The city council in Cambridge, Massachusetts, voted 5-4 on Wednesday in favour of divesting public funds from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“Our retirement funds should not be invested in companies that profit off of killing people,” Cambridge City Councilor Ayah Al-Zubi, who voted in favour of divestment, told NBC Boston.

The vote will impact the council’s public investments, including for pensions. The vote will impact at least $24 million of investments, according to campaign group Cambridge for Palestine.

The firms targeted by the new policy include Palantir Technologies Inc., Elbit Systems, Lockheed Martin, GE Aerospace, and Boeing.

“Our wins are one small step in the much larger international struggle for Palestinian liberation,” Cambridge for Palestine said in statement after the vote.

The policy order stated that “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza”, and said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians “amounts to apartheid” — positions held by UN experts and leading rights groups.

Orphan Black and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law star Tatiana Maslany celebrated the news with an Instagram post captioned “Hell yes @cambridgema4palestine !!!!!!!!!!”

However, the council voted down a boycott of companies complicit in the genocide for city contracts. Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem, who voted in favour of divestment, was the deciding vote against the boycott.

Cambridge follows three other Massachusetts councils — Medford, Northampton and Easthampton — in divesting from complicit companies. Neighbouring Somerville City Council is set to vote on similar action in November.

Cambridge, part of the Greater Boston area, is home to two of the world’s top universities, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Last year, Harvard University faced a legal battle with US President Donald Trump after the president cut funding for the Ivy League institution and blocked visas for international students.

The president claimed the university is an “antisemitic, far left institution”, following pro-Palestine protests on campus.

In July 2025, a Boston judge blocked Trump’s attempts to bar foreign students from studying at Harvard.