When the Hayward City Council voted to divest $1.6 million from four seemingly unrelated companies in the city’s investment portfolio, pro-Palestinian activists claimed that the move was a major victory for an international divestment campaign targeting companies that “participate in Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.”
Pro-Israel advocates, who also believed the council’s move was motivated by opposition to the country’s war in Gaza, said the vote set a “dangerous precedent.”
Then days later, the City of Hayward released a statement saying the vote was unrelated to Israel, and the fact that all four companies — Hyundai, Exxon, Intel and Caterpillar — also were divestment targets for Palestinian supporters was, essentially, a coincidence.
So which was it?
The issue arose at the Jan. 23 City Council meeting when Councilmember George Syrop made a motion to amend the city’s investment policies to prevent Hayward from doing business with a list of companies identified by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
The movement is a Palestinian-led campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to follow what they describe as their obligations under international law.
Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas, who ultimately voted against the divestment, said in an interview with this news organization that he had never heard of the divestment movement before the meeting and that the council was not told divestment would be under consideration.
The city has about $250 million in investments, $1.6 million of which is invested in the four companies. That money nets Hayward about $40,000 each year in dividends.
“I had no idea what the ideology was, no idea what the mission of the organization was,” Salinas said. “There was no analysis, no vetting, there was nothing.”
City staff, during the meeting, said they were unable to provide information on the long-term implications of divestment without time for research.
But Syrop said that the City Council should have had plenty of time to prepare. In December, a large audience of community members opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza turned out to call for a cease-fire and divestment, he said. The meeting on Jan. 23 was the next time the council convened.
“At a certain point, the community expects the city government to be responsive,” Syrop said in an interview. “There were 45 days after the initial ask where no action was taken.”
Dozens of people spoke in favor of divestment during the public comment period, all of whom referenced the companies’ support of Israel as the primary reason for doing so. Although other concerns were raised, such as the ethics of investing in fossil fuel companies, they were secondary to the divestment movement’s rationale.
After some discussion, to the delight of the audience and against the recommendation of city staff, the council voted 4-3 to divest from the four companies.
“What I’m interested in is peace,” Syrop said. “We’ve seen historically that divestment campaigns are very effective in bringing people to the table.”
Following the vote, Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Bay Area, issued a statement decrying the council’s decision.
“Local lawmakers aligning with a movement that seeks to end the world’s only Jewish state does nothing to support peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but it does create antisemitism here at home,” Gregory said.
But oddly, although both sides seemed to agree the divestment targeted Israel, two days later the city of Hayward released an official statement claiming that was not the intention of the vote.
“The action was neither an endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, nor did it direct staff to align city investment policy with BDS guidance,” the statement read.
Councilmember Angela Andrews, who voted in favor of divestment, also released a statement on X the same day stating that she saw the vote as an “opportunity” to end Hayward’s investments in fossil fuels, and that she supports a two-state solution.
It is true that the motion that passed makes no mention of Israel or the divestment movement. But Syrop, for one, said the city’s statement does nothing to diminish the power of the vote.
“Hayward divested for the people of Palestine,” Syrop said. “Watch the meeting and everything that led up to it, and you’ll know what the intent was here.”
