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Commenter urges Denver to cut sister-city ties with Carmel and divest from Microsoft, HP and Cisco
Summary
A public commenter urged the city to sever its sister-city relationship with Carmel, Israel, and to divest city investments from Microsoft, HP and Cisco, alleging those companies are complicit in human-rights abuses connected to Israel's prison and surveillance systems.
Elliot Howe, who identified himself with District 1, urged the city to cut ties with Carmel, Israel, and to divest municipal investments from Microsoft, HP and Cisco, saying those companies supply technology to Israel’s prison and security systems. "Microsoft is perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel's apartheid regime," the speaker said, and urged immediate divestment given the alleged role of these firms in systems the commenter described as facilitating torture and detention.
Howe argued that divestment is a necessary municipal response to alleged human-rights violations and framed it as consistent with prior sister-city divestment discussions. He cited the city's investment exposure and recommended that the council take action to remove city investments from companies he named. The comment included activist framing and asserted numbers about Palestinians affected and high conviction rates in military courts; those claims were presented by the commenter and were not substantiated on the record during the comment period.
No council action or response was recorded during the time allotted for public comment.
