HARTFORD — Voters will consider whether to adopt a pledge to “join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, colonialism, and military occupation” during Town Meeting voting.
The pledge is the same non-binding initiative adopted by voters in Thetford last year and is part of a larger apartheid-free communities movement being spearheaded locally by groups such as Upper Valley for Palestine.
“We are asking our communities to take the first steps towards re-establishing the universality of human rights and ending US support for the injustices in Palestine which have gone on far too long,” a Feb. 3 news release from Upper Valley for Palestine reads.
The pledge will appear on Hartford’s Australian ballot next month as article 30.
In 2024, the Hartford Selectboard rejected a citizen resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, citing concerns that the language of the resolution was too aggressive and that the Selectboard should focus on town-specific issues. In 2025, residents brought the issue up unsuccessfully again.
Tim O’Hara of Wilder who brought the resolution to the Selectboard by petition this year said he “took to heart” a message from the board in 2024 that they did not want to weigh in on the issue on behalf of the entire town. This time around, he felt it was important to try to get the resolution onto the Town Meeting ballot.
“I don’t think that we can consider the town to be an island,” O’Hara said Monday. “Federal funding priorities really do affect us deeply and … Hartford taxpayers in their federal income tax pay a great deal of money in military assistance to Israel and I think it’s valid that they should be allowed a say in those policies.”
Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II, and from October 2023 to May 2025, the U.S. sent $12.6 billion in foreign aid to Israel, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023 when Hamas-led militants crossed into Israel from the Gaza Strip killing more than 1,200 people and abducting 251 others who have since been released, died in captivity or mistakenly killed by Israeli forces. The death toll in Gaza includes more than 20,000 children, according to the United Nations.
O’Hara did not secure the necessary signatures to put the item on the ballot by petition, but at a Jan. 20 meeting the Selectboard agreed to bring the question to voters, 4-2.
“I’m not necessarily a fan of the Selectboard being a gatekeeper keeping this out,” Vice Chairman Mike Hoyt said. “This has come up before us a number of times. It’s something there certainly is a constituency for in town.”
Hoyt was appointed to serve as a Democratic state representative by Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, in December after Heather Surprenant of Barnard resigned.
Board members Tim Fariel and Erik Krauss voted against the item. The pair cited concerns that the board could set a bad precedent for the future by adopting a warrant article without the necessary signatures. They also expressed concern that the discussion had not been included in the meeting agenda, so some residents may not have known it was being discussed. The conversation was referenced in the meeting packet.
If the pledge passes, O’Hara hopes it will open the door to more conversations about how Hartford can act in support of the Palestinian people, such as by boycotting certain companies.
Since residents passed the pledge in Thetford last year, the Selectboard is working on adopting a purchasing policy that will boycott certain companies that also produce arms and equipment sent to Israel. The Thetford Selectboard is expected to consider a draft purchasing proposal this month.
O’Hara, 52, grew up in the Upper Valley and watched anti-apartheid protests at Dartmouth in the 1980s which “really shaped my view of the world,” he said. Watching the war in Gaza unfold, O’Hara said he sees “very similar kinds of injustice” to those who suffered under South African apartheid.
Over the last two and a half years, incidents such as the arrests of 89 people during a protest on the Dartmouth Green and the arrest of Hartford resident, Columbia University student and activist Mohsen Mahdawi “brought this issue really close to home” for O’Hara.
Residents of other Upper Valley towns attempted unsuccessfully to get the same item onto ballots this year.
In Bridgewater, a resident petition garnered the necessary signatures but the town Selectboard opted not to put it on the warning because they have no authority on the matter, according to minutes from a Jan. 27 meeting. The board recommended that the item be brought up during the “other or non-binding” business section of Town Meeting next month.
Ahead of the March vote in Hartford, groups such as UV Rise Up and UV for Palestine will host community events to answer questions and raise awareness about the ballot item. There will be a talk about “the facts and daily reality of life under Apartheid in Palestine” at 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Norwich. There will also be an informational session at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in White River Junction.
Australian ballot voting in Hartford will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 3, at Hartford High School. Hartford Town Meeting will be at 10 a.m., Feb. 28, at the Hartford High School auditorium.