Category Archives: News from our Friends

News from other organizations working on boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

Why Using Pension Money to Fund Israeli Bonds is both Wrong and Illegal

by James Abourezk

This piece first appeared in CounterPunch on March 27, 2015. James Abourezk is a former US senator from South Dakota. He is the author of: Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of an ex-Senator.

The Minnesota State Board of Investment is honor bound when it invests monies from Minnesota’s public employee pension funds. Each of the Board members, which includes Governor Mark Dayton (Chair), State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Secretary of State Steve Simon and Attorney General Lori Swanson know, or should know, that the Board has violated its fiduciary responsibility to only invest public pension funds prudently by investing in Israel Bonds. Israel Bonds are government bonds issued by the State of Israel.

Earlier this monthI appeared before the Board members to urge them not to invest in Israel Bonds. Immediately after I ended my presentation, the Governor handed the other Board members a previously prepared written motion to continue investing the state’s pension funds in Israel Bonds. All of us in the packed hearing room understood that my testimony had been wasted. Facing members of the pro-Israel Lobby who had been seated in the front row, three of the four board members voted to invest. Only the State Auditor, Rebecca Otto, voted against the motion.

I’ve seen this pressure before. It usually consists of a subliminal threat by the pro-Israel Lobby to cut off any campaign money to those who defy what the Lobby wants. That is the same kind of threat that allowed Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu to travel to the United States to dictate to our Congress how American foreign policy should be conducted. I believe that the 36 standing ovations for Bibi and the 47 Republican Senatorial signatures on the letter to Iran were eager messages to the Israeli Lobby telling them how much Congress appreciated the campaign money given each election cycle to its obedient members. When I served in the US Senate I well remember the threats directed against me for not being obedient enough to the Lobby.

The Board of Investment’s vote to use Minnesota pensioners’ money to buy the low-yield bonds issued by Israel is, without question, highly imprudent and illegal, especially because the Board knows how the money will be used. American money plunged into Israel Bond sales is fungible, meaning that the money is lumped into Israel’s General Fund, and then used for anything Israel wants, without
abourezkrestriction. That also means that the money sent to Israel is used for settlements. Israel’s settlements are illegal under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupier from transferring any part of its civilian population into the territory it occupies. Article 49 was adopted by the international community after WWII as a direct response to Nazi Germany’s illegal and brutal occupation of lands belonging to its neighbors. Both the United States and Israel have signed the Fourth Geneva Convention.     Even the United States Government has acknowledged that Israel’s settlements are illegal.

Beyond just exploiting American elected officials in their political zeal to become complicit in financing illegal Israeli settlements by using money from taxpayer funded public employee pension plans to do so, Israel has a long history of inflicting damage on American interests. During the 1967 Middle East War, Israel’s military attacked and attempted to sink a fully flagged American Navy vessel—the USS Liberty—which had been ordered to monitor the War by assuming a listening post off the coast of Egypt and Israel. Using fighter jets, as well as torpedo boats, Israel killed 34 American sailors and wounded another 171 sailors in the process.

What was painful for the survivors and the families of those Americans killed and wounded by Israel were the duplicitous actions of our own public officials, starting with President Lyndon Johnson, by refusing to allow fighter jets of the Sixth Fleet to come to the aid of the Liberty when it was under attack and working to cover up evidence of Israel’s deliberate attack on our ship and the killing and wounding of our sailors.

That wasn’t the last injury against American interests by our so called “ally.” In the 1970s, Israel recruited and paid a Pentagon employee, Jonathan Pollard, to sell to Israel a “truckload of secret documents,” as described by our then Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger.

More recently, a Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, was indicted by the Justice Department in 2004 for handing over classified information on Iran to two employees of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), the leading lobby for Israel. Franklin, a former United States Department of Defense employee, pleaded guilty to several espionage-related charges and was initially sentenced in January 2006 to nearly 13 years in prison. Amazingly, Franklin’s sentence was later reduced to ten months house arrest and 100 hours of community service. In reducing his sentence, the Judge told Franklin that his community service should consist of “speaking to young people about the importance of public officials obeying the law.”

Franklin had passed highly classified information to AIPAC policy director Steven Rosen and AIPAC senior Iran analyst Keith Weissman, whom AIPAC later fired. Initially indicted for illegally conspiring to gather and disclose classified national security information to Israel, all charges against Rosen and Weissman were eventually dismissed.

These are just a few examples that we know about where Israel’s activities have seriously damaged United States interests. What we do not know, including the extent of the duplicity of our public servants, would most likely fill the pages of a book.

Not only is the Investment Board’s action imprudent and illegal with respect to giving Minnesota retirees’ money to a country that has never hesitated in harming America’s interests and will use the money to violate international law, it also tells Israel that it can do what it wishes, without paying any penalty, and that it can even get the United States to pay the price for it.

The Minnesota Investment Board should obey the law whether or not Israel’s Lobby dislikes that decision.

Statement of opposition to Israeli Army’s raid of Stop the Wall office

On May 8,2012 the Israeli Occupation Forces raided the Stop the Wall office in Ramallah. This is not the first attack this office has seen. In 2009 two of the organizers at Stop the Wall were arrested. Neither had any charges brought against them. Yet it still took an intense international pressure campaign during their time in prison to bring about their release a few months later. Following the organizers’ release, the STW office was raided  during February of 2010.

These ongoing attacks tell us one thing with certainty: Israel is scared that the movement is effective. Today, with the imminent threat of death in the air as Palestinian hunger strikers Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh reach day 74 of their hunger strike, mass outrage is inevitable. Following behind Diab and Halahleh are over 2,000 other Palestinian prisoners on one of the largest hunger strike movements of all time.

They are protesting Israel’s long-standing policy of detaining Palestinians without charge or trial, as well as inhumane prison conditions such as egregious solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and the refusal to medically treat critical health conditions, all punitive measures which violate international law.

Stop the Wall has been supporting civil, non-violent resistance as well as avid advocacy campaigns for almost ten years. Their work is central to much of the resilient resistance on the ground against the apartheid regime.

Repression from Zionist forces is an inevitable result of the growing resistance movement and solidarity with Palestinians. Therefore it is vital that we support each other through such backlash with determination to let “the powers that be” know that we will increase our solidarity and non-violent resistance in response to increasing repression.

Photo: http://www.stopthewall.org

On the United Methodist rejection of divestment from Israel

The United Methodist General Assembly convened in Tampa during the week of April 30, 2012. Among the many resolutions on which they voted were two to divest pension funds from three companies which profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, namely Caterpillar, Motorola, and Hewlett-Packard. The body rejected the two divestment resolutions and instead passed one calling for “positive investment to encourage economic development in Palestine.” Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) applauds the courageous individuals who brought forth and voted for the resolutions. They worked against overwhelming odds to bring awareness to the Christian community and to the world at large, and we believe their efforts have not been in vain.

The United Methodist Church has had a long history of supporting human rights causes, including speaking out clearly against slavery in the United States. They have a clear and ethical investment strategy, which spells out the importance of “investing in a socially responsible manner.”

MN BBC, which has signed on to the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it complies with international law, is disappointed in the outcome of the vote. Many of the people who spoke in favor of the divestment resolutions gave passionate speeches fully conveying the depth of the oppression which the Palestinians daily face. Those in favor of the divestment resolutions had read and understood the Kairos Palestinian Document of 2009 calling on people of faith all over the world to stand in solidarity with Christian and Muslim Palestinians and support the BDS movement.

MN BBC believes that the resolution that passed the assembly – that of positive investment in Palestine – is a misguided move that is actually destructive to the cause of liberty and equality. This is true for three main reasons. First, according to Khalil Nakhleh, a Palestinian economist, the majority of investments in “Palestine” go towards foreign-owned companies whose owners become wealthy while adding nothing to the Palestinian economyi. The Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza would not benefit significantly, if at all, from investments in those foreign-owned companies. Notably, Palestinian refugees in foreign countries would receive absolutely no benefit.

Second, several projects which have been financed by other countries or by the U.N. and which are meant to develop the Palestinian economy are undermined by Israeli policies. For example, the Spanish NGO Seba built a solar power plant for the Palestinian village of Imneizil. Israel is in the process of destroying it. The German development bank KfW and United States Aid for International Development (USAID) raised money to build 15 wastewater treatment plants in the West Bank. None of them were constructed because Israel denied permits for their construction.

Third, in order for the Palestinian Authority to have any credibility with the Israelis, they must act against the interests of their own people and only act in the interests of the occupying force (Israel). The projects which do get funded, like the training of the PA security forces, help Israel in continuing to oppress Palestinians. Needless to say, these projects do not benefit Palestinians.

MN BBC believes that the only way to directly confront oppression is by non-violent resistance, and that those of us who believe in human rights and justice have a duty to stand in solidarity with Palestinians. We must heed the call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions of Israel, until we achieve our goal. The struggle continues!

Endnote: i. Globalized Palestine: The National Sell-Out of a Homeland, by Khalil Nakhleh, The Red Sea Press, Trenton New Jersey, 2012

Photo: mondoweiss.net

 

National Lawyers Guild writes letter of support for MN BBC Lawsuit to MN Attorney General Lori Swanson

You know your legal case has a strong backbone when…”the oldest and most extensive network of public interest and human rights activists working within the legal system” expresses support for it!

 

That network makes up the National Lawyers Guild, a non-profit federation of several thousand lawyers, legal workers, and law students that has been working to “advance social justice and support progressive social movements” since 1937. For more information about the NLG, visit their website at www.nlg.org/.  The following letter was sent by their National Executive Committee to the Minnesota Attorney General:

Thank you NLG!

December 13, 2011

To: Attorney General Lori Swanson
CC: Governor Mark Dayton, State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie

On behalf of the National Lawyers Guild, we write in support of the lawsuit filed on November 29, 2011, against the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) which seeks a judgment directing the SBI to divest from Israel Bonds.

The complaint against the SBI makes pointed reference to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which both the United States and Israel are parties. Article 49 specifically prohibits an occupying power from transferring (settling) parts of its own civilian population into territory it occupies. Article 49’s anti-colonization provisions are jus cogens, which means that they are mandatory norms of international law. Jus cogens violations are not political questions.

As the complaint abundantly shows, there is no credible dispute that Israel has been in continuous violation of Article 49 since shortly after the 1967 war by engaging in ever-accelerating settlement building activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem. In the last ten years, the United States has reduced its loan guarantees to Israel by nearly one billion dollars in response to Israel’s illegal settlement activities. The International Court of Justice has issued an advisory opinion confirming the illegality of Israel’s settlement activities and the UN Security Council has issued a number of resolutions condemning Israel for these activities.

It is well known that money obtained from the sale of sovereign Israel Bonds is used by Israel to fund its continued violations of Article 49 in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. On its Israel Bond website, the Government of Israel goes so far as to even promote its settlement infrastructure projects along with its official slogan that Israel Bonds are a “Bond with Israel”.

Despite having been repeatedly informed that money generated from the sale of Israel Bonds is used by Israel to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, the stridency by which the SBI clings to its Israel Bond investments demonstrates that they are at least “purposive”. This means that the Board is aiding and abetting Israel’s violations of international law. Such aiding and abetting is itself a violation of international law.

The SBI’s violation of international law also violates Minnesota law. The Fourth Geneva Convention is part of the supreme law of the land and must be regarded as part of the law of each individual state to the same degree as the state’s own statutes. Additionally, the Minnesota statutes impose an express fiduciary duty on each Board member to invest “in a manner consistent with law.” By aiding and abetting Israel’s violations, the Board members are investing state pension funds in a manner not consistent with law and violating their fiduciary obligations to the citizens of Minnesota.

By investing in Israel Bonds to “Bond with Israel”, the SBI has made an international law issue a Minnesota law issue. Under Minnesota law, the SBI’s investments in Israel Bonds are illegal and Minnesota should immediately divest.

National Lawyers Guild

 

Letter originally posted with photo: http://nlginternational.org/news/article.php?nid=452

Statement of Solidarity with Activists Subpoenaed by FBI

MN Break the Bonds (MN BBC) stands in solidarity with the ever-increasing number of activists targeted with grand jury subpoenas by the US federal government. We also stand along with these activists and their allies in strongly condemning these actions by the federal government and call on our members, allies and comrades to join this outcry.

These attempts by the US government to criminalize free speech and dissent, and target work for justice are reprehensible. We find it atrocious that up to 23 activists have been subpoenaed since September 24, 2010 to appear before a grand jury and that the harassment and repression of solidarity and anti-war activists continues.

Grand juries have historically been used to gather supposed evidence on political movements and incriminate as many people as possible. Grand juries are a closed and secret process by which those subpoenaed are not given a right to their lawyer in court or to plead the 5th amendment. Refusal to comply with a grand jury can result in incarceration. MN BBC denounces the federal government in its use of such tactics.

In the words of the Palestine Solidarity group “We urge all people of conscience and those who stand in solidarity with the Palestinians to join us in calling for an end to political repression, both here and abroad, as we continue to support the movement for self-determination for the Palestinian people” and people everywhere.

For more information and action items on this situation:

Photo: http://www.stopfbi.net/resources

IWW endorses BDS in Support of Palestinian Rights!

Submitted by intexile, www.iww.org, December 2, 2010

12/2/2010 The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) has officially voted to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in support of Palestinian rights. The “Resolution in Support of the Workers of Palestine/Israel” was adopted in an overwhelming vote both at the IWW’s convention in Minneapolis and by the membership via referendum. This vote makes the IWW the first union in the US and the third union in Canada to officially support the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

Inspired by the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the BDS movement calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until such time as fundamental Palestinian rights are recognized. The BDS call is supported by a broad cross-section of Palestinian society, including Palestinian unions.

The resolution to support the BDS campaign comes out of the work of the IWW’s International Solidarity Commission and the IWW Friends of Palestinian Workers Group, a grassroots network of Wobblies supportive of the Palestinian, Israeli and international struggle against Israeli apartheid. Support for the BDS campaign was also stressed by all the Palestinian workers who met with members of the IWW on the IWW delegation to Palestine, particularly the Independent Workers Federation of Palestine, with whom the IWW shares a close bond of solidarity.

“For a union concerned with international solidarity, supporting the BDS movement is the right thing to do”, said IWW member Nathaniel Miller, who serves on the International Solidarity Commission and attended the IWW delegation to Palestine. “By officially supporting this BDS call, the IWW stands shoulder to shoulder with Palestinian workers in a global picket line against Israeli apartheid.”

“Our support of the BDS movement is in line with traditional wobbly principles of anti-racism and international solidarity”

The IWW Friends of Palestinian Workers Group resolves to continue to advance the cause of Palestinian rights inside and outside of the IWW.

Founded in 1905, the IWW is a union with a long tradition of solidarity and anti-militarism, and has been central to some of the most important struggles in US working class history. More recently, the IWW has been successful organizing at Starbucks and in the fast food industry, among workers long thought to be unorganizable. The IWW is an international union, with members across North America, Europe, Australia, and South Africa.

To Contact IWW Friends of Palestinian Workers Group

  • Phone – 610-209-1447
  • E-mail – nathaniel [at] iww.org

Photo: http://vegas.anarchoblogs.org/author/kelly-w-patterson/

First published: http://www.iww.org/en/node/5282

CPT-Palestine endorses Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement

RELEASE
23 February 2010

CPT-Palestine has decided to endorse formally the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as called for by Palestinian NGOs, because sixty years of negotiations and diplomacy have only enabled Israel to solidify its military occupation of Palestine. The international community has long called for Palestinian society to resist the violence of the Occupation nonviolently, so we, as members of an international peace organization, believe that when Palestinians mount nonviolent campaigns against the Occupation, we are morally obligated to support them.

We affirm the words of Palestinian Christian leaders in their Kairos Document: “These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly and sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice. The aim is to free both peoples from extremist positions of the different Israeli governments, bringing both to justice and reconciliation. In this spirit and with this dedication we will eventually reach the longed-for resolution to our problems, as indeed happened in South Africa and with many other liberation movements in the world.”

We recommend that members of our constituency review the following resources, so they can better understand the context from which the BDS movement has arisen:

1) The Kairos Palestine Document, “A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” The document is available as a PDF file in seven languages at http://www.kairospalestine.ps/?q=node/2 and at http://www.oikoumene.org/gr/resources/documents/other-ecumenical-bodies/kairos-palestine-document.html

2) “Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights 9 July 2005”: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/52

3) “Who Profits from the Occupation?” http://www.whoprofits.org/

4) A 2009 report by a fact-finding committee of South African social scientists, which notes that “three pillars of apartheid in South Africa” are all practiced by Israel in the Occupied Territories: demarcating people into racial groups and allotting superior rights, privileges and services to the dominant racial group; segregating people into different geographic areas and restricting their movements, and suppressing any opposition to the regime using administrative detention, torture, censorship, banning, and assassination.” http://www.hsrc.ac.za/Media_Release-378.phtml#

5) Dr. Neve Gordon’s reflection, “Boycott Israel: An Israeli comes to the painful conclusion that it’s the only way to save his country,” http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/20/opinion/oe-gordon20. See also “Palestinians, Jews, citizens of Israel, join the Palestinian call for a BDS campaign against Israel and video clip by Israeli-American rap artist, Invincible, in support of the BDS movement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MepX0PcjzfA

After Gordon’s piece appeared in the Los Angeles Times, he nearly lost his job at Ben Gurion University. See the critique of Gordon’s position by famed peace and human rights activist Uri Avnery: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1251547904 (which contains Archbishop Tutu’s thoughts on the efficacy of boycotts) and subsequent critiques of Avnery’s position by South African Ran Greenstein (“I agree more with Gordon than Avnery”) http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/RanGreen.htm Abraham Simhony
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/archive/1251974606/ and Alternative Information Center director, Michel Warschawsky “Yes to BDS!” http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1733

The Gaza Freedom March and the Cairo Declaration

By Sylvia Schwarz, 14 January 2010

On December 27, 2009 1,400 international activists convened in Cairo for the Gaza Freedom March, an expression of solidarity with the people of Palestine, and an attempt to bring the story of the oppression and human rights abuses of Palestinians, a story that has been neglected and ignored for over 60 years, to the eyes of the world. We expected to meet in Cairo and the following day board buses to Gaza. 50,000 Gazans waited to join us in a non-violent march toward the Erez Crossing in the north.

I was one of seven Minnesotans who had signed up for the March, each with a different and fascinating personal story, who came together to express our intention to force Israel to follow international law. As we were preparing for our trip, unsettling news came from Code Pink, the organizers, that the Egyptian government would not allow us to get through the checkpoint into Gaza. Code Pink had led seven previous delegations to Gaza in the past year, and had always been allowed to enter, but this time Egypt was intent on frustrating our efforts. All our meeting permits were revoked; halls and schools where we had paid for meeting locations were forced to lock their doors; the buses hired to take us to Al Arish, the Egyptian town closest to the Rafah crossing, were not allowed to pick us up.

Understandably, communication was rendered difficult. It is against the law in Egypt to meet in groups of more than six. And although we met at the three hotels where many of us stayed, and tried to keep in communication through e-mail and cell phones, it was a major challenge. At each planning meeting, under difficult circumstances where each sentence had to be repeated three times so that people packed in the hallways and other rooms could hear, Egyptian police, sometimes in plain clothes (but why bother since they were so visible anyway), were there listening and reporting to their superiors.

Although we all wanted to get to Gaza – many groups had humanitarian aid to be brought in, items like school supplies, laptop computers, medicines, toys, all items which have been banned from the region during Israel’s brutal blockade begun after the wrong political party was elected in free and fair elections – we made good use of our time in Cairo. We had demonstrations in front of the UN/World Trade Center offices, several of our embassies, and tourist areas. This brought a lot of media attention all over the world. We were on the front page of all Egyptian newspapers and top news in Europe for more than a week, and though we had planned to be top news in those media from within Gaza, this media attention brought into sharp focus the collusion between Israel, Egypt, and the United States in enforcing this illegal and inhumane siege on a defenseless population. Despite the re-starting of the “peace process” so sanguinely reported by Hillary Clinton a few days ago, few people around the world take that seriously any more.

The Gaza Freedom March even made news in the US, in mainstream media from the Washington Post to the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Given the difficulties of getting any media coverage for Palestine-related issues in mainstream media, this is no small feat.

The most important result of the Gaza Freedom March was the issuance of the “Cairo Declaration” (http://cairodeclaration.org/). This document was initiated by the South African delegation, inspiring and brilliant activists from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), and had input from delegates from all over the world, including Palestinian civil society. It sets out the demand that Israel comply with international law, and in order to encourage Israel to comply with international law, several proposals are made. The proposals are legal, economic, and cultural measures – all non-violent – that will exert pressure on Israel to end its apartheid policies. These measures are specific actions that each of us can take towards that goal.

In the next weeks and months the Minnesota Seven (there were actually eight of us, and not all were from Minnesota, but we can talk about math and geography some other time) plan to work on implementing the Cairo Declaration here in Minnesota. We will spend a lot of time on the Minnesota Break the Bonds campaign, and other Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns. We will attempt to bring South African and Palestinian trade union members on a speaking tour of Minnesota. We will organize events to coincide with Israel Apartheid Week in early March. We will become involved in politics, lobbying, and educational activities. We will make important connections with delegates from all over the world who have committed themselves to working on this issue. In all of these activities, we are asking for your help and energy. This movement is growing and gaining momentum and we are drawing inspiration from those we met in Cairo and those who supported us back home. Together, we will create the change that is needed for a just and lasting peace in Palestine/Israel.

Sylvia Schwarz, a resident of Saint Paul, is a member of the Coalition for Palestinian Rights (CPR) and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Twin Cities (IJAN-TC).

Twin Cities activists report back on Gaza Freedom March on KFAI radio

Listen now (31 minutes):

Hear from Twin Cities activists who recently returned from Egypt.

Sylvia Schwarz, eyewitness to the recent Gaza Freedom March, on the border of Egypt and Gaza. She will also explain the important Cairo Declaration that resulted from this international action.

Soren Sorenson explains the campaign for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) working to get Israel to follow international law and to move a real peace process forward that respects Palestinians’ rights and independence.

Catalyst is hosted & produced by Lydia Howell, Minneapolis independent journalist, winner of the 2007 Premack Award for Public Interest Journalism.