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MN BBC Third Annual Day on the Hill begins by renewing divestment demand to the SBI

MN BREAK THE BONDS CAMPAIGN HOLDS THIRD ANNUAL DAY ON THE HILL

[St. Paul] MN Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) is a statewide campaign aimed at stopping the State of Minnesota’s investment of millions of dollars of state retirement funds in Israel’s human rights and international law violations. On March 6, MN BBC will hold its third annual Day on the Hill by first attending the State Board of Investment (SBI) quarterly meeting to express dissatisfaction with the Board’s extreme indifference to the injurious human rights consequences of its investment decisions. Following the SBI meeting, MN BBC members will then engage in constituent meetings with legislators.

The SBI is violating its own internal agency guidelines. Pursuant to SBI foreign investment guidelines, because of Israel’s dismal human rights record, as documented by official State Department reports, the SBI can only invest in Israeli securities if it finds that its fiduciary obligations would be breached by failing to do so. The SBI has failed to make any such findings. Yet, it has invested millions of dollars of taxpayer funds not only in Israel’s government bonds, knowing that Israel uses Israel Bond funds to pay for illegal settlement activities and other international law violations, but in Israeli corporations that profit from Israel’s illegal settlement activities and racial discrimination against the indigenous Palestinians as well. The SBI has been put on notice that these investments are aiding and abetting violations of international law which exposes the SBI and the state retirement funds it manages to potential liability.

Following the SBI meeting, MN BBC members will visit their legislators asking them to sponsor a bill to divest from Israel Bonds until Israel agrees to participate in the UN Human Rights Council Periodic Review Process and obtains an objectively favorable human rights review confirming that it is in compliance with its international law and human rights obligations. Israel recently became the first UN member nation ever to refuse to participate in the review process, despite efforts by the United States Government encouraging Israel to participate.

The State Board of Investment meets at 9:00 am on March 6 in room 118 of the Capitol. MN BBC members are encouraged to arrive early to get a seat in the room.

Click to read the MNBBC Letter to the SBI to Renew Divestment Demand.

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Photo: www.imemc.org

Articles, Events, Featured

For immediate release: Anti-apartheid protestors ejected and assaulted at Timberwolves exhibition game against Israeli team

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2012

ANTI-APARTHEID PROTESTORS EJECTED AND ASSAULTED AT TIMBERWOLVES EXHIBITION GAME AGAINST ISRAELI TEAM

[Minneapolis] Following in the footsteps of the sports boycott of South Africa that contributed to the demise of apartheid, approximately 20 protesters advocating for human rights for Palestinians made their presence known at the Tuesday night Minnesota Timberwolves game against Maccabi-Haifa. Palestinian flags and banners calling for a boycott of Israeli apartheid were displayed and anti-apartheid chants were heard throughout the Target Center minutes into the game clearly catching the attention of the players.

As the banners were unfurled, Target Center security accompanied by Minneapolis Police began ejecting most of the protesters who were waving Palestinian flags and the anti-apartheid banners which were equivalent in size as those waved by pro-Israel counter-protesters, who were not ejected. An experienced legal observer and civil rights attorney who attempted to film the actions of a Target security guard was assaulted by a Target security supervisor, placed under arrest by an accompanying police officer and ejected with the promise of prosecution. Several persons were witness to the incident, which was also filmed by a protester. (Click here to see the footage on YouTube.)

The game was preceded by a letter to each of the Timberwolves players signed by over 100 worldwide human rights organizations requesting that the players boycott the exhibition game against the Israeli team. In addition, hundreds of individuals added their support to this letter through an online petition, tweeting, and Facebook. The organizations, which include church, veteran, women, student and lawyer groups, have all signed onto the Palestinian Civil Society call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel until Israel complies with international law and ends its human rights abuses against Palestinians.

According to the letter, the Israeli government sends cultural ambassadors, like the Maccabi-Haifa team, to Europe and the United States to present Israel as a “normal” society for the purpose of whitewashing its human rights and international law violations which include discriminatory laws and a system of apartheid. The letter can be read in its entirety on the Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign website at http://mn.breakthebonds.org/?p=2036.

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Featured, Resources

View this short film! “A Word From the MN BBC Co-Plaintiffs”

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Check out our short film featuring some of the co-plaintiffs on the MN BBC-led lawsuit against the MN State Board of Investment (SBI). In six minutes, this film explains the lawsuit in everyday language and tells the important stories of the folks who joined MN BBC to sue the state for investing in Israel Bonds.

Help us go viral! Watch the film on YouTube, like it on facebook, tweet and retweet about it and generally share this resource with your networks!

[youtube]IZiLHKWuELc[/youtube]