NORTHAMPTON — Following an approximately 65-person rally Wednesday afternoon to support the city after it was sued for its commitment to divest from entities involved in human rights violations in Israel and Palestine, a Hampshire Superior Court judge heard the city’s motion to dismiss the case.
The National Jewish Advocacy Center, representing 10 Northampton residents, filed a lawsuit in March, months after City Council approved the resolution last September.
In a lively debate before Superior Court Judge Charles Groce III, the city, represented by attorneys Jason Talerman and Alan Seewald, argued that the resolution constituted free governmental speech, as it was nonbinding and simply “urged” the city to divest from companies or entities that profit off the war.
Attorney Douglas Brooks, representing the National Jewish Advocacy Center, argued that regardless of whether the resolution was, in fact, binding, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra began to act on it as if it were policy. He noted that the resolution “urges” a two-year deadline for the treasurer and retirement board to divest, arguing that suggestions typically do not have deadlines.
“It is not merely a symbolic or expressive resolution, as the city suggests,” Brooks said during the hearing. “Its language is operational, and the mayor has made clear that implementation is already underway.”
In response, Talerman said that he, as an attorney, often urges judges to rule one way or another. He maintained that the use of the term “urge” is suggestive, rather than a mandate. He said the city’s resolution counted as an act of free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution, rather than a legal document.
Talerman went on to argue that since the council does not have the legal authority to dictate how other city entities invest funds, the resolution does not, and cannot legally, compel the treasurer or retirement board to divest.
“[City councilors] are perfectly capable, as a political arm of this city, to urge the mayor, the treasurer, the dog catcher to take a specific action … in the same way that a litigant can urge a court to do something, or that me standing on a street corner exercising my free speech rights can urge President Trump to do something,” Talerman said. “They have that right, as long as they don’t cross the line, and free speech cannot. All the discovery in the world doesn’t help [the plaintiff] here.”
The council passed the resolution in response to concerns from residents and activists. The measure urges divestment from Israeli bonds, as well as companies identified by the nonprofit American Friends Service Committee as complicit in human rights abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Companies listed by the nonprofit include Boeing, Chevron and defense contractor L3Harris, which has a manufacturing facility in Northampton. According to the resolution, the city currently has around $71,000 invested in such companies, and the council’s vote calls for full divestment within two years.
Three months later, in June, a group of 30 Northampton residents, including 20 members of the local Jewish community, organized to support the resolution by seeking to intervene in the lawsuit.
On Wednesday, those “interveners,” represented by Attorney Rachel Weber, filed into the courtroom and took their seats among a group of residents who had recently rallied outside the courthouse in support of the resolution.
When Brooks questioned the intervening parties, calling the decision to “add 30 parties” to the case “unnecessary” and “unwieldy,” Weber said that the “interveners” are a single party comprising 30 people, and noted that while the city is advocating for itself, the interveners are acting in the interest of the resolution itself — two separate interests that she said are currently aligned, but could potentially diverge.
“The proposed interveners agree with the city’s position that the plaintiff’s case is meritless, doesn’t pass review … and that the case should be dismissed,” Weber said. “If the case survives, then at that point, our interests very well may diverge.”
Groce took the matter under advisement, concluding the hearing.
The rally
An hour prior to the hearing, members of the public gathered outside the courthouse to speak in support of the resolution and against the Israel-Hamas war in general.
Among those who spoke was former Ward 7 Councilor Alisa Klein, a dual citizen of both Israel and the U.S., who described the war as a “genocide” against Palestinians and called for an end to the conflict.
“I hold dual American-Israeli citizenship and grew up as an avid supporter of Israel and Zionism. I attended high school and university in Israel [and] served two years of compulsory service in a tank unit of the Israeli army,” Klein said. “Yet, what I witnessed throughout my army service and beyond — not just apartheid conditions, but Israeli brutalization and dehumanization of Palestinians — made me dig deeper into the Zionism on which I was raised.”
Klein said she was “deeply offended” by the claim that divestment from Israel was an antisemitic act and further argued that the practice is not unprecedented or radical.
Klein also thanked City Council President Rachel Maiore and Ward 4 Councilor Jeremy Dubs, who attended the rally, for supporting the resolution.
Dubs commented that he thought the lawsuit was “ridiculous” and was hopeful it would be dismissed.
“I’m hoping it gets thrown out in court. The people spoke up and we put together a resolution to make a statement as a city,” Dubs said. “I don’t see what we did that, you know, would give them a reason to try to sue us over it. I think it’s kind of ridiculous.”
