Category Archives: Events

MN Break the Bonds Campaign events

Announcements, Events

Deadly Exchange: Israel and US Policing

Leave a comment

Since 2002, thousands of US law enforcement officials have trained with Israeli military forces in the context of the “War on Terror,” learning about Israeli methods and technologies of surveillance, racial profiling, and suppression of protest. As Black Lives Matter and other social movements seek accountability and an end to police violence, why are US police departments training with occupying Israeli forces? How do we resist the militarization of police and the criminalization of US citizens and immigrants? And how is the movement for Justice in Palestine organizing for justice and real safety from the US to Palestine?

Speaker Eran Efrati is the executive director of Researching the American-Israeli Alliance (RAIA), and an investigative researcher into the Israeli military and arms industry. He has worked with the International Criminal Court and participated in both independent and UN investigations into Israeli military operations. His investigative reports have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, among others. He currently serves as chair of the board for Jewish Voice for Peace, and his research focuses on military and police partnerships between the United States and Israel.

Thursday, August 12, 2021, 7 PM

Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83334769540 • Facebook.com/WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness youtube.com/WomenAgainstMilitaryMadness • twitter.com/WAMMwomen

Announcements, Events

Campaign to Repeal Minnesota’s Anti-BDS law: Update and Actions

Leave a comment

Background:

In 2017 Minnesota was one of several states acting on legislation limiting our free speech rights to speak out against Israel’s policies and human rights abuses affecting Palestinians. Attempts to impose Federal legislation to restrict BDS activity had failed, and what followed was a very well-funded strategic campaign to achieve at the State level what could not at that time be achieved at the Federal level. Today 30 States have approved Anti-boycott legislation; and 24 states have approved legislation that impose boycott restrictions to be eligible for state contracts, including Minnesota.

Back in 2017 many diverse groups of individuals and organizations worked to stop the legislation from being enacted. Many people met with our legislators, wrote letters, held rallies, and spoke at legislative hearings to voice objections to this initiative, addressing both free speech and human rights concerns. The legislation still passed in Minnesota, but we raised the profile of the issues among Legislators and out in the community; we established partnerships in our community. The final language of the law was watered down from its initial wording, but make no mistake, it still restricts your freedom of speech!

Recently:

On February 12, 2021 the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a similar anti-BDS law in Arkansas was unconstitutional. This on top of other First Amendment wins in Texas, Kansas and Arizona is more reason than ever to repeal Minnesota’s unconstitutional law!

We have organized with many other groups again to repeal Minnesota’s law and we have had some stunning successes! HF 1246 and SF 1039 have been introduced in the House and Senate, respectively, to do just that. They each have a number of co-authors, led by Rep. Steve Sandell and Sen. Mary Kunesh. Although we have found great support among the legislators to whom we have spoken, there is much more that needs to be done to actually get the bills to committees to be heard and then to the floors to be voted on.

TAKE ACTION TODAY!

We have an opportunity to repeal the legislation in Minnesota, and to add power to a national initiative to combat all such laws around the country. 

There is an aggressive campaign taking place now to equate BDS activity with antisemitism.

We expect that there will be a strong backlash against repeal of the Minnesota legislation, and it is important for us to work together in collaboration if this is to be successful.

People working on this project have been meeting with their legislators to bring attention to this.

We are asking those in our community to raise your voices in support of repealing the Minnesota Anti-BDS law. Contact your legislators to let them know that you support repeal and urge them to attend a (virtual) information session about these bills on March 5, 2021 at 8:30 am. (Details will be here shortly. Please check back.)

Please let us know about your activities by sending an email to mn@breakthebonds.org so we can keep track of which legislators have been contacted, and so we can more effectively organize our actions.

This is an important time for us to act on this initiative. We need to be in touch with our Legislators so they hear from us before a backlash has a chance to take hold and affect opinions against repeal.

Download this flyer to communicate with others about the repeal initiative.

Let’s act now and Repeal the Minnesota Anti-BDS Law!

Thanks to Ruben Slomianski for the text of this post.

Announcements, Events, Featured

Parallel Liberation Struggles: Lessons in Resistance

Conference, Saturday, October 21, 2017, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm*

University of MN, Keller Hall, Room 3-210, 200 Union Street SE, Minneapolis, MN

*Registration: 9:30 am / Lunch will be provided

Conference is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is requested.

People under oppression suffer from three types of violence (Johan Galtung)

Structural violence  Direct Violence  Cultural Violence

as in Genocide, Apartheid, Ethnic Cleansing (Raphael Lemon)

Join us as we (1) commemorate the 100-year Palestinian resistance to Israel’s settler-colonial project and (2) explore the similarities in violence used against Palestinians, African Americans, and Native Americans and their methods of resistance.

Speakers:

Philip Weiss

Mondoweiss.net

 Dhoruba bin Wahad

Black Panthers
Nadia Ben-Youssef

Adalah Justice Project

 Alan O. Gross

American Indian Movement
Jennifer Bing

AFSC, No Way to Treat a Child

Raven Ziegler

Lakota Sioux Activist

 Erika Levy

Jewish Voice for Peace

 

Please register here

Sponsoring Organizations: MN Break the Bonds Campaign, Women Against Military Madness – Middle East Committee, Anti-War Committee, Middle East Peace Now, Jewish Voice for Peace – TC, National Lawyers Guild, American Muslims for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, Minnesotans Against Islamophobia, Socialist Action.

Announcements, Articles, Events, Featured

MN BBC Interactions with the State Board of Investment Thus Far

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) members and supporters attended the quarterly State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting on March 4, 2015, as we have for almost all quarterly meetings for more than three years. More than 50 supporters packed the room holding signs that encouraged the SBI to divest from the Israel Bonds that it holds. More supporters were turned away from the overcrowded meeting room, held in the State Board of Investment offices, rather than its usual meeting place of the Capitol building, due to renovations at the Capitol. Also in attendance were two members of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Former Senator James Abourezk of South Dakota spoke on behalf of MN BBC. He spoke about why Minnesota should not be investing in a country which commits human rights abuses and undermines US Foreign policy, backing up his statements with a history of Israel’s involvement in human rights abuses against both Palestinians and Americans. He was himself, the target of an attack because of his co-founding of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and his colleague, Alex Odeh was assassinated. Although the perpetrators of the murder were never brought to justice for that crime, Israel was clearly implicated.

It did not matter, however, what Senator Abourezk, a friend of Governor Dayton, said. The script for the day had been written in advance. For as soon as the opposing side from the JCRC spoke (Steve Hunegs spoke about the article that he and his friend Walid Issa wrote for the MinnPost, which said that Israel Bonds are a good investment and Israel has always repaid those bonds), Governor Dayton passed out pre-printed copies of his resolution calling for continuing investment in Israel Bonds. The decision had been made prior to the meeting. The debate that ensued did not discuss the issues that MN BBC had been bringing to their attention since the beginning of the campaign – that Israel uses the money from Israel Bonds for illegal purposes. Indeed, never in the history of our dealings with the SBI, have they addressed this issue, much less answered it to anyone’s satisfaction.

So even though this is an apparent loss to our cause, it is also an opportunity for us to step back and look at our strategies in all our interactions with the SBI. While MN BBC has been active in many other areas, this posting will discuss what we have done just with the SBI. It is not written in chronological order, but rather by topic, and hopefully will give activists in other states and municipalities techniques and ideas in executing their campaigns.

The struggle continues! We will not give up until all Palestinians are accorded their full human rights!

We address the SBI

In 2011 at least 30 MN BBC supporters from all over the state (from as far away as Luverne in the southwest and Brainerd in the north central), read statements to the Board during the public comment period of the SBI meeting. Governor Dayton thanked everyone for coming and listened patiently as everyone spoke.

Since that time we have addressed the SBI many times, always insisting that their investments in Israel Bonds are illegal and immoral. At one meeting a student intern stood to speak and Governor Dayton fast-gavelled a close to the meeting. This was a disappointment for the student who had prepared his statement and was looking forward for a chance to speak. We then wrote a letter to Dayton, informing him that his rude behavior had been a frustration to a student who was just learning about the political system. After that letter Dayton allowed speakers again.

Lesson: In an open meeting system, the public has the right to speak. We always (well, almost always) remained respectful and non-disruptive, so there should not have been a reason to bar us from speaking. Always insist on your rights under the US and State Constitutions.

We have conversations with the Executive Director and staff of the SBI

We began speaking with the Executive Director, Howard Bicker, and his staff early in the campaign. None of us at the time had experience in getting information from governmental agencies and we find that, because we didn’t ask the right questions, there were many details that Bicker never included in his responses to us (for example, that the Development Corporation of Israel thanked Howard Bicker personally for his “support of the State of Israel.” It was only recently that we learned this fact.) But we did learn some essentials about the Israel Bonds: date of maturity, approximate amount of investment, average rates of return, and the fact which the SBI continually tries to claim, that they do not invest based on politics, but only for fiduciary purposes. Yet this letter which Bicker received belies that claim, since investing in Israel is a political act.

Lesson: It takes time to know what questions to ask. Get to know your State’s equivalent of a FOIA request. In Minnesota it’s called a Data Practices Act Request (see below).

MN BBC files lawsuit

We brought a lawsuit against the SBI in December 2011. (You can read the complete documents here.) We alleged three counts:

1. That the SBI had invested in Israel Bonds contrary to state statutes 11A.24 subdivision 2, which restricts investments in foreign sovereign bonds to those of Canada and requires substantial restrictions on those investments. We alleged that the State of Minnesota violated those statutes for Israel only, again showing political solidarity with a country against its own stated policy of investing only on the basis of fiduciary duty.

2. That the SBI had invested in Israel Bonds with the knowledge that the money from the sale of those bonds goes into the Israeli treasury and is distributed to various ministries, some of which carry on illegal activities according to both US and international law. The United States is a signatory of the Geneva Conventions and therefore it is incumbent upon all states to comply with those international treaties. Investments in activities which violate ratified international treaties are illegal according to the US Constitution.

3. That the SBI had violated the “prudent person standard” of investment, exposing the state’s pensioners and taxpayers to potential lawsuits based on the harm caused by the international law violations.

The lawsuit was dismissed from the lower court and from the Appeals Court (November 2012) and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The court asserted that the SBI did have the legal authority to invest in foreign securities.
The important point which was not addressed is the fact that Israel uses the money from the sale of Israel Bonds for illegal purposes. This has not been disputed by the courts or the SBI.

Lesson: Don’t get discouraged by apparent losses. There were many avenues to go after this dismissal. We began to pursue the avenue that the SBI had violated its own investment guidelines.

We begin a postcard campaignSBI Post Card

The postcard campaign began about the time the lawsuit was filed. The front of the postcard shows pictures of desperation from the Occupied Territories, with the words “This is how MN invests.” The back had a statement saying that the undersigned urged the SBI to divest from its Israel Bonds. Whenever we received a number of signed postcards we delivered them to the SBI. No acknowledgment was given on their receipt.

Lesson: It is vital that the broader community continues to be informed, educated and involved about the campaign and its purposes. A petition or postcard campaign is a great way to involve and educate people.

We allege that they are violating their investment guidelines

In September 2013 we delivered a report to the SBI called “Twenty Years of Failure – A Report on the MN State Board of Investment’s Neglect of Human Rights”. This White Paper pointed out that in the 1990s, then State Auditor (now Governor) Mark Dayton urged the SBI to adopt guidelines to include the consideration of human rights, labor practices and environmental practices in their investment decisions. Each country was to be categorized in one of three groups based on their human rights, labor and environmental records. A Group I country had the best record and investments could be made in those countries without restriction. Group II countries had laws protecting workers, but there were problems and fund managers who recommended those investments were required to make a statement that it would be a breach of the fund manager’s fiduciary duty NOT to invest. Group III countries had the worst human rights, labor or environmental records and the fund manager had to justify a decision to invest in that country. Israel had always been placed in Group II, yet no fund manager ever was required to make the statement that it would be a breach of fiduciary duty not to invest in Israel… until we filed the lawsuit. In June of 2012 the first statements appeared. However these statements did not exactly say that it was a breach of fiduciary duty not to invest in Israel. The best the fund managers could muster was to say it was a breach of fiduciary duty not to have a diverse portfolio.

We also noticed that countries did not change classification from year to year. The country review process, originally required to take place annually, had been skipped for several years. After a Data Practices Act Request, we realized that they had changed the review period to quadrennially, and finally quit reviewing countries altogether after 2005.

Since they had neglected their own requirement for country reviews, we submitted a Shadow Report which reviewed Israel’s human rights record based on the same categories that the SBI was supposed to have used. No response to either of these papers was received.

Lesson: Even though these are politicians who don’t care about human rights unless it will get them votes in the next election, we thought we could shame them for not even following their own internal investment guidelines. It didn’t seem to work, although who knows how they will react when suddenly they can support Palestinian human rights and not suffer political repercussions? We don’t know what will affect someone, so we have to approach it with different tactics.

We file Data Practices Act Requests

Howard Bicker retired in 2013 and Mansco Perry replaced him as the Executive Director. We have met with Perry several times also, and he continues the claim that they only invest based on fiduciary reasons. Perry, however, has been much more forthcoming with records than his predecessor, and we have filed several Data Practices Act Requests from him.
These requests included any written material showing decisions on changing the country review process to extend it to four years instead of annually, and changes to the internal investment guidelines. The guidelines did not change until March 4, 2015 in an important motion that was most likely overlooked by most of our supporters attending that meeting.
The internal investment guidelines had been implemented when Dayton was State Auditor, with the encouragement of several labor unions. That they had not been followed was not an issue for them until MN Break the Bonds insisted that they should follow their own rules on investing. So without attracting any attention to what they were doing, Perry announced that the guidelines were being changed. From now on, the country grouping no longer applies to anything but “emerging markets.” In other words, a developed country can commit whatever crimes against humanity it feels it needs to do and this will not prevent the SBI from investing in it. The SBI voted unanimously to adopt the changes.

Lesson: I already denigrated politicians – enough said!

We encourage them to not reinvest

We have consistently encouraged the SBI to divest from or not to reinvest in Israel Bonds. It is undisputed that the money from the sale of these bonds goes to illegal activities. We confronted the SBI with legal arguments and human rights arguments. We will not be deterred from seeking justice for Palestinians. March 4, 2015 was just another disappointment showing that the SBI, while claiming not to consider politics in their investment decisions, make the very political decision which will get them reelected. Even the fact that Dayton’s own guidelines had to be thrown out in order to make his supporters happy was not enough to make him question his support of an apartheid state.

Here is the wording of the resolution which the board voted on following Abourezk’s address:

The SBI declines to divest of its holdings in its bonds issued by the State of Israel and will continue to invest in the fixed and floating rate bonds offered by the State of Israel subject to a determination by the Executive Director that the rate of return is competitive, and that the duration, terms, amount and risk of the investment are consistent with sound investment practices and the prudent investor fiduciary standard of care in Minnesota Statutes 11A.09 and Section 356A.04.

In other words the SBI is letting Mansco Perry make the investment decision. If it’s a good investment, they all get complimented, if it’s a bad investment Perry may suffer some consequences, but the SBI will have made the politically expedient decision of showing solidarity with an illegal and inhumane regime.

Lesson: The March 4 meeting is not the end of the campaign. We continually find new arrows in our quiver! Stay tuned!

And Stay Human!

For an abridged video of the meeting on March 4, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eThLkKUV_-Y

Announcements, Events, Past Events

MN Break the Bonds condemns the State Board of Investment’s decision and representation of Israel bonds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 5, 2015 — Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) strongly condemns the decision on Wednesday, March 4 by the State Board of Investment, as initiated by a motion from Governor Dayton, not to divest from Israel bonds, which are maturing on June 30, 2015. The motion came after a presentation by former South Dakota Senator and co-founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee James Abourezk urging the State Board of Investment not to continue to use state pension funds to invest in Israel because of its human rights abuses and oppressive occupation of Palestinians, and the Executive Director of the JCRC who claimed that Israel bonds are an important investment for Minnesota and that their rates are competitive.

After hearing the testimony, Governor Dayton put forth a motion calling on the SBI to “decline to divest” from Israel bonds so long as the bonds continue to return at competitive rates and not pose financial risks for the state, as per their fiduciary responsibility. The Governor remarked that he was behind the effort of the initial purchasing of the bonds and believes they are an important investment to maintain. Attorney General Lori Swanson questioned SBI Director Mansco Perry as to whether these bonds were financially lucrative, pose risks, and have rates similar to other bonds, to which he answered yes. The Board voted 3-1, with State Auditor Rebecca Otto voting no on the basis that she did not believe that the Board should weigh in on an individual bond decision or bring political considerations to an individual divestment decision. Otto’s statement affirms the assertion of MN Break the Bonds that the nature of Dayton’s motion and Israel bonds in general are indeed political. Break the Bonds estimates that since the bonds are general Treasury bonds, at least 20% of Minnesota’s investments are used for settlement activity in the occupied West Bank or towards other infrastructure maintaining the occupation. The occupation is illegal under international law and as such Minnesota is making a political statement by continuing to be invested in a military occupation in violation of international law.

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign challenges the claim that the state’s Israel bonds were purchased for fiduciary rather than political reasons. While the bonds may provide a small and reliable return, this is not the basis on which they are sold. The bonds were purchased as “solidarity bonds” which are sold privately by the Israel Development Corporation as a way to show support for the state of Israel, not for financial competitiveness. “Israel bonds are not prudent investments because they are not competitive; they are not liquid and even the Israel Development Corporation acknowledges that the return is not competitive,” says Karen Schraufnagel, economist and member of MN Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

MN Break the Bonds mobilized supporters in the last several months to call on the SBI to not reinvest in the $10 million bonds, which mature at the end of June. Through this effort they collected over 1,200 signatures from residents of MN calling on the state not to reinvest.

MN Break the Bonds has been calling on the SBI to divest from Israel bonds since 2008 in a broad grassroots campaign with several thousand supporters from around the state, including chapters in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Rochester, Morris, and Willmar. The Break the Bonds campaign follows the Palestinian civil society call in 2005 for boycott, divestment, and sanctions against the state of Israel until Israel complies with international law and enables justice for human rights violations against Palestinians. MN Break the Bonds calls on all supporters of human rights to continue demanding that the State Board of Investments stop investing in Israel bonds.

MN Break the Bonds is a grassroots campaign supported by Friends of Sabeel North America-MN, US Palestinian Community Network-MN, Jewish Voice for Peace Twin Cities, Women Against Military Madness, Anti-War Committee, Middle East Peace Now, and several other community organizations.

Announcements, Events

MN BBC to MN SBI: Don’t Reinvest in Human Rights Abuses!

Please come to the next quarterly meeting of the State Board of Investment on Wednesday, March 4 at 10:00 am in the State Board of Investment building, 60 Empire Drive, Room 106, St. Paul. (Come early and pick up a sign.)

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) announces that former Senator James Abourezk of South Dakota (D-SD, 1973-1979) (US House of Rep., 1971-1973) will be addressing the quarterly meeting of the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI). “I intend to call attention to Israel’s repeated bullying by using money from Minnesota’s Israel Bond sales to kill, wound and imprison helpless Palestinians. I’m certain that Minnesotans do not intend that their hard earned tax money should go to the Israeli military’s brutalizing [of] Palestinian people,” says Abourezk, the first US Senator of Arab descent and the founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States.

Comprised of Minnesota’s top four constitutional officers and chaired by Governor Dayton, the SBI manages the investment of Minnesota’s $74 billion pool of public employee retirement funds.

For more than six years, MN BBC has attempted to persuade the SBI to divest its holdings in Israel Bonds which are unrestricted loans to the government of Israel. Israel uses the money from the sale of Israel Bonds to construct settlements on Palestinian land and build apartheid separation barriers, including a massive separation wall, among other actions that violate international law. The SBI’s Israel Bond investments will be maturing on July 1. At the SBI’s September 2014 meeting, Governor Dayton announced that the board would consider whether to reinvest in Israel Bonds when it meets at its March 4 meeting.

MN BBC and its supporters are urging the SBI not to reinvest in Israel’s human rights abuses. In addition to Senator Abourezk’s appearance on their behalf at the March 4 meeting, MN BBC will be submitting a petition signed by over a thousand Minnesotans from many different backgrounds.

Because of his leadership role in a community organization that has advocated for the purchase of Israel Bonds, MN BBC has requested that Secretary of State Steve Simon recuse himself from the SBI’s decision whether to reinvest. The letter to Sec. Simon from MN BBC and the Midwest Organizer for Jewish Voice for Peace requesting his recusal can be seen here.

Events

New Petition: SBI, Don’t Re-invest!

DO NOT REINVEST IN ISRAEL BONDS

On July 1, 2015, the Israel Bonds purchased by the State of Minnesota using millions of dollars of Minnesota’s public retirement funds, will mature. Israel Bonds are direct unrestricted loans to the Government of Israel which uses the money for illegal settlements, electronic surveillance, apartheid separation barriers and offensive military hardware. By signing this petition, you are telling Minnesota State Board of Investment not to reinvest in Israel Bonds and to end its financial complicity in Israel’s continuing violations of the human rights of Palestinians living under occupation.

Click here to sign the petition.

Events, Past Events

NEW REPORT: Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign at the December 2, 2014 State Board of Investment Meeting

NEW REPORT ON ISRAEL’S HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD. Read here: MN BBC Shadow Report on Israel’s Human Rights Record

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign once again had a fabulous showing with about 25 supporters at the State Board of Investment meeting on December 2. At this meeting we presented the four executive officers of the Board (Governor Mark Dayton, State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, and Attorney General Lori Swanson), along with Executive Director Mansco Perry and Secretary of State – Elect Steve Simon, copies of a Shadow Report, that we had written (see the Cover Letter and read the report).

In the 1990s when Mark Dayton was State Auditor, he encouraged the SBI to incorporate investment guidelines which took into account human rights of a country before the SBI could invest. Countries were researched based on six human rights categories and classified into one of three groups. Group I was the best and the SBI could invest in Group I countries without restriction (except as imposed by the statutes). Group II countries had some issues, although generally laws were on the books protecting human rights. If a fund manager wanted the SBI to invest in a Group II country, he or she had to make a statement that it would be a breach of fiduciary duty NOT to invest. Group III countries were the most problematic and investment in those countries required justification for the investment. Countries were to be re-categorized annually. Israel had always been classified as a Group II country.

The SBI became lax about re-categorizing countries annually and 2005 was the last re-categorization. At that time they decided to change the annual process into a quadrennial one. Yet in 2009 they did not re-categorize any country. Since this process should take place prior to the issuance of the SBI’s annual report, where all countries are listed with the categories, MN BBC took it upon ourselves to write the report for them. We took the six criteria and researched reports that well-respected human rights organizations had written regarding those six criteria:

(1) Freedom from Political or Extrajudicial Killing or Disappearance
(2) Freedom from Torture
(3) Right to a Fair Public Trial and Due Process
(4) Freedom of Speech and Press
(5) Right of Citizens to Change Laws, Officials and Government, and
(6) Freedom from Discrimination based on Race, Religion, Sex or Social Status

Based on the results of the research, we requested that the Board re-classify Israel as a Group III country – one that commits egregious human rights abuses.

At the beginning of the quarterly SBI meeting we distributed the paper to the board. We had informed them in advance that we would like some time at the end of the meeting to introduce the paper. Governor Dayton gave Ilana the floor and she stayed at the table while the SBI debated aspects of Minnesota’s investment in Israel Bonds. Perry said that the country categorization only refers to equity, not bonds. Ilana asked a pointed question which made that statement look foolish – why, if investing in a country’s equities is bad for human rights reasons, would it be acceptable to invest in their bonds? Rebecca Otto, the State Auditor, repeated several times that the SBI does not get involved in politics and that we should go to the state legislature. Ilana responded that the decision to invest in the Bonds in the first place was a political one. Governor Dayton appeared to be reluctant to give the legislature power over the SBI’s investment decisions. Read the report here: MN BBC Shadow Report on Israel’s Human Rights Record

Mansco Perry said that the country categorization process was only for “emerging markets” and since Israel is no longer an emerging market it automatically becomes a Group I country.

Throughout Ilana’s presentation, the governor was paging through the report and apparently taking it in.

The next quarterly SBI meeting in March (the date is not posted yet), is when renewal of the investment in the $10 million Israel Bond will come up for discussion. It is imperative that we show up in force and let the Board know that we do NOT want Minnesota taxpayers’ money to fund human rights abuses. If you have not yet signed the petition asking the SBI not to re-invest, please contact us through the website or at mn@breakthebonds.com. This is a paper-only petition and we need as many signatures as possible by March 1.

Events, Featured

3 Ways to Take Action To Demand Justice for Gaza!

Leave a comment

poster_sept_91. Pack the SBI Meeting Room on September 9, 2014 @ 9 AM in Rm 112*
*Arrive early to pick up a sign—or bring your own–and find a seat!

Rally & Press Conference @ 10:30, Upper Mall of the State Capitol

Endorsed by MN Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Northfielders for Justice in Palestine/Israel, Women Against Military Madness, Anti-War Committee, and Middle East Peace Now, and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)

2. E-mail the Minnesota State Board of Investment members to demand that they divest from Israel Bonds.  

3. Call Governor Dayton and tell him to designate Israel as a worst human rights offender.

On July 24, 2014 at a gathering of self-proclaimed “Israel supporters” Governor Dayton, Chair of the MN State Board of Investment (SBI), stated “I [express] my support of the people of Israel in defending themselves…” (StarTribune, 7/24/14)

That same day, Israel bombed a UNRWA School in Gaza that was being used as a shelter, leaving 15 dead and 200 injured, mostly women and children.

In regards to Israel’s assault on Gaza from July 8 to August 26, 2014, during which 2,139 people were killed, including 490 children, Human Rights Watch stated “Israel’s military is responsible for major war crimes in Gaza, including the civilian death toll and a massive destruction of infrastructure. There is almost no water and no electricity, only a few medicines are available.”

YET THE MN SBI CHOOSES TO INVEST MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ISRAEL IN VIOLATION OF ITS OWN HUMAN RIGHTS GUIDELINES.

IT’S ELECTION SEASON, MN. YOUR VOICE & YOUR VOTE MATTER. JOIN US TO DEMAND THAT OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS ACT IN GOOD CONSCIENCE AND DIVEST FROM ISRAEL BONDS IMMEDIATELY. IF NOT NOW, WHEN?