At HNA Meeting, Green Pressed on Pledge

[November 15, 2025]

Neighbors blast a largely symbolic plan to investigate Portland’s ties to Israel, saying it increases risk of violence against Jews in Portland.

District 4 Councilor Mitch Green attended the November 5 meeting of the Hillsdale Neighborhood Association, which drew 40-50 attendees.

After discussion of the City’s budget woes, falling business tax revenue, decline of downtown, and possible legislation aimed at the S. Waterfront ICE facility, attention shifted to the pledge Green recently announced at a press conference—an issue that dominated much of the meeting.

The context: In an October 16 press release, Green’s office stated that he had signed a pledge to “investigate the manufacturing and transport of weapons to Israel within Portland's city limits.” According to an October 29 Willamette Week article, the pledge was written by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), of which Green is a member. Five other city councilors joined Green in signing the DSA pledge.

The release also said the inquiry would investigate City investments in or contracts with companies “complicit in Israeli policies,” along with Portland’s diplomatic ties, including sister-city relationships.

During the course of the exchange, several themes emerged.

Attendees questioned expending city resources on a conflict thousands of miles away when the city faces urgent issues such as homelessness, drug addiction and general economic decline.

Others asked why the pledge focuses exclusively on Israel, noting that numerous conflicts and human rights crises exist elsewhere, including China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority.

At a time when violence against Jews is increasing around the country and around the world, others said that Green’s public statements about Israel created an unsafe environment for his Jewish constituents here in Portland. Many expressed fear for the safety of their families, and some reported having been subject to violent attacks and verbal harassment for being Jewish.

One man, who said he had been attacked twice in Portland in the past 18 months and now carries a concealed weapon, told Green: “We live in fear, and the rhetoric coming from the city council, in my opinion, absolutely incites this kind of violence against us.”

Another theme centered on who Green considers his constituency to be. Green was pressed on why he was focusing on “issues that are dividing people” rather than on local priorities. He cited a group called Jewish Voice for Peace and said, “I have constituents and people I ran to represent who have asked me to take that BDS approach.” (BDS—Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions—is a strategy supported by the DSA.)

Green’s mention of Jewish Voice for Peace drew disapproval from attendees, who said that the group represents only a small segment of Portland’s Jewish community and reminded him that the broader Jewish population of Southwest Portland are also his constituents. Several participants emphasized that many local Jews felt unheard and asked for dialogue to better understand different perspectives. They invited Green to engage in conversation about the situation in Israel and Palestine, stressing that their intent was not to vilify anyone but to promote an open discussion that considers all sides and acknowledges concern for human life.

“There are tens of thousands of Jews in Portland, and there are many, many people that you're not listening to,” one person said.

A woman in the group asked for an apology, saying “I never heard you say, ‘I'm sorry.’ I didn't hear you say, ‘I can do better.’”

Green responded, “I hear you, and I can do better, and I am sorry.” When pressed to be more specific, he said, “I am sorry that I didn't proactively pull together a group of primarily affected Jewish Portlanders in this district and say, ‘This my politics and my lens. Let's have a conversation before I start to say something politically.’ So I am sorry about that.”

A theme emerged in Green’s responses as well, which is that his pledge is not backed by a plan for implementation.

Green said that he has not yet spent any city resources on the so-called investigation (although the initial press release was posted by a member of his staff on the city website). He acknowledged that he doesn’t know of any city investments in companies sending weapons to Israel, and agreed to make any new investment policy non-specific as to country, but was unable to say what other countries would be on the list.

Despite the high emotions and difficult exchanges, the meeting ended on a generally civil note. Green remained in conversation with attendees afterward and continued talking with several people outside the conference room for some time.

—Valeurie Friedman

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