen stated that while Somerville may not have a massive global impact, collective silence has its own consequences.

In opposition, Councilor Strezo compared the ordinance to the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses before Kristallnacht in 1938. She said the measure makes the Jewish community feel targeted, unsafe, and unwelcome. As she spoke, members of the group Somerville for Palestine could be heard chanting outside City Hall, demanding that the city disclose and divest.

Councilor Emily Hardt supported the vote but noted it was not her first choice. She stated that supporting Palestinian human rights and opposing antisemitism are not contradictory positions. Hardt said she would have preferred an ordinance focused on the actions of the U.S. government but supported the current text as a way to align city resources with commitments to human dignity.

Following the vote, supporters wearing keffiyehs cheered as they left the chamber. Opponents, many wearing white shirts with blue square pins and stickers reading I’m not welcome here, stood silently. Sam Gechter, president of Shalom Somerville, expressed disappointment that the mayor did not use his veto power as he had promised during the campaign.

The ordinance requires any vendor bidding for city business to certify that they meet specific criteria. If a certification is contested, the city will consult databases from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the American Friends Service Committee. A company may be excluded from the ban if the director of finance deems its services essential to city operations and necessary to avoid significant financial burden.

City officials previously raised concerns about the legal and practical feasibility of the rule. Chief Procurement Officer Angela Allen noted that the city lacks the legal authority to formally debar bidders. She warned that the added complexity could cause confusion and delay, though the council proceeded with the vote after several rounds of negotiation in the Legislative Matters Committee.