A group of rabbis is calling for a boycott of Portland.
In a full-page ad that ran in the Portland Press Herald last week, rabbis from the United States and Canada urged their communities to “avoid patronizing and financially contributing to the City of Portland.”
The ad was signed by more than 100 Jewish leaders from 22 states and Canada. However, no one from Maine signed their name to the ad.
The effort is a response to the Portland City Council unanimously voting more than two months ago to divest from companies doing business in Israel in protest of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The council has faced continued backlash for the vote, especially when it became clear that the city had no funds invested in companies doing business in Israel at the time of the vote, making it a purely symbolic act.
The ad in Thursday’s Press Herald did not mince words addressing the council’s vote to divest.
“Rather than embracing a Jewish community still reeling from the …