Thirty Northampton Residents Move to Intervene in Divestment Lawsuit

In response to lawsuit brought by right-wing lawfare organizations, Northampton residents defend city’s right to remove public investments from Israeli apartheid.

Source: Apartheid Divest Northampton

Thirty Northampton residents and municipal taxpayers, including twenty members of the city’s Jewish community, joined together to move to intervene in the case Kevin Hale, et al. v. City of Northampton, the lawsuit filed in March seeking to invalidate the Resolution Calling For The City Of Northampton To Divest From Entities Complicit In Human Rights Violations In Israel And Palestine (R-25.314), which city council passed unanimously last September following overwhelming public support. Intervenors include residents deeply involved in Northampton’s Jewish community, former public officials, healthcare workers, and professors, all of whom are committed to defending Northampton’s right to make investments that align with values of peace, justice, and human rights.

The original city council resolution cited Amnesty International, which concluded in 2022 that Israel imposes apartheid against Palestinians across Israel and on occupied Palestinian land, as well as the International Court of Justice, which ruled in 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem is illegal, and that all states and international organizations have a legal obligation not to recognize or assist the occupation. The resolution called for the city to divest its funds from companies meeting the American Friends Service Committee’s extensive criteria for substantial, ongoing, and intentional complicity in violations of international law and human rights. As of January 2025, Northampton had more than $70,000 invested in companies meeting these criteria, including the First International Bank of Israel – which finances the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank – and weapons manufacturer RTX (formerly Raytheon).

In their memorandum made public in early June, intervenors outlined how the lawsuit misrepresents the resolution and the law, and they warned that this right-wing challenge to the city’s divestment resolution imperils ethical investment policies writ large, from fossil fuels to war profiteering.

Alisa Klein is an intervenor and former city councilor who has lived in Northampton for more than three decades. Said Klein:

“I feel a deep moral obligation to support the policies recommended by this resolution. I myself am Jewish. I have dual Israeli-American citizenship. I served in the Israeli army for two years, where I began to understand the brutality and injustices of Israeli militarism and apartheid that are now culminating in a systematic genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Intervenor Lois Ahrens, who has lived in Northampton for 46 years, said:

“I was here in Northampton when Massachusetts was a leader in the movement to divest from apartheid South Africa. And just ten years ago, Northampton stood up to divest from fossil fuel companies. This resolution follows in that proud tradition by urging the city to divest funds from entities upholding Israel’s cruel system of apartheid. The recent lawsuit seeks to impose a chilling effect on local movements for justice, and it must be ardently defended against.”

Prior to city council’s passage of the divestment resolution on Sept. 18, 2025, dozens of Northampton residents spoke of their grief at the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, their pride in Northampton’s progressive values, and their hope to take meaningful local action for peace.