Lead Stories

County lawmakers have their say on Israel, Palestine

Westchester County lawmakers had their say in one of the world’s oldest and most divisive conflicts, Israel and Palestine, bringing international issues and bigotry to the forefront of its legislative chambers.

On June 19, stemming from a proposal by Legislator Ken Jenkins, a Yonkers Democrat, the Board of Legislators voted to adopt a resolution reaffirming lawmakers’ continued support of U.S. relations with Israel, while rejecting calls to divest from Israeli businesses by the movement Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, BDS—a Palestinian faction that aims to pressure the state of Israel economically and politically through lobbying businesses and governments.

According to Legislator Jim Maisano, a New Rochelle Republican, pressure from constituents across the county has forced issues of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia to the legislative floor.

Fueled in recent months by a slew of bomb threats to local Jewish Community Centers, including in New Rochelle, Maisano said county lawmakers have been under increasing scrutiny to take a hard stance against bigotry.

“We were getting phone calls and emails from different sides and different issues,” Maisano said. “We felt that this was the best way to deal with these issues that normally aren’t county issues.”

In tandem with the resolution passed last week, the Board of Legislators also unanimously voted to adopt a resolution condemning hate crimes and bigotry across the county; a move Maisano said complements the body’s stance on BDS.

While many legislators expressed their reticence toward involving themselves in issues beyond the scope of the county Legislature, Jenkins, who is also running for county executive, said the resolution didn’t go far enough.

A law drafted by Jenkins, that was ultimately rejected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, would have required a company’s bidding for contracts to agree not to support the BDS movement as a stipulation of doing business with Westchester.

Already, Jenkins said, the county has a similar law regarding any economic ties with factions in Northern Ireland; specifically, groups labeled as terrorists and bad actors by the United Kingdom like the Irish Republican Army.

“You cannot utilize county funding to participate in what some view as an anti-Semitic activity,” Jenkins said. “The procurement law I proposed was very focused on what the county does. I looked at this as a human rights issue, and that’s why I proposed the law that way.”

Many of Jenkins’ Democratic colleagues, like Mary Jane Shimsky, a Hastings-on-Hudson Democrat, however, did not see eye to eye.

“[Jenkins’ bill] struck many of us as violating people’s rights,” said Shimsky. “If an American citizen determines that they don’t want to buy goods from a certain country, that’s their choice.”

Shimsky said she feels the approved resolution, which she said is meant to encapsulate the sentiments of the Legislature, made a stance without forcing the county into rocky legal and diplomatic territory.

“There are things going on in Israel that even a lot of Jewish friends of mine have had serious issues with,” she said. “But by isolating Israel and ignoring all the other bad actors in the world, you’re allowing a lot of negative attention to be directed at someone who is nowhere near as bad their adversaries are.”