Advocates end their campaign for divestment from Israel after well-funded legal challenges

Organizers leading a campaign that sought to put the question of the city’s divestment from the State of Israel on the November ballot today announced that they have withdrawn their effort, citing the overwhelming legal resources of their challengers. The announcement of the initiative last week was swiftly followed by revelations that local political figures, including City of Pittsburgh communications director Maria Montaño, had signed petitions to get the measure on the ballot. Montaño subsequently resigned.

“We don’t have the same resources as the challengers to fight for this in court, so, unfortunately, at this time, their voter suppression was successful,” said organizer Ben Case of the No War Crimes on Our Dime campaign at a press conference on Monday. “In short, thousands of Pittsburghers wanted this referendum to appear on the ballot … [our challengers] were so adamant about pushing this off the ballot because they knew if it went to a vote, it would win.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh; clergy from four local congregations including Beth Shalom, Temple Sinai, and Shaare Torah; and City Controller Rachael Heisler had filed legal objections to the majority of the over 15,000 signatures the campaign had collected and to the content of the referendum itself 
Controller Heisler disputed organizers’ characterization of the legal proceedings, saying in a written statement, “The petitioners were not ‘pushed off’ of anything – they simply failed to collect enough valid signatures to get on the ballot. Our office, and the other objectors, followed the legal process available to us.”

In a press release Monday, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh called this development “a decisive win for our Jewish community, local voters, and the entire City of Pittsburgh,” continuing, “From the start, we recognized the danger this referendum represented, and we are grateful to our dedicated team of attorneys — Ron Hicks, Carolyn McGee, and Efrem Grail, who worked without charge to bring home this important legal win. We also extend our deepest gratitude to the Beacon Coalition, the 150 volunteers who devoted countless hours reviewing the petition and City Controller Rachel Heisler for also challenging the petition. Their combined efforts led us to this victory against the first attempt to qualify an anti-Israel boycott and divestment proposal at the municipal level to a popular vote.”

Referendum organizers described their ballot initiative as a continuation of grassroots efforts to push local elected officials to take action to end U.S. military aid to Israel amid Israel’s assault on Gaza that has so far killed at least 40,000 Palestinians.

“Our effort to get a question on divestment on the ballot began as a response to our politicians who refused to listen to the majority as we have been asking, begging, pleading to see action beyond lip service to support a lasting ceasefire in Palestine. And, as we are directed to do, we employed the democratic levers at our disposal,” said organizer Addy Lord.

Elyanna Sharbaji, a Syrian refugee who described herself as a survivor of genocide, said that her participation in the referendum campaign has left her hopeful that a better world is possible and called out local elected officials like Heisler, who she says have failed to listen to their constituents’ calls for action to support a ceasefire.

“Many of us here today have taken action, calling our representatives asking them to support a ceasefire and urging them to stop the funding of a genocide that’s happening in Gaza. We’ve also introduced a ceasefire resolution at the county level, and we’ve seen incredible support from the community, with hundreds showing up in person to back the resolution. But despite all of this, our government officials, those who are supposed to represent us, have chosen to ignore the will of their constituents,” Sharbaji said. “Students in our local universities have demanded their academic institutions divest from funding the genocide. Yet, these students were met with violence and police brutality.”

Alexandra Weiner, a local educator and outspoken Jewish advocate for Palestinian liberation, described her grief that much of the Pittsburgh Jewish community continues to support Israel’s apparent disregard for the lives of Palestinians.

“[The Jewish Federation and others] announced this challenge on Tisha B’Av, the Jewish day of grief and mourning. I cannot help but feel grief that Jewish Pittsburghers that I’ve known in my community for years — Jeffrey Finkelstein, Seth Adelson, Efrem Grail, Audrey Glickman, and more — have decided to engage in such antidemocratic behavior to defend sending money to Israel. I feel grief that the family and friends that I lost on October 27, 2018 [in the Tree of Life massacre] are being used to justify this behavior,” Weiner said. “Most tragically, I feel grief seeing the pictures and videos every single day of what the Israeli military is doing in Gaza. Schools being bombed with hundreds of civilians sheltering inside, fathers mourning their newborns with their birth certificates in hand and children dying of polio and starvation, all of this on the dime of the U.S. taxpayer and with the full support of Sens. Fetterman and Casey, Gov. Shapiro, Pres. Biden, and Vice President Harris.”

Referendum advocates and their legal challengers disagree about whether the majority of Pittsburgh voters support divestment from Israel.

“I believe the referendum language itself is why they failed to get enough signatures,” wrote Heisler in her statement. “City residents do not want to lose access to the essential drugs our medics and EMTs carry, or the safety equipment that protects our firefighters, or the electricity that keeps the lights on. This is fundamentally bad policy that would not make anyone safer — in Pittsburgh or in Gaza.”

Sharbaji contended otherwise, citing polling commissioned by the campaign that shows a majority of local voters would support the referendum.

“We know without a doubt that if this question had made it to the ballot, we would have won, that people support a ceasefire, they demand an end to the funding of genocide, and they stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza,” Sharbaji said.

Case and other campaign organizers said they do not plan to give up their efforts.

“We are proud to be part of a growing movement across the country that says we will not sit idly by while our government sends our tax dollars to fund war crimes and apartheid,” Case said. “We may have been pushed off the ballot today, but we’re not going anywhere. We’ll be back, we’ll be stronger, and we’ll use every avenue available to us to fight for peace, equality, and justice from Pittsburgh to Palestine.”