Even in agreeing it’s legal to change how Somerville does business to take a stand on violence in the Middle East, candidates for City Council said at a forum Tuesday that they had different ideas on its wording and approach.
Local activist group Somerville for Palestine held the forum with candidates councilor at-large candidates Tuesday Thomas, Ben Wheeler, Ari Iaccarino and Jon Link, as well as candidate for Ward 7 councilor Michael Murray. The event was moderated by Somerville for Palestine members Sara Halawa and Mia Haddad.
Thomas, Wheeler, Iaccarino, Link and Murray all said in response to a questionnaire shared by Somerville for Palestine this summer that they support the inclusion of a ballot measure proposed by the group on November’s ballot. Ward 3 councilor Ben Ewen-Campen expressed support but was unable to attend the forum due to a scheduling conflict.
The ballot measure calls for the city “to end all current city business and prohibit future city investments and contracts with companies as long as such companies engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
The Elections Department confirmed Thursday that it had certified 6,403 signatures for the measure – over the threshold of 10 percent of Somerville’s registered voters, or roughly 5,200 signatures, needed for initiatives to appear on the ballot.
Somerville for Palestine has shared all candidates’ responses to their questionnaire online.
Organizers refute comments on legality
The ballot measure itself is nonbinding: The council would need to vote to enact an ordinance for its content to take effect.
Somerville for Palestine organizer Lucy Tumavicus criticized mayor Katjana Ballantyne and councilor at-large and mayoral candidate Jake Wilson’s characterizations of the measure as impossible to legally implement at a July mayoral forum held by the Union Square Neighborhood Council.
At the time, Wilson told Cambridge Day that he believed the measure conflicted with a section of Massachusetts’ procurement law. “The procurement officer shall award the contract to the responsible person offering the needed quality of supply or service at the lowest quotation,” Section 4(b) reads.
“There is no evidence to support this,” Tumavicus said. She cited an ordinance passed by the council in 2020 barring contracts that use prison labor as evidence that the measure could be implemented.
“They are using these excuses as a way to not take a real stand on this issue,” Tumavicus said.
Disagreement over language
Wheeler and Thomas said that they’d prefer not to name Israel and Palestine specifically in an ordinance.
Wheeler said that he’d like a potential ordinance to include broader language than the ballot measure itself and prefers the approach taken in Medford, where councilors passed an ordinance in early August requiring divestment from companies engaged in human rights violations broadly, as well as from those engaged in weapons manufacturing, fossil fuels and private prisons.
“To pass any resolution or policy that doesn’t explicitly name Palestine as the oppressed group and doesn’t name Israel as the entity which is responsible for genocide, apartheid and occupation of Palestine doesn’t actually protect Palestinians and erases the struggle that we as Palestinians have endured for decades,” Haddad said in response.
Strategies for implementation
If the measure and an associated ordinance are passed, Wheeler said that he’d work with the city solicitor on new procurement guidelines. Iaccarino agreed and recommended that Somerville for Palestine be included in the review of existing contracts. Any audit of city contracts should be public, he said.
Thomas agreed that Somerville for Palestine should be included in reviews, and that she would be open to exploring sanctions in addition to boycotts and divestment if the measure is passed.
Invitations to bid on city contracts should be adjusted to reflect the measure, Murray said, and he believed doing so would be compatible with existing law.
Role of police
Candidates were also asked how they would respond to anti-Palestinian hate in Somerville. Halawa said that she had seen anti-Palestinian graffiti in Somerville and that several Somerville High School students had been harassed while participating in standouts outside the school. Halawa and other members of Somerville for Palestine wrote about the incidents at the school in a letter published by Cambridge Day in August of 2024.
Iaccarino said he wanted a list of people found to have engaged in anti-Palestinian hate to be publicly available. Link said that he wanted to “amplify Palestinian voices through social programming.”
Police may not be best positioned to respond to anti-Palestinian hate, Murray said, while Thomas suggested that police be educated on the topic. “The police are hardworking and they mean well,” she said.
The moderators said that Somerville for Palestine would prefer a nonpolice response force. All candidates agreed that they would be open to co-hosting an event with Somerville for Palestine aimed at highlighting anti-Palestinian hate, or promoting one held by the group.
Debates over the role of police also came up in a series of mayoral forums hosted by Somerville for Palestine in July. An event with Ballantyne was canceled when the Ballantyne campaign and Somerville for Palestine disagreed over police presence at the event.
The group endorsed councilor at-large Willie Burnley Jr. for mayor Aug. 3 after meeting with him and Wilson. Somerville for Palestine has not yet shared endorsements for City Council.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.
