Groups battle anew over Pittsburgh referendum effort targeting ties to Israel

Pittsburgh’s business ties to Israel are once again stirring controversy.

In November, pro-Palestinian group Not on Our Dime tried to let voters decide whether to ban the city from doing business with companies linked to Israel. But a challenge to the signatures sunk that effort.

Now the group is trying a second time to put a similar referendum on the ballot, this time in the May 20 primary.

And just like during the first go-around, challengers are looking to shut it down.

Earlier this month, Not on Our Dime said it submitted 21,300 signatures, exceeding the required 12,459 to place a referendum on the ballot.

“Regardless of our views on politics, we should all be able to agree that we don’t want our tax dollars going toward genocide,” Ben Case, steering committee co-chair of the Not on Our Dime campaign, said in a statement announcing the submission.

But the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and nonprofit Beacon Coalition said they don’t believe the organization gathered enough valid signatures.

The Jewish Federation on Tuesday filed a petition in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Tuesday to stop the referendum.

The opponents have raised concerns the measure is antisemitic and could hinder the city’s ability to conduct business because so many businesses have some ties to Israel.

“We built a massive petition review process to assist our partners in protecting all Pittsburgh residents, Jewish and non-Jewish, against this latest effort to spread extremist ideologies and to undermine the City of Pittsburgh’s ability to operate,” Jeremy Kazzaz, executive director of Beacon Coalition, said in a statement.

A separate challenge from City Controller Rachael Heisler argued the ballot question violates state law, creates an undue burden on city government and would disrupt city operations. Heisler also argued the question does not give voters enough information to grasp the full impact the amendment would have.

“If this proposal were to become law, it would significantly disrupt the city’s ability to provide the essential services that residents rely on — especially when it comes to public health and safety,” Heisler said. “The reality is that we live in a highly interconnected global economy, and we can’t pretend otherwise.”

Pittsburgh City Council earlier this month voted to place a series of referendums on the ballot this spring.

One question will ask voters to make it official that the city cannot discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, association with foreign nations, sex, sexual orientation, age, gender, gender identity, disability or place of birth.

Another referendum will ask voters to prohibit using the home rule charter’s amendment process to pass measures that violate federal or state laws or otherwise require the city do something it can’t legally do.

Both came in direct response to the Not on Our Dime referendum effort.

An unrelated referendum also set to appear on the May ballot will ask voters to bar the city from selling or leasing its water and sewer systems to private entities.