Last month, the progressive block of the Portland City Council signed onto a pledge to investigate the city’s financial ties to Israel and its military. They’re calling on city councils across the country to do the same. 

The pledge, which was launched by the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and its four city council members, calls on the city of Portland to investigate whether weapons and surveillance technology used by the Israeli military are being manufactured or transported within the city limits. 

It also calls for an investigation of any city investments in or contracts with companies materially contributing to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as well as any other diplomatic links between the city and the state of Israel.

“We cannot stand by while our public resources and our tax dollars are used to fuel atrocities abroad that, in turn, fuel the militarization on our own streets,” Councilor Mitch Green said during a press conference on October 17. 

The pledge to investigate the extent of Portland’s entanglements with the Israeli military machine comes just more than two years after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, and the beginning of an Israeli assault on Gaza that the United Nations Commission of Inquiry found last month constitutes a genocide. 

Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed nearly 70,000 people and displaced 1.9 million more. More than 80 percent of the buildings in the territory have been destroyed, including nearly all of its hospitals, much of its water supply, and all of its universities. 

Israel and Hamas signed onto a ceasefire agreement brokered by President Donald Trump in early October, but Israel has since violated the terms of the agreement, stoking fears that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to derail the deal. 

Whether or not the ceasefire holds in Gaza—a previous ceasefire, brokered in January, did not—numerous credible human rights groups both inside and outside of Israel have determined that the state’s occupation of the Palestinian territories amounts to apartheid.  

Councilors say the ceasefire agreement does not alleviate the need for Council action on Israel’s violations of international law. 

“Within hours of the ceasefire being announced, the Israeli military was [violating it] by shooting at civilians returning to their homes,” Councilor Sameer Kanal said. 

Kanal also mentioned increasing violence occurring in the West Bank, where Israeli settlers have recently carried out a series of violent attacks against Palestinians. The United Nations humanitarian office documented more than 260 Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank in October—a record since the office began tracking those incidents in 2006.  

In addition to Green and Kanal, Councilors Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, Angelita Morillo, and Tiffany Koyama-Lane have all signed onto the pledge.

Olivia Katbi, a co-chair of DSA’s Portland chapter, said in an email to the Mercury that the councilors are exploring a number of potential avenues to fulfill the pledge and are “in the process of determining next steps.”

“We do hope this pledge can help lay the groundwork for Council resolutions, though passing it in its entirety isn’t the goal,” Katbi said. “There are many parts of the pledge which all have different processes for how they would be implemented into something binding (for example, adopting a new investment policy, or ending a sister city relationship).”

The passage of any part of the pledge through City Council would require the support of a councilor who has not signed onto the pledge. That support may not be forthcoming any time soon: several councilors have publicly condemned the pledge since it was announced. 

Katbi said two councilors from cities outside of Oregon have signed onto the pledge so far, and that DSA and organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and the Palestinian Youth Movement will launch a campaign to gather additional signatures in the coming weeks. 

It is unclear whether there are any specific companies or contracts the councilors want to investigate, though there are well-established links between the Israeli military and Oregon. Leupold & Stevens, which is based in Beaverton and manufactures telescopic rifle scopes that have been used by the Israeli Defense Forces since 2017, faced a protest last year.

There are numerous other links between American weapons and surveillance technology manufacturers and the Israeli military, as well as between American ports and the shipment of those weapons abroad. 

Given national politicians’ apparent unwillingness to stop the flow of weapons and military aid to Israel, Green said it is up to city councils to act—in Portland and across the country.

“People are desperate right now in our country to say, ‘What are you doing to stop this machine?’ whether we’re talking about deportations or a genocide in Gaza,” Green said. 

The pledge isn’t the first attempt by the City Council to use its power to attempt to impact national and international politics. The Council has taken multiple steps in recent weeks to protect residents from federal troops and is investigating the possibility of evicting ICE from its South Waterfront building over land use violations.

While those measures have garnered broad support from city councilors, the DSA contingent is arguing that the battle against Israeli violations of international law is part of the same fight to keep Portland safe as the battle against ICE and the deployment of federal troops. 

“I have seen firsthand the damage caused by weapons of war,” Green, who served in the US Army, said. “And I know that surveillance and military technologies always come home for use in our own communities. We’re seeing this in real time.” 

Indeed, ICE agents last month gained access to spyware from an Israeli-founded firm that will enable them to hack into any mobile phone. 

Another of the councilors’ arguments was financial: Morillo said that when she was in Washington, D.C., lobbying over the summer for money for infrastructure upgrades in Portland, the US’s material support of the Israeli war machine was front of mind. 

“Every dollar that is going to bombing and maiming innocent people abroad is a dollar that is not being spent on our infrastructure here at home,” Morillo said. “I think that we have a moral and a financial responsibility to ensure that we are using our dollars to make the world better.” 

Given the state of Congress, the councilors believe it is on them to force the foreign policy and spending changes they want to see. 

“Where Congress has failed, cities must lead,” Green said.