Judge tosses Pittsburgh 'boycott, divest, sanction' ballot initiative

A Pennsylvania judge on Monday tossed a proposed city of Pittsburgh boycott, divest and sanction ballot referendum targeting Israel after supporters failed to gather enough signatures to get the initiative on the November ballot. 

The measure would have prevented investing or allocating Pittsburgh taxpayer dollars in entities doing business with Israel. The referendum, if approved by voters, also would have taken away entities' tax-exempt status for the same conduct.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh City Controller Rachael Heisler, and several Jewish Pittsburgh residents challenged the ballot referendum, which was backed by the Pittsburgh Democratic Socialists of America.

"This is a victory for the City of Pittsburgh," said Heisler in a press release.

She argued the referendum would have impeded the city's ability to provide essential services by barring doing business with Israeli companies. For example, Pittsburgh emergency services use naloxone, an opioid-overdose counteragent, manufactured by the Israeli company Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Judge John McVay of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas heard the challenge to the referendum and set it aside for failing to receive a sufficient number of signatures.

PDSA, in a statement posted on X, framed its agreement to withdraw the referendum as "strategic" and claimed to have "submitted more signatures than is required," but opponents of the referendum "pushed us off the ballot."

"Those who support Israel unconditionally have poured resources into these legal challenges that we simply cannot keep up with," PDSA said.

"The petitioners were not ‘pushed off’ of anything – they simply failed to collect enough valid signatures to get on the ballot," Heisler rebutted.