Palestine solidarity activists demand St. Paul end contract with Waterfall Cyber Security Systems
St. Paul, MN – On April 14, members of the WAMM (Women Against Military Madness) Palestine Solidarity Committee (FPC) again attended the monthly meeting of the Saint Paul Board of Water Commissioners to demand they cut the contract with Waterfall Cyber Security Systems, an Israeli tech company that oversees the city’s water infrastructure.
Waterfall is deeply implicated in the genocide in Palestine. Lior Frenkel, the CEO and founder of Waterfall fondly remembers his experience conducting “offensive” cyberwarfare for Israel, where he served in their air force. WAMM sees the Waterfall contract as a cruel insult to Palestinians and their supporters.
FPC members organized their supporters to attend the water commission meeting to point out the irony of Israel “securing” Saint Paul’s water supply while that country simultaneously forces Palestinians to search futilely for their own clean water, and to highlight how this Israeli tech company helps prop up an apartheid system.
The cut the contract with Waterfall campaign started during the summer of 2025 and for almost a year WAMM has sustained pressure campaign to get the city of Saint Paul to hire a company not complicit in genocide. WAMM has collected hundreds of names on their petition, gotten their supporters to flood the water commission lines with phone calls, and organized for the water commission meetings to be packed with protesters several times.
There are various signs that the water board is cracking. They have publicly admitted that community pressure has had an impact on their work. Released documents show that behind closed doors, they’ve complained that even on a functional level, Waterfall’s services are not all they were cracked up to be. In January they announced they would issue a request for proposals which would allow companies to submit proposals to ultimately replace Waterfall.
On April 14, the meeting room was once again filled with FPC supporters holding signs that read, “Palestinians want water too,” “Waterfall we don’t want blood in our water,” and a banner reading, “St. Paul cut the contract, we say no to Waterfall and genocide.”
After a very short meeting, Nathan Phillips, a FPC member, delivered pages of signed petitions and said, “We are giving you these petitions demanding you cut the contract with Waterfall and we ask you to be swift. And to find a new company because Israelis are slaughtering Palestinians, Iranians and Lebanese with impunity. We don’t want Waterfall in our water infrastructure.” The room erupted in chants., “Water commission you’re out of time, No more funding genocide,” and “Water commission don’t you know, Waterfall has got to go.”
Saint Paul Councilwoman Nelsie Yang then came up to the protesters and thanked them for being there and said if it wasn’t for WAMM the commission wouldn’t know about Waterfall.
Racquel Vaske, regional manager of Saint Paul Regional Water Services, was grilled with sharp questions and comments which she defensively tried to deflect. An organizer called her out as she tried to minimize the role of Waterfall as “just a piece of hardware here on campus.” But she did disclose more information on the process to replace Waterfall to the activists, said she’d find out if activists could be a part of the evaluation process, and said she would consider making it an agenda item at future board meetings.
Mary Benrud spoke for everyone when she told Vaske, “This is the absolute worst company to provide water security for me and my family.”
WAMM will continue to mobilize supporters to attend the water commission meetings and to increase momentum in their campaign to cut the contract with Waterfall.