On Wednesday, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to pass a resolution calling upon City Manager Danielle West to divest the city’s funds from entities “complicit in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
The passage of the divestment resolution comes nearly a year after the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,000 people and taking about 250 hostages, including American citizens.
The Portland City Council previously passed a resolution brought forth by Councilor Pious Ali in January of this year calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
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The full resolution voted upon during the Wednesday meeting, sponsored by City Councilor April Fournier, is entitled “Resolution calling for the City of Portland to divest any and all public monies from entities complicit in the current and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including all entities assisting Israel in the oppression of the Palestinian people.”
Speaking on both the previously passed ceasefire resolution and the divestment resolution, Councilor Fournier said, “It’s not just a symbolic gesture, but really a recognition of our responsibility as a local, municipal government to be able to talk about our values as they relate to people in our community.”
The resolution begins by laying out the dire humanitarian crisis faced by the Palestinians living in Gaza since Israel began their campaign to eliminate Hamas from the territory following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
Without citing a source for the figures, the resolution states that over 37,000 Palestinians, including 14,000 children, have been killed by Israeli attacks on Gaza, and that roughly 1.1 million Palestinians are facing imminent famine.
Included in the resolution is a list of over 80 entities, in addition to the Israeli military and Israeli bonds, that the resolution states are “complicit in Israel’s violation of international law.”
Among the entities listed are weapons manufacturers Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics — parent company of Bath Iron Works, a Maine shipyard that has been the site of multiple pro-Palestine protests over the past year.
Other prominent corporations on the divestment list are Chevron, Intel, General Electric, Motorola and Volvo.
It is alleged in the resolution that the listed entities are either providing Israel with weapons, assisting with the expansion of Israeli settlements, or are profiting from Israel’s “occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people.”
The resolution calls for the City of Portland to divest from all of the listed entities “when it is feasible and carries no financial penalty to the city,” and to make no future investments into the listed entities, as long as “the occupation of the Palestinian Territories and the violations of human rights and international law.”
Published by the City Council on the agenda before the Wednesday meeting was over 35 pages of written public comment on the resolution via email from Portland residents, including a statement of opposition from the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine (JCA), a Jewish community nonprofit organization based in Portland.
The JCA condemned the divestment resolution as “egregious,” and urged Maine’s Jewish community to submit public comment or appear in person before the City Council in person on Wednesday to voice their opposition the resolution.
“We all want peace, and we all want the war to end, but demanding that Israel capitulate to Hamas’ demands to remain in power and have the ability to rebuild its terrorist infrastructure is not acceptable nor pro-peace,” JCA staff and board members wrote in a joint public comment to the City Council.
JCA argued that the Portland City Council lacks the jurisdiction and expertise to weigh in on matters of international law and foreign policy, and that the resolution presents a “one-sided narrative” that fails to acknowledge the complexities of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“[The resolution] overlooks the fact that Israel, like any sovereign nation, has the right to defend itself against terrorist organizations like Hamas, whose actions on October 7, 2023, led to the current crisis,” the JCA leaders wrote. “This omission not only skews the discussion but also risks fueling antisemitic sentiments by singling out Israel for condemnation without acknowledging the broader context of regional instability and terrorism.”
JCA also argued that while passing the resolution is a largely performative gesture, it could have significant negative economic consequences for the city’s pension fund and other financial interests.
Before opening the floor to public comment on the resolution, Portland Mayor Mark Dion asked the large crowd of attendees to keep their comments respectful and refrain from applause or disruptive outbursts, despite disagreements on the resolution.
“We can seriously disagree with each other on the nature and the point of this resolve, but I want it to be respectful,” Dion said. “Everyone’s entitled in this chamber to equal access to this voice, and I’ll enforce that.”
“Respect has to drive this conversation,” Dion added.
Several Jewish Portland residents spoke on both sides of the resolution, with some Jewish speakers who supported the divestment disputing the notion that divestment is antisemitic, and claiming that the Jewish organizations who oppose the resolution do not align with their values.
Jamila Levasseur, a former Portland resident, said that she was Jewish and was the descendant of Holocaust survivors, called Israel’s campaign in Gaza “another Holocaust.”
“Divestment is a powerful tool to bring peace and justice to all of Palestine,” Levasseur said.
David Klein, the head of WEX Venture Capital’s investment arm, said passing the resolution is antisemitic as it “singles out Israel among all the nations for censure and divestment.”
“You are holding Israel solely accountable for what has happened in this conflict,” Klein said, pointing to the fact that Hamas’ attack on Israel started the current war is not mentioned in the resolution.
Stephen Cope, a Jewish business owner in Portland whose office was vandalized with pro-Palestine graffiti shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, told the City Council that passing the resolution would be divisive.
[RELATED: Jewish Business in Portland Vandalized With Pro-Palestine Graffiti…]
“Portland pretends to promote DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], but DEI only works as long as you’re not Jewish,” Cope said. “And this [resolution] is not inclusive.”
“Not one supporter of this resolution has mentioned the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and that is Hamas,” Cope added. “I haven’t heard the word Hamas from anyone — Hamas is the one who started it, Hamas is a terrorist organization that kills and murders.”
One Portland resident who spoke in favor of the resolution identified herself as an Iraqi immigrant, and said that growing up in Iraq she viewed the U.S. as “a black hole” and as a “monster that ate everything in its path.”
The Iraqi immigrant said she was inspired by pro-Palestine protests in Maine that “rejected their government’s participation in genocide.”
Other speakers criticized the resolution for not addressing issues local to Portland, claiming that it would only divide the community further.
Portland resident Joey Nelson asked the City Council in his public comment who in the city passing the resolution would benefit.
“This resolution does nothing but create more division in a city that is already extremely polarized,” Nelson said.
“If you want to make a difference in the lives of Portlanders, do something that brings us together,” he added. “Tackle one of the many issues that’s facing this city — because this is not one of them. This does nothing but alienate Jews and Israelis who live in this city.”
Another Portland resident said that for the City Council to even entertain divestment is “a bit ridiculous” and would divide the city based on “virtue signaling.”
Emotionally charged public comments where shared from Palestinian Americans living in Portland, including from one speaker who held up a picture of his nephew, who he said was shot and killed by Israeli settlers.
Fateh Azzam, a Palestinian refugee who said he became a U.S. citizen in Portland in 1978, described Israel’s actions as a “genocide.”
Azzam said that he supports the resolution not because it will lead to peace in the conflict, but because “we all are complicit in this genocide, because our U.S. tax dollars pay for this horrific slaughter.”
Over an hour into the public comment period, a speaker admonished Mayor Dion for not using gender-neutral language to address speakers, an issue which came up during the January meeting in which the City Council passed the ceasefire resolution.
At the January meeting, after having to continuously ask attendees to remain quiet during public comment, Dion made an outburst requesting a police officer be sent to the upper level of the council chambers “cause obviously they [referring to people causing a commotion] don’t understand English.”
Dion later offered his apologies for making the comment, saying that he is “old school” and has “a lot of work to do as a person.”
Soon after he was scolded for his use of honorifics during the Wednesday meeting, Dion called a 10-minute recess, and when he returned to the podium he apologized for his “transgression” of addressing speakers as “sir” and “ma’am.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve made this transgression — referring to ‘ma’am’ and ‘sir’ — it probably should’ve just been ‘speaker,'” Dion said. “I’m a work in progress, so I apologize.”
“I’m a human being, and I screwed up,” he added.
Another tense moment broke out when one speaker referred to the supporters of the resolution as “masked marauders” and “keffiyeh-wearing useful idiots” — referring to the traditional Middle Eastern scarves donned by many pro-Palestine activists.
Mayor Dion rebuked the speaker, calling his comments “pretty disrespectful” and “unnecessarily provocative.”
“If you have an opinion on the resolution by all means share it with us, don’t taunt people into a reaction or to have some kind of theater up there, because it could go badly,” Dion warned.
A total of 72 individuals offered public comment to the City Council Wednesday evening, with 53 speakers supporting the resolution and 19 speakers opposed.
After the over three hours of public comment, the Portland City Council held a brief discussion and voted unanimously to pass the divestment resolution, becoming the fourth city in the U.S. and the first on the east coast to adopt a divestment plan.
City Councilor Anna Trevorrow said the resolution is a “rejection of extreme violence, it’s a rejection of cruelty, it’s a rejection, yes, of genocide and of war crimes.”
“The best that we can do is to live by our morals and to hope that we create a ripple effect so that others will follow and we can normalize compassion in our community,” Trevorrow said.
Councilor Roberto Rodriguez said that while he had “gone back and forward” on his support for the resolution and whether the Council should even consider it, he eventually decided that it is an important issue and will have a positive impact on Portlanders.
Offering his own opinion on the resolution, Mayor Dion said that he had received text messages from friends who felt betrayed due to his support for divestment.
“I see this as a police officer,” Dion, a former police officer and Cumberland County Sheriff, said. “I see a government that had every right to defend, and I can appreciate the desire for retribution — that’s a human thing, and it gets translated into a government, it becomes a dangerous thing.”
“But as I would as a police officer, I think our role collectively is to grab their shoulder and say ‘it’s enough, it’s simply enough,’ and pull them away,” he added. “And that’s sometimes the greatest act of friendship that you can do to someone you hold dear, as I hold my friends in the Jewish community.”
Following the resolution’s passage, the JCA released a follow-up statement calling the move a “deeply inappropriate use of the City Council’s time and resources,” and that it “alienates a significant portion of Portland’s Jewish residents.”
The JCA stated that they are working with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to work towards “actionable ways to combat anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and intolerance in our community.”
“We will continue to stand together, stronger than ever, with a clear commitment to our values and to the protection and well-being of our community,” the Jewish community organization stated.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national Muslim civil rights advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., praised the Portland City Council for adopting the resolution.
“We welcome this decision by the Portland City Council and urge other cities to follow suit and divest from the genocidal Israeli government,” said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw on Thursday.
The full divestment resolution can be read below:
