Somerville officials are set to take up a proposed ordinance on Thursday that would bar the city from doing business with, or investing in, companies tied to conduct the measure describes as apartheid, genocide, unlawful military occupation or other systematic violations of international humanitarian law. The proposal would apply, without limitation, in Israel and Palestine.
That makes Thursday the first real test of whether Somerville will turn a November ballot question into enforceable city policy. The ordinance would direct the mayor to create, maintain and apply an Ethical Procurement and Investment Policy, putting city purchasing and investment decisions under a new set of rules if the measure advances.
Ben Ewen-Campen and Ben Wheeler sponsored the proposal, and the City Council voted in late November to work toward fulfilling Ballot Question 3’s directive after voters approved it with 55.7% of the votes cast. Question 3 asked whether the city should be made to cut business ties with companies that engage in business that sustains Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine.
The reach could be broad. The ordinance would cover vendors and investments tied to the conduct it names, which means the city’s usual procurement categories could be pulled into the review whenever they involve companies that draw revenue from those activities. But the measure also builds in limits: Somerville could still buy what it needs if procurement is essential to city operations or if compliance would break an open bidding process, and it could keep investing in otherwise barred companies if that is essential to the city’s sound financial operation.
That balance is where the proposal gets difficult. It asks Somerville to take a formal position on business ties connected to Israel and Palestine while still preserving the city’s ability to function, pay its bills and protect its finances. In practice, that means the ordinance is not a blanket shutdown of city contracting or investing; it is a screening rule with escape hatches that could matter as much as the ban itself.
The policy would also require the mayor to consider findings from the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The International Criminal Court previously issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant and the chief of Hamas’s military wing, a reminder of how closely the ordinance is being tied to the legal and political fallout of the war in Gaza.
Officials in Northampton and Medford have already approved similar divestment legislation, giving Somerville a nearby reference point as it weighs whether to follow suit. What happens on Thursday will not be the final word on the issue, but it will show whether the council is prepared to move from a voter signal to a policy that could change how the city buys and invests.
