Overview
- Unofficial results show Question 3 passing 11,489 to 7,920, or 55.7% to 38.4%, according to the city’s tally.
- The advisory measure urges ending current business and future contracts or investments with companies said to sustain Israel’s apartheid, genocide, and occupation, yet any action now depends on local officials, with implementation prospects clouded by the mayoral win of Jake Wilson, who did not endorse the question.
- Somerville for Palestine qualified the question with 8,013 certified signatures and has identified Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, and Caterpillar as targets based on city contracts and pension holdings.
- Opponents organized as Somerville United Against Discrimination challenged the petition and sued to block the question, but a Middlesex Superior Court judge denied their requests on Oct. 30.
- Jewish groups including the American Jewish Committee criticized the measure as divisive, while the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported it as the first municipal ballot initiative on Israel divestment to win a popular vote.