(JNS) The city council of Cambridge, Mass., rejected a resolution supporting the BDS movement. The resolution, Policy Order #109, was voted down after nearly seven-and-a-half hours of public testimony by more than 300 people late Tuesday, May 25. The proposed resolution sought to direct the city manager to “review corporate contracts and identify any companies that are in violation of Cambridge’s policy on discrimination, including (but not limited to) Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Hewlett Packard Incorporated over their role in abetting apartheid in the Middle East.” The boycott was proposed by Mass Against HP, a working group of Jewish Voice for Peace, on the basis of HP’s provision of computers to the Israeli military. MAHP is supported by Our Revolution Cambridge, Democratic Socialists of America, and Students for Justice in Palestine, all of whom cooperate with the BDS movement.

“Policy Order #109 had one clear purpose – to leverage the Cambridge City Council to advance the narrow political interests of advocacy groups whose sole purpose is the demonization, isolation and eventual destruction of the State of Israel,” said American Jewish Committee New England Regional Director Rob Leikind. According to AJC, more than 150 people spoke out against the resolution, and 250 Cambridge residents signed a letter opposing it. The letter was organized by AJC New England, ADL New England, the Israeli-American Council, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston and Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston’s Jewish Federation.

A substitute policy order that was introduced and adopted by the city council recognizes Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, and criticizes Hamas alongside the Israeli government.

Said Jeremy Burton, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Boston. “The fight against the BDS movement has grown as its proponents have become bolder, more organized, and more sophisticated than ever before. It’s up to us to remain vigilant and call out this divisive tactic whenever and wherever we see it.”

Main Photo: Cambridge City Hall in Massachusett. Credit: Wangkun Jia/Shutterstock.