At the Sept. 2 Easthampton City Council meeting a resolution was introduced asking the city to divest from companies that “directly facilitate and enable severe violations of human rights and international law in Israel and Palestine.” Easthampton has more than $450,000 invested in companies that manufacture the weapons and technologies that the Israeli government uses in its oppression of Palestinians. These investments include $395,710 in GE Aerospace (one of the world’s largest military contractors); $9,680 in RTX Corp. (formerly Raytheon), and $13,880 in Palantir Technologies (whose tech is used by the Israeli military as well as by ICE). GE Aerospace’s engines and components are integral to Israel’s fighter jets, attack helicopters, and surveillance aircraft.

Stopping Israel’s human rights abuses is a local issue. Our tax dollars and city funds are directly profiting companies that allow Israel to maintain its “institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination” (in the words of Amnesty International). These companies enable Israel’s discriminatory apartheid system, its wars on its neighbors, and its genocide in Gaza (which has killed over 73,000 — including 20,179 children — and destroyed nearly every school and hospital). Since October 2023, the U.S. has provided roughly $22 billion in direct military aid to Israel. This money could have been far better spent funding services at home: healthcare, housing, and education.

I am a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Western MA, which strongly supports divestment. Denouncing Israel’s crimes and supporting boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel is not antisemitic. According to an October 2025 Washington Post survey, 39% of Jewish respondents believed that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and 61% agreed that Israel had committed war crimes. Both criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism have long histories in the Jewish community. As in the campaign against apartheid in South Africa, divestment sends a powerful message and has a real impact on the companies profiting from human rights abuses.

Mara Dodge

Easthampton