Iowa City passes resolution calling for boycott of public money toward Israel

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Council this week unanimously approved a resolution that calls for the city to boycott the use of public money toward any entity that supports Israel or is “complicit in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

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The decision was met with cheers from community members who filled the council chambers and the lobby of City Hall. More than 20 people, ranging from 10 years old to senior citizens, spoke during public comment in support of the resolution. Dozens more stood by with signs and Palestinian flags.

“Tonight is a resolution that is rooted really in our community values of what we really stand for, which is peace, justice, dignity for every human,” Mayor Bruce Teague said Tuesday night at the City Council meeting. “… This resolution does call for the city of Iowa City to boycott public investments and entities complicit in the ongoing humanitarian crisis (in) Gaza, including assistance and the oppression of the Palestinian people. I have no issues calling it what it is. It's genocide, and that does not make me antisemitic at all.”

The resolution was drafted in partnership with Iowa City Action for Palestine, Iowans for Palestine and other community members.

“I'm not under any delusion that Iowa City is going to be the swing, the factor that's going to stop the slaughter,” council member Oliver Weilein said. “… People approached the City Council in the late ’80s to do this when it came to apartheid South Africa, and we never did it as a city. I would love to be able to look back and say we were a leader and have such pride in Iowa City that we were a leader when it comes to doing the right thing in the face of adversity.”

Weilein and council member Mazahir Salih were visibly emotional when discussing the resolution, specifically a line that mentions the number of children who have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel ignited the conflict.

“... It is a step, a step toward justice, toward dignity, toward recognition that Palestinian people deserve a future, a future with peace, with safety and with hope,” Salih said of the resolution.

Council member Shawn Harmsen, who voted in favor of the resolution, told those present that the city needs to be prepared for some backlash and loss of funding on a state or federal level as a result of supporting the resolution.

“ … I'm happy to vote for this, but I would like to call us out, and keep us aware that we want to go into this with our eyes wide open, that we are taking some level of risk,” Harmsen said.

Gov. Reynolds continues to voice support for Israel

When asked about the resolution Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters she had not read the resolution and emphasized Iowa’s long-standing support for Israel through executive orders and legislation.

Reynolds said her administration plans to continue its efforts to support Israel.

“I've made it very clear that we support Israel. I've done it through executive orders. We've done it through legislation,” she said. “We sent Kevlar vests over” after Hamas-led militants crossed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

“And it's our strongest ally that we have in the Middle East, and we're going to continue to do everything we can to support them. And that relationship, I won't waver from it,” Reynolds said.

In June, Reynolds ordered the state’s public universities to review antisemitism policies at each of its universities and report back to her office.

Reynolds’ executive order requires Iowa’s Board of Regents to cooperate fully with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights “to ensure regent universities fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students.”

The order requires the board to review policies related to antisemitic speech and actions and to review each campus’ response to acts of antisemitism between Oct. 7, 2023, and Nov. 1, 2025. Their findings should be summarized in a report due to the governor by Dec. 1, The Gazette previously reported.

Iowa City passed ceasefire resolution last year

With Tuesday’s action, Iowa City joins a growing group of local municipalities that have passed resolutions calling for divestment from companies that support Israel’s military actions.

Iowa City passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in January 2024.

“This was seen as a community discussion regarding a continuation of the spirit of the ceasefire resolution considering as how things have gotten worse, and how this differs from other conflict as it is something the United States has specifically engaged in,” Weilein at Tuesday’s meeting.

Tom Barton of The Gazette contributed to this report.

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