US city council votes unanimously to divest from companies doing business with Israel

Portland City Council in Maine has voted unanimously to divest from companies doing business with Israel, as the occupation state’s near 11-month military offensive against the Palestinians in Gaza has killed 41,000 Palestinians and wounded 95,000 others. The overwhelming majority of those killed in what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has called a plausible genocide were women and children.

The divestment list includes 85 companies, among them major corporations such as Chevron, Volvo and Boeing. The move follows a previous resolution passed in January, which called for the US government to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Israel has since rejected several ceasefire deals by introducing new conditions to those agreed by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas.

The latest resolution was proposed by Councillor April Fournier, and the vote attracted a large and emotional crowd to City Hall. The council chambers and overflow rooms were filled to capacity as the meeting entered its third hour of public comment.

Residents who spoke in support of the resolution argued that it was not about taking sides, but rather about divesting from war and genocide. They emphasised that it was the least they could do in response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Some supporters pleaded with the council to ensure that their tax contributions would not fund what they described as the extermination of Palestinians.

The resolution acknowledged the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and sought to avoid supporting this crisis economically through the city’s financial investments.

This decision by Portland City Council in Maine marks a significant step in local government responses to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. US cities such as Portland in Oregon, Berkeley in California and St. Louis in Missouri have passed measures supported by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting specific companies.

This marks a significant milestone in the US. It is the first time that a US city council has fully endorsed a measure supporting the BDS movement against Israel. The vote represents a major breakthrough for the global BDS campaign, which aims to exert economic pressure on the occupation state. The campaign draws inspiration from similar tactics used against the apartheid regime in South Africa, hoping to achieve comparable results by ending Israel’s apartheid in occupied Palestine.

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