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Residents urge Alexandria City Council to divest from companies tied to Israel
Summary
Dozens of residents urged the council during an extended public-comment period to act on a recent Human Rights Commission recommendation and remove city investments in companies they said enable Israeli apartheid and human-rights abuses. Council did not take formal action during the hearing.
Dozens of Alexandria residents used the council’s public-comment period to press elected officials to divest city funds and contracts from companies they said materially support Israeli actions in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Speakers cited a recent Human Rights Commission recommendation and international human-rights reporting as the basis for their requests.
“Israel is an apartheid state and the people of Alexandria do not want our investments to support it in any way,” said Lisonbee O’Connell, a public commenter who opened the divestment series of remarks. Several other speakers referenced reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and urged council members to direct the city manager to investigate where municipal contracts and retirement‑plan holdings overlap with companies they identified as war‑profiteers.
Amanda Eisenhower, who said she and community members have researched municipal exposure, highlighted four municipal levers: city vendor contracts, the city’s supplemental retirement plans, cash reserves invested via the local government investment pool, and contributions to the Virginia Retirement System. She named companies singled out by petitioners, saying the city could “choose not to renew [contracts] if they do not hold up to our ethical standards.”
Speakers also asked the council to use its convening power to press regional investment pools to adopt ethical-investment policies, and several asked the council to pursue a formal divestment resolution that would call out Israel by name and include enforceable steps rather than a nonbinding proclamation.
Mayor Gaskins did not put a divestment motion before the council during the meeting. Members did not vote on divestment; the comments were received during the public‑comment portion of the hearing. Several speakers said they will continue attending meetings until the council takes action.
The council will decide whether to place any divestment measures on a future agenda; no citywide investment changes were adopted at this meeting.
