EASTHAMPTON — The City Council on Wednesday passed a nonbinding resolution urging the city to divest about $454,000 from companies accused of complicity in human rights violations in Israel and Palestine.
The clock had just rolled past 9 p.m. when councilors approved the resolution. Members of Easthampton Divest, the group that spearheaded efforts to get the resolution passed, cheered and applauded as their nearly yearlong campaign came to fruition. Since forming in December, the group has collected more than 525 signatures from local residents in favor of the resolution.
Before the vote, Hoang Phan, a member of Easthampton Divest, urged councilors to “stop facilitating crimes against humanity, stop complicity in war crimes and violations of international law, stop providing the material support for illegal occupation and apartheid. Vote yes to divest.”
The resolution urges Mayor Salem Derby and the city treasurer to divest, within two years, about $395,000 invested in GE Aerospace, $13,800 in Palantir Technologies, $9,600 in RTX Corporation and multiple smaller investments.
Derby, who did not attend the Wednesday meeting, said in an interview Monday that the divestment would not happen immediately.
“If this does pass, what it would do is it would create a heightened awareness for the finance team to look at our investments and to determine what the best course of action for the city is,” Derby said.
Eon Fontes-May, a member of Easthampton Divest, told the Gazette after the meeting that the group will now try to work with city officials to make divestment a reality.
More than 100 people attended the meeting in person and online. Supporters of the resolution outnumbered opponents, though many people asked the council to reject it. Some argued it would increase antisemitism, while others said the council has no authority to get involved in international conflicts.
“A city council’s job is to manage local infrastructure, budgets and public safety. Debating international conflicts drains staff resources and distracts from core municipal duties,” said resident Neil Brick. “Resolutions like this spark bitter local polarization without achieving any tangible foreign policy outcomes.”
Opponents also included Adam Solender of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts, and drew people from Northampton, Vermont and Brookline. Solender said every voice matters in a democracy, including those that disagree with the prevailing opinion.
“We’re disappointed that so much time, energy, and civic attention has been devoted to a divisive international political issue,” he said.
Resident Ben Breger attended the meeting virtually, saying he is horrified by the actions of the Israeli government but asked the council to reject the resolution, saying that it has caused division.
“I understand you all want to sleep well at night and have a clean conscience that city funds do not perpetuate global injustice,” he said. “That is a great goal, but there is a way to do it that does not sow deep division and antisemitism right here in our own community.”
Investments
Easthampton Divest used a list of 82 companies identified by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as complicit in human rights violations in Israel and Palestine. The group found the city was invested in 11 of the companies on that list.
The city’s investments in those companies totaled $454,000 as of December 2025, Treasurer Brooke Johnson previously told the Gazette. She said the figures have not changed much, based on a September meeting with the city’s wealth manager, Bartholomew and Company of Worcester.
After the resolution was introduced in early September, councilors on the finance subcommittee made several tweaks to the language with help from legal counsel so it would be better able to withstand a legal challenge.
Like Easthampton, Northampton officials have yet to act on a similar resolution passed by that city’s council in September 2025. That resolution called on the city to divest some $71,000 from similar companies. A lawsuit claiming the Northampton council lacked the authority to urge divestment was ultimately dismissed.
Some residents at the Easthampton meeting made claims that Northampton’s resolution had hurt the city’s investments, but Northampton Finance Director Charlene Nardi told the Gazette that’s not the case.
“We have not made any adjustments based on the resolution,” she said.
Nardi said that because of market changes, Northampton’s holdings in those companies dropped to about $45,000 as of December 2025. The city is not invested directly in companies on the AFSC list, she said, but through financial instruments, such as mutual funds or bonds, managed by the city’s investment manager.
Eve Glazier, an Easthampton resident and member of Jewish Voice for Peace Western Massachusetts, said she just moved from Northampton and it was “special” to see that city’s divestment resolution pass.
“I’m really excited to join this community. I’ll be even more excited to be living in this community once I know my tax dollars are not going towards funding apartheid conditions in Palestine,” she said at the meeting.
Resident Deb Friedman, who identified herself as Jewish and supported the resolution, disagreed that it would increase antisemitism.
“It’s Israel’s actions that are contributing to rising antisemitism and opposing this resolution based on the falsehood that it increases antisemitism is offensive to me,” Freidman said.
Matt Thompson, a former Easthampton resident who runs the Easthampton Group Facebook Page said he has had to remove multiple “extremely heinous antisemitic comments,” from a post about the resolution.
Mayor, councilors weigh in
In Easthampton on Wednesday, Councilor Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid, who sponsored the resolution alongside Vice President Felicia Jadczak, said multiple human rights organizations, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, have identified that genocide is being committed in Gaza.
“It is clear that there is a significant group of residents, including myself, who are deeply disturbed by the horrific acts committed by Israel in Palestine,” Jamrog-McQuaid said. “Acts that are supported by our public dollars and enabled by American companies.”
In an impassioned 10-minute statement, Councilor Jonathan Schmidt asked that people try to find understanding with one another. But ultimately, he said “refusing to invest our collective funds in war profiteering should be a pretty straightforward thing to agree upon.”
“Investments are not a neutral position and to claim that we as a city should have no say in the companies we give our monies to, American companies or otherwise, is disingenuous at best,” he said.
Councilors voted 8-0 to approve the resolution. Member Tamara Smith, who was attending virtually, lost connection and did not vote. The debate sparked a broader discussion among councilors about ethical investing as a whole.
Derby said in an interview that in the midst of a financial crisis, the city needs to save as much money as possible.
“The bottom line is, (we’re) in a financial crisis,” Derby said. “We literally cannot afford to lose any money.”
He said if the city divests from “one country,” it should look at divesting from companies aiding “atrocities around the world,” adding that antisemitism is on the rise.
“I can see all the sides of this issue and really the lens that I need to use on this issue is what’s best for the city of Easthampton,” Derby said.
