Somerville divestment group expands agenda to new cities
By Kristin Erekson
The Jewish Advocate
In a move that is inciting the ire of many within the Jewish community, a local group advocating for divestment from Israel is expanding its reach into two Boston-area neighborhoods.
The Somerville Divestment Project (SDP), a self-described human rights group that refers to Israel as an “apartheid state,” has announced in a posting on its Web site that it is gearing up “for an ambitious project of expansion” into Cambridge and Jamaica Plain.
Ron Francis, a member of the SDP’s board, said his group is spreading into new communities because “more people than ever are aware of Israel’s ethnic cleansing project as an immoral, unconscionable and illegal act.”
In addition, the SDP has launched a fundraising campaign to support its latest efforts. Francis declined to comment on SDP’s donors and budgetary needs for the project, stating he will not discuss the group’s “internal operations.”
John Spritzler and P.F. Soto, members of the anti-Israel faction, did not return phone calls and e-mails for comment.
“Israel [is engaging in] an immoral act and the world is responding,” added Francis, referring to Britain’s University and College Union’s potential boycott of Israeli academics. “Apartheid states represent a gross injustice.”
Nancy K. Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said that while it is unfortunate that the SDP is branching out, she doesn’t view it as a significant threat. The proof, Kaufman added, was when the group’s two nonbinding questions involving divestment from Israel and Palestinians’ Right to Return on the 27th Middlesex District state ballot were defeated last November.
“I don’t think [the SDP] will see the light of day in Cambridge, because Cambridge won’t take this kind of thing. They won’t get anywhere with the city of Boston either,” she said. “But, we will continue to fight them wherever they are. We all know they have no interest in peace in the Middle East and they are only interested in advancing their cause.”
As of press time, the media relations offices for Cambridge Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino did not return phone calls and e-mails for comment.
Upon learning that the SDP is planning on placing another Palestinian question onto the ballot in 2008, Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone said he wasn’t shocked about the group’s persistence in making its point.
“They have been pretty aggressive in their tactics,” Curtatone added. “But we have sent out a clear message as a government and community that we don’t agree with their position. These are very complex issues that cannot be solved or advocated clearly by a resolution via a municipal body.”
In addition to tackling the SDP’s latest initiatives, local Jewish groups are also preparing ways to peacefully counter a proposed Palestine Awareness Festival to be held at Edward Sennott Park in Cambridge in October. According to an employee of the City of Cambridge, the festival, organized by Rule 19, a local anti-Israel group, will feature an exhibit by Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al-Ali as well as a model Palestinian home destroyed by Israeli soldiers.
Hillel Stavis, community outreach manager at The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership, said it is unlikely that these “anti-Israel fringe groups” will succeed in promoting their causes. Added Stavis: “It’s unfortunate that a lot of groups have to waste their time fighting these crazies.”
