As a 77-year-old Jewish woman, who was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home, went to Jewish summer camps, has visited Israel, and whose ancestors fled persecution because of their religious beliefs, I was appalled to read that some national not-for-profit group was retained by 10 Northampton citizens to sue the city over its resolution to divest from companies allegedly engaged in human rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
A UN Commission of the Human Rights Council, Human Rights Watch and two independent Israeli Human Rights organizations all deemed that what is going on in Israel and the Palestinian Territories is considered a war crime and a crime against humanity on both sides of the conflict. The city’s resolution, as I understand it, would include companies engaged in human rights violations on either side of this conflict. The claim in this lawsuit is that the city is abusing its power and being irresponsible to its taxpayers. So now, this group wants our tax dollars to go towards fighting their frivolous lawsuit instead.
Underlying this lawsuit, I can only assume, is the false equivalency that divesting in this way is antisemitic at its core. This is a shameful misuse of the real harm caused by antisemitism and, it seems to me, the continuing application of this false equivalency will, in the end, only increase antisemitism.
During the 1980s, public institutions and even the U.S. government itself divested from companies doing business in South Africa. This was not considered an abuse of power or the irresponsible use of taxpayers dollars on the part of the U.S. government or other public institutions. In 2018, then Mayor David Narkewicz issued an executive order that prohibited the city from contracting with companies directly involved in manufacturing or maintenance of nuclear weapons. Why weren’t these same 10 citizens and their retained not-for-profit group making the same claims of abuse of power or irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars against the city then?
Robin Levine
Florence