An effort to use a referendum to ban Pittsburgh from doing business with companies linked to Israel has again failed after the parties agreed Friday morning that the petitioners did not gather the required number of signatures.
Following a short hearing before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John T. McVay, attorneys for the city and Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, as well as the Project for Responsive Democracy, signed a stipulation putting an end to the issue.
Pro-Palestinian group Not on Our Dime attempted to have the same question included on last November’s ballot, but a similar challenge to the collected signatures doomed the process then, too.
Last month, Not on Our Dime submitted 21,300 signatures — more than 8,000 more than the law required — as part of a second attempt to put the measure before voters.
But the Jewish Federation and the city controller’s office filed separate challenges in Common Pleas Court challenging the ballot measure.
The federation again argued there weren’t enough valid signatures, while Controller Rachael Heisler argued that the ballot question would disrupt city operations, create an undue burden on government and violates state law.
Jeremy Kazzaz, with the nonprofit Beacon Coalition, which works to protect Jewish people in the U.S., said in a news release that the group’s work led to challenges of more than 12,000 signatures submitted by Not on Our Dime.
“Their repeated failure underscores the lack of genuine public support for these divisive tactics,” Kazzazz said.
A news conference on the issue is scheduled for later Friday morning.
