Zencity protest at City Hall
BY ED FELIEN
Right now, over 100 Jews and people of conscience are rallying ahead of the City Budget Hearing demanding the city of Minneapolis cut ties with Israeli surveillance tech company Zencity.
Our city should not be partnering with an Israeli company as the Israeli military commits genocide and uses technology similar to that used against Palestinians to surveil the people of Minneapolis.
Given MPD’s record on violating citizen’s human rights, why is the city spending $500,000 of taxpayer money to improve its public image?! That money should be spent on resourcing communities and addressing the housing crisis facing many of our neighbors.
A survey contract with an Israeli tech company is not what the people of Minneapolis need to overcome the problem of violent and racist policing. Rather than measuring “trust,” MPD should be held accountable to the community it is supposed to serve.
It is unacceptable that Minneapolis is paying $500,000 for the MPD to conduct a digital survey of community perceptions about itself and public safety rather than offer direct accountability to the communities it harmed with decades of racist violence.
The three year contract expires at the end of 2026, but stipulates that either party can terminate the agreement with 30 days notice. Dec. 1 is the deadline for Mayor Frey to use his executive authority to Cut the Contract in order to avoid having to make the next quarterly payment of $37,500 on Jan. 1, 2026.
If Mayor Frey fails to act, we will demand that the City Council remove funding for the Zencity contract in its 2026 budget.
From Twin Cities Jewish Voice for Peace, a week ago:
“Yesterday, over 100 Jews and people of conscience rallied to demand that Mayor Frey cut the contract with Zencity by December 1st, before another $37,500 of taxpayer dollars has to be paid to the Israeli surveillance company on January 1, 2026. Dozens of members of the Jewish community turned out to the rally, ahead of the City Budget Hearing.
“In between chants of “Zencity is the worst, cut it by December first!” and klezmer music, speakers made their demands loud and clear: Our tax dollars should be spent in our city, not on a company with origins in a genocidal military! As Jews we know that a budget is a moral document. We’re grateful to the City Council members who want to use our tax dollars on real safety and not racist surveillance. At the budget hearing, 15 of the 45 speakers called on council members to cut the line item in the budget that funds this contract.
“Zencity is an Israeli tech company whose surveillance technology emerged from Israel’s military intelligence center, ‘Unit 8200’, notorious for development of surveillance and phone hacking technology. Zencity’s technology mirrors that used by the Israeli military to surveil and control Palestinians and has been used by US law enforcement nationally to surveil the Black community’s internet activity after high profile killing of Black people.
“Over the course of our Cut The Contract campaign, we collected over two thousand signatures from people demanding that our City Council and Mayor cut the contract with Zencity. Now is the time where Council Members and the Mayor have the opportunity to do the right thing and listen to their constituents: cut the line item and spend the remaining $150,000 here in Minneapolis on real community safety.
“We know that investment in community means centering the voices of those who are systematically harmed by MPD and whose voices are erased by a survey targeting people via ads on social media. We need community engagement in the hands of the people of Minneapolis, with our powerful history of community care despite the abuses of MPD over the last 150 years.”
