Cities are an important part of the BDS movement.
Many local government bodies have investment and procurement relationships with companies that are complicit in Israel’s grave violations of Palestinian rights. Others have twinning relationships (sometimes called sister city agreements) with Israeli local government bodies that participate in Israel’s commission of international crimes. Local governments have an ethical responsibility and a legal obligation to divest from and exclude from contracts companies and institutions that are implicated in recognising, aiding or assisting Israel’s illegal military occupation, system of apartheid, or violations of the Genocide Convention, as determined by the International Court of Justice.
Governments are failing to hold Israel accountable, and in some cases, such as the US, are actively funding, arming and otherwise enabling Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and its underlying system of settler-colonialism, apartheid and illegal military occupation. This means that local governments have a vital role to play in upholding human rights and extending solidarity, as was the case against apartheid South Africa.
Under a second Trump presidency in the US and a far-right shift globally, it is even more urgent that cities act to uphold the values of democracy and human rights and remain in harmony with international law.
Since the start of Israel’s genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza in 2023, cities around the world have divested from Israel, ended contracts with complicit companies, ended twinning agreements, or blocked ships carrying military supplies to Israel from their ports. Cities, reflecting the overwhelming grassroots sentiment, have built the pressure that in some cases led states to enact arms embargo measures or other sanctions on Israel.
Options for your city to take action
Pass a human rights investment and procurement policy, stipulating that the city will not invest in or contract with companies complicit in grave human rights violations.
Your city can pass a policy that would prevent investments and procurement contracts with companies that are complicit in grave human rights violations anywhere. The city can then refer to this policy any time a review is called for before a new investment or procurement contract comes up with a company against which clear evidence of complicity exists.
It is important to build an intersectional campaign around this human rights policy and push for an end to investments/contracts that include grave human rights violations in general, not just in Palestine. Language from the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights can be referenced for this policy. They explain in detail that “states’ international human rights law obligations require that they respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of individuals within their territory and/or jurisdiction. This includes the duty to protect against human rights abuse by third parties, including business enterprises.” These legal obligations also apply to local governments.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s entire occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal and that Israel is guilty of apartheid. Accordingly, local governments are legally obligated to break ties with companies and institutions that are involved in recognizing, aiding or assisting Israeli violations of international law, especially war crimes and crimes against humanity.
EXAMPLES:
The BDS movement’s new universal ethical investment policy builds on ESG guidelines to also include weapons, fossil fuels, human rights and genocide criteria.
AFSC’s language for a human rights investment policy includes weapon companies, military contractors, fossil fuel companies, and other industries avoided by mainstream socially responsible investors. Most importantly, it also includes an innovative human rights screen - a universal conduct-based screen that examines corporate involvement in state violence and human rights violations.
The City of New Orleans passed a resolution pledging to review investments and contracts according to the city’s values of inclusion and respect for human rights.
The City Council in Derry, Ireland, has passed an ethical procurement policy.
Divest from specific companies
If an ethical investment policy is passed, you can then reference the policy to divest from specific complicit companies. If a broad policy fails to pass or is not pursued for other reasons, the city can still target specific companies or sectors for divestment. For example, the city of Hayward, California, and the city of Portland, Maine have divested from a list of specific companies that are complicit in Israel’s regime of oppression.
Your city can boycott complicit BDS targets at an institutional level. Two priority examples:
Boycott Chevron
Chevron is a priority target for boycott and divestment due to its role in supplying fuel and funds for Israeli apartheid and genocide and in environmental devastation. One tactic that could be pursued at the city level is a pledge not to fill city-owned vehicles at Chevron, Caltex, and Texaco gas stations, until Chevron withdraws from its illegal business in Israel.
Dump Cisco/Webex
Cisco is a priority tech target that is best impacted through its institutional contracts. Cisco knowingly provides Israel with technology that is used to commit war crimes, automate apartheid and accelerate the Gaza genocide. You can identify if your city holds a Cisco contract if it uses Webex, Meraki, Duo Mobile, Splunk, ThousandEyes, Jasper or Cisco hardware such as Cisco brand phones and security cameras.
Sister-city projects ideally aim to promote ties between community members in both cities to learn about each other's lives and work together to support one another. When a city has sister city ties with an Israeli city, it serves to whitewash Israel as a “normal” state with which we should build cooperation - instead of presenting the truth of a genocidal apartheid state.
Recognizing that every single Israeli city is deeply implicated in the state’s crimes and grave human rights violations against Indigenous Palestinians, there have been many precedents for ending sister-city relationships with complicit Israeli cities: Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); Ixelles, Belgium; and Antalya, Turkey, among many others, have all ended their relationships with their respective Israeli sister cities. Some cities like Belem, Brazil have declared themselves Apartheid-Free Zones, while some like Liege, Belgium have cut all ties with apartheid Israel.
Call on your parliament to implement a comprehensive military embargo against Israel (includes ending military funding to and military-security trade with Israel, as well as transit of military supplies to it) and to follow and enforce existing law.
Example passed by Northampton, MA city council November 2024.
Consolidating the efforts of adopting human rights aligned procurement and investment policies, divestments, resolutions and ending twinning agreements with Israeli cities, build popular support calling on elected officials to declare your city as an Apartheid Free City. This would enable intersectional mobilization and policy changes at your city level -- making our communities stronger and mainstreaming social justice. It would also serve as an example for other cities. See the BDS movement’s global Apartheid Free Zone campaign, and AFSC’s Apartheid Free Communities.