As a native Portlander whose family has lived here for nearly 120 years, I was hopeful that the new Portland City Council members who were elected in 2024 would work to build consensus and a sense of unity in addressing the city’s major crises. Imagine, then, my dismay, when I learned of an effort by the group of six councilors who call themselves “Peacock” (short for progressive caucus) to hijack the council’s agenda in pursuit of punitive actions against the State of Israel.

On Oct. 17, four of the councilors—Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo and Sameer Kanal, all self-described democratic socialists—held a virtual press conference to demonize the world’s only Jewish state. (Though not present during the conference, Candace Avalos and Jamie Dunphy also expressed their support for the proposed measures.)  

At a time when Portland is facing an intractable homelessness and addiction crisis, a dearth of affordability housing, declining tax revenue as businesses flee the city, and the deployment of the National Guard to our streets, Green and his colleagues’ anti-Israel agenda took center stage. Just to underscore the depth of their animosity, the press conference featured a speaker from Jewish Voice for Peace, a radical group whose mission includes vilifying Zionism, an integral part of the religious and cultural identity of the overwhelming majority of Jews worldwide.

Shockingly, in a move that smacks of antisemitism, the conveners even barred the editor of The Jewish Review from the press conference to preclude him from asking questions. And I thought these progressive leaders supported freedom of the press.

This is all part of a wider national Democratic Socialists of America campaign in opposition to the terms of the recent ceasefire deal and in support of ongoing Palestinian “resistance” (a euphemism for the terrorist group Hamas). In a statement issued on Oct. 13, DSA called for a boycott to “isolate Israel economically, culturally, and academically.” Of course, there wasn’t a single mention of Hamas’s massacre of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. Nor was there any condemnation of the public executions of Palestinians in Gaza carried out by Hamas since the ceasefire.

Locally, the gang of six has called for an investigation into the city’s “complicity” in Israeli “apartheid” and “genocide.” The claim of apartheid is a verifiable falsehood as anyone who has visited Israel knows. The false accusation of genocide, which the Palestinians have been declaring for decades despite a fivefold increase in the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza since Israel’s establishment, is a blood libel that is currently fueling a surge in antisemitism against American Jews who are said to be complicit.

Peacock is demanding an investigation of companies operating in Israel from which they seek to divest. Does that mean Intel, which has four development and production sites in Israel? Then again, if the councilors are serious about the wider Israel boycott called for by DSA, they should immediately stop using their personal computers and cell phones since they undoubtedly use technology produced in—yes—Israel.

Another unreasonable measure called for by Peacock is to terminate the Portland-Ashkelon sister city relationship, a form of collective punishment against Israelis living in that Mediterranean coastal city. Ironically, up until the Hamas attack, Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital routinely treated Palestinians from Gaza who had severe medical problems. 

Let’s understand, however, that all this is merely a subterfuge for demonizing Israel—delegitimization under the guise of “human rights.” It’s an insidious and divisive campaign that will alienate most of Portland’s 35,000 Jews while doing absolutely nothing to help the Palestinians.

Most significantly, it will detract from the critical work that is sorely needed to solve our city’s mounting problems. 

Bob Horenstein is the Chief Community Relations and Public Affairs Officer for the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland.