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© 2026 The Somerville Times. All rights reserved.
(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)
By Ken Brociner
Given the horrific images of death and destruction resulting from Israel’s brutal war in Gaza, it is understandable that on Nov. 4, many Somervillians may be inclined to support the “Divest from Israel” ballot question.
However, what has been entirely lacking in the debate over Question #3 is that the group behind putting it on the ballot – “Somerville for Palestine” – has been demonstrably misleading the people of Somerville.
“Somerville for Palestine’s” main goal has never been about achieving peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor has it been about Somerville cutting ties to corporations that do business in Israel. The fact is that “Somerville for Palestine” is closely aligned with the international BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) movement which has, since its inception twenty years ago, been single-mindedly devoted to de-legitimizing Israel’s very right to exist. Why? So that a Palestinian state that would stretch “from the River to the Sea” could replace – NOT peacefully exist side-by-side with Israel.
While “Somerville for Palestine” has been relatively circumspect about openly calling for the dismantlement of the state of Israel, it is crystal clear that is their main goal. By being so dishonest about its extremist ideology, it is brazenly ignoring any commitment to “truth in advertising.”
Even more disturbing than its lack of transparency is that “Somerville for Palestine” has, incredibly, refused to criticize Hamas for its barbaric attack on October 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people- most of whom were unarmed civilians, while taking about 250 others as hostages. Neither has it ever criticized Hamas for using Gazans as human shields to absorb Israel’s bombing while its leaders and fighters hid in deeply entrenched underground tunnels. Nor of course, has “Somerville for Palestine” ever mentioned that Hamas started this war in the first place!
Voting against a ballot question sponsored by such a dishonest and disreputable organization is not in any way turning away from Israel’s serious war crimes. One only has to take a look at the aerial photos of the landscape in Gaza to understand the enormity of the destruction that Israel’s military has inflicted on the two million civilians living there. While Israel’s main (and initially justifiable) goal was to disarm/destroy Hamas, for most of the past two years it has been more than willing to kill dozens if not hundreds of civilians in order to take out a small number of key Hamas operatives. Furthermore, Israel’s on and off policy of blocking food and medicine to the civilian population of Gaza is also a blatantly illegal war crime.
For those Somervillians who are tempted to vote for Question # 3, there are far better ways to channel and express their opposition to both Israel’s and Hamas’ war crimes than to vote for a ballot question being promoted by an organization that is concealing its true motives and that can’t even bring itself to condemn Hamas’ murderous rampage of October 7, 2023!
Ken Brociner has lived in Somerville since 1975. His columns, essays and reviews have appeared in In These Times, Dissent, The Boston Phoenix, The Somerville Journal and The Somerville Times, among several other publications.
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Ken, you say there are better ways to express our disapproval for Israel’s genocide and on-going apartheid, but you don’t name any!
Passing this resolution is the strongest way we as citizens can influence our intransigent elected leaders who are mostly bought and paid for by the pro-Israel lobby.
We have worked hard to get this question on the ballot. You are content to sit on the sidelines and call your fellow community members dishonest while offering no alternatives.
I’m voting YES.
Dylan
You’re implying that the reason that BDS resolutions have gotten nowhere in Congress is because “our intransigent elected leaders who are mostly bought and paid for by the pro-Israel lobby” would never support it.
Have you ever considered the possibility that many of them simply think that the BDS movement is not actually advancing the possibility of achieving a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians? Or that many members of Congress see right through the BDS mvt’s rhetoric and understand that it is really calling for the destruction of Israel?
Why is it that neither Bernie Sanders -nor any other progressive senator- has come out in support of a BDS resolution (except for those who have supported it based on concerns about free speech). Nor have 433 out of the 435 members of the House of Representatives – including dozens of members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Does the Israel Lobby have considerable influence in American politics? Yes, of course it does. As do many other organizations that lobby the Congress. But instead of regurgitating the kind of stale rhetoric you are using, you might want to use employ a more nuanced way of looking at the world. It’s dogmatists like you that have turned off so many Americans to a progressive agenda.
About calling Somerville for Palestine “dishonest”…please explain why this organization has chosen to hide its actual/true agenda from the voters in Somerville? Isn’t that a blatant form of dishonesty?
Leftists, continue your thoughts on why it was wrong for Somerville to boycott apartheid South Africa, or why the US was wrong to sanction Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
I, along with most Americans, want to stop sending billions in weapons and foreign aid to a country that is using it to commit genocide. However, I acknowledge my own impotence when in comes to federal policy.
Instead, I have leaned into local politics, where the little people like us can join together and do what we can to end our complicity in Israeli atrocities. We have a right to dictate where our tax dollars go and the city can choose who to contract with or invest in based on their business practices (see the anti-prison labor ordinance of 2020).
That’s what this ballot question is about, and I’m thankful that I have the chance to vote in favor of it.
Dylan
The difference is that the sanctions applied to South Africa and Russia were not intended to deny either country’s right to exist – whereas, unless you are extremely gullible, you fully understand that the long-term goal of the BDS mvt- including – right here in Somerville- is to replace Israel with a Palestinian state from the “river to the sea.”
I actually support Bernie’s amendment to stop sending offensive weapons to Israel. But like Bernie, I also strongly support Israel’s right to exist as well as its ability to defend itself against enemies who want to destroy it.
Norman Finkelstein, who is by no means a supporter of Israel, and Noam Chomsky, also not a supporter of Israel, both oppose BDS. While I don’t agree with many of their views, it is informative to listen to what Chomsky has to say about the movement and the narrative it promotes. Like it or not, Israel does exist and continue to exist as a Jewish state. The BDS movement has sold the Palestinians the idea that if they just push hard enough the Jews will disappear from the land. This narrative brought nothing but disaster to the entire region, but mostly to Palestinians by perpetuating the cycles of violence. There are numerous avenues to support organizations that promote Palestinian life and coexistence (standing together is one that comes to mind, also boycotted by BDS for “normalizing the existence of the Jewish state”, “Realign for Palestine” run by American Palestinian Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is another). I understand the desire to do something. Supporting BDS is not it.
Dylan
Genocide and apartheid are legal definition that needs to be met and proven in an international court of law. That has yet to occur. Accusations have been raised by NGOs and politicized international bodies but nary a legal judgment has happened. Massive civilian casualties in a war from one side’s unconscionable actions is not genocide. If it was, then nearly every war fought would be considered genocide. Consider the Allied firebombing of Tokyo & Dresden or either A-bomb. Nearly every war/military action since WWII fought by a major power (US, USSR, Russia, France, China, etc.) and even by some minor ones (Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and many more) would otherwise be considered a genocide. Atrocious codified (whether de facto or de jure) discriminatory practices against non-citizens is not legal apartheid; if it was, then the US government is currently an apartheid one.
Always the same story. If this were any other country, sure, boycott away! Sanction them! But never Israel. Israel is different. For some reason we are obligated to prop them up no matter what they do.
They can even kill Americans! Foreign aid workers blown to bits, or Palestinian Americans lynched by settler terrorists in the West Bank. All fine, America will keep the money rolling in.
I’ve had enough of it myself, and I know a majority of Americans agree with me. Did South African have a right to exist as an Apartheid state? We don’t want to support that system and that again why I am voting YES.
Dylan
It’s hard to tell if you are deliberately avoiding ackowledging what the BDS movement’s real agenda is -or you just don’t get it.
During the movement against South African apartheid, no one was arguing that the nation of South Africa should cease to exist. Nor did the anti-apartheid have a hidden agenda. But here in Somerville, the group that has placed Question # 3 on the ballot is being transparently deceptive. This is not to say that some of its followers (perhaps including you) aren’t sincerely committed to ending this decades-long conflict by achieving a two state solution. But that is NOT what Somerville for Palestine is all about. They want Israel to be replaced by a Palestinian state – full stop. Please “put your cards on the table.” What is your true agenda?
Dylan
You keep asserting that apartheid and genocide are self-evident without admitting that neither have been proven in Israel’s case. As has been pointed out – it is one thing to level charges, it is another to prove them. I can go around screaming that Somerville is run as an apartheid state but until it is actually proven, the charge doesn’t stick. If Israel was truly an apartheid state, then the more than 20% of its citizens who are non-Jewish would not have the same rights as Jewish ones. That’s simply untrue. Explain that to the members of Knesset, Supreme Court Justices, athletes, and professionals who are not Jewish. There is plenty of societal discrimination against non-Jewish citizens of Israeli, but that is not apartheid.
Genocide also has to be proved, not merely alleged. Personally, like Ken, I think unconscionable things have been perpetrated against Gazans and that some folks should stand trial for their actions as war crimes. But that is not genocide, which is a legal definition (including intent) that needs to be met. Massacres are not automatically genocide.
Furthermore, you mention that Americans were killed by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza but neglect to mention that a greater number of Americans were killed by Hamas on 10/7 and afterwards.
You are correct that a majority of Americans are upset at Israel’s conduct in Gaza. But they don’t call it genocide or apartheid.
Dylan
Based on everything you’ve said so far, it seems pretty clear that you are all in with “Somervile for Palestine” – a group that apparently thinks that what Hamas did on October 7, 2023 was some sort of “revolutionary act of resistance”…which, it seems, is why they- and you – have yet to say anything even remotely critical of the group that proudly killed, kidnapped and raped so many people that day.
Unlike you, there are many people in Somerville who seem to sincerely believe that voting for Question 3 is a way to speak out for peace and against injustice. But what they aren’t aware of is that “Somerville for Palestine’s” real agenda is to wipe Israel off the map.
Back in 1964, Bob Dylan (the real Dylan) wrote a song about the men who killed the civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Dylan titled it: “Only a Pawn in Their Game” by way of referring to the politicians who manipulated so many people in the South in order to keep it racially segregated. Sadly, many of the people who will probably vote for # 3 are exactly that- a pawn in the game that “Somerville for Palestine” is playing.
By the way, you really ought to stop calling yourself ‘Dylan.” The real Dylan sure as hell wouldn’t stay silent about Hamas’ horrific atrocities.
The US is DIRECTLY funding this genocide and we (even in Somerville!) are complicit as citizens with our tax dollars and have to take action. While this question is NONBINDING, it is a call to action to our city. We want to be thoughtful of how we implement in collaboration with the city because we care about Somerville.
If we can boycott companies that have donated to Trump, we can at the very least rethink contracts with companies that, for example, create custom bulldozers to destroy homes in the West Bank, or pull investments in weapons manufacturers. I want my city to invest in life, not death.
https://somervillevotes4palestine.wordpress.com/
Oranges
First of all, whether or not Israel has committed genocide is highly debatable – regardless of how many times people like you and others state it as an uncontested fact. And there are many experts and scholars – not at all connected to the Israeli gov’t – who have argued that while Israel has committed war crimes, it has NOT committed genocide.
Speaking of rethinking, have you rethought your support of Question # 3 given that the group that has been organizing support for it – a) hasn’t told Somervillians what its REAL agenda is (ie to dismantle the state of Israel) b) has refused to critcize Hamas’ criminal massacre of Oct 7, 2023 – or anything else about Hamas for that matter?