Judge rules against Minnesota ‘Break the Bonds’ campaign

by Sylvia Schwarz, April 21, 2012

As we filed out of the courtroom, my colleague leaned toward me and said “we have a good judge.” Nothing that I heard in that room gave me any such indication, but my friend has spent thousands of hours in front of many different judges and knew how to read them. “She asked the defense attorney about the Geneva Conventions,” he continued, “and of course the defense attorney had no good answer for that.”

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) is part of the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. It is a statewide campaign to break Minnesota’s economic ties with Israel, and along with its legislative and educational work, it had filed a lawsuit against the State Board of Investment (SBI), charging that the SBI had illegally invested Minnesota’s taxpayer money in Israel bonds. The three counts of the lawsuit charged that the investments are illegal because 1) Minnesota statutes Section 11A.24, specifically prohibit investments in non-Canadian foreign government securities, 2) by investing in projects that violate the Fourth Geneva Convention Minnesota violates its own and the US Constitution, which says that all treaties ratified by the federal government are the law of the land, and 3) the investments expose Minnesota taxpayers and pensioners to potential lawsuits by individuals who have been harmed by those illegal and abusive practices. (Read the full text of the lawsuit here [PDF].)

If your eyes, like mine, glaze over when reading legal writing, it is worth it to read the stories about each of the 27 plaintiffs at the beginning of the complaint. And here are two summaries of the lawsuit written before the judge’s ruling: here and here.

Although we had a solid legal case, the fact that the subject of this lawsuit is Israel means that logic and a solid legal basis get tossed out of the conversation. The only consideration is about the next election or being labeled an anti-Semite. We did not expect to win in court; we knew that struggles for human rights take many years and endure many setbacks. We were prepared for such a setback and prepared to maximize our efforts to educate as many Minnesotans as possible about Israeli human rights abuses and international law violations.

The judge’s question about the Geneva Conventions was meaningful, because MN BBC had used Israel’s violations of them and the U.S. State Department’s acknowledgment of those violations, as evidence bolstering counts two and three. The State’s defense only mentioned that foreign policy was not a State function. Asking this question made it clear that the judge understood that investments in projects that violate international treaties which the US has ratified are illegal.
With my colleague’s short declaration, I actually allowed myself to imagine that we might win this lawsuit. A victory in a courtroom would have sent a nice message to those tireless purveyors of pro-Israeli propaganda, those people who never pass up an opportunity to talk about the “only democracy in the Middle East” as though people aren’t beginning to question that statement…as though they only need to repeat it a few more times until the hypnosis takes effect again.

A victory would have been a nice message to those Israel supporters, who did a good job of packing the small courtroom… until supporters of MN BBC began arriving en masse. By the time the hearing began, MN BBC supporters outnumbered Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) supporters about two to one. The courtroom was crowded, with standing room only, and the judge allowed some of those standing in the rear to sit in the jury box.

But a victory would not have meant that we could take a break from our work. Regardless of the outcome, we must redouble our efforts with legislators, media, church groups, and school groups. We must reach out to environmental, indigenous rights, democracy advocates, and racial justice groups – just as we have been doing. A victory would have meant that there is no time to waste, since an appeal would most certainly be forthcoming from the JCRC supporters. Our legal team would have had to scramble.

A victory would have been short but sweet. Perhaps there would have been more media attention – always the difficulty in this issue. We have always had enormous obstacles when it comes to media. Although there has been a noticeable increase in coverage of the Palestinian side of the story recently, it is still a struggle to convince mainstream media to publish our stories. We have to continue these efforts.
My friend said that the judge’s request of the lawyers for the plaintiffs and the defense to prepare proposed orders for her, and to deliver them both in printed form and in Word document form, was another good sign. That meant, he said, that she was going to cut and paste her ruling from the lawyers’ proposed orders. He sounded so sure that she would cut and paste our side’s orders rather than the defense’s side.

Yet she chose the arguments of the state. The judge ruled that 1) the plaintiffs lack standing to sue; 2) that the SBI is authorized by statute to purchase government bonds, including those of Israel; 3) that the argument regarding Israel is a political one, and not for state courts; and 4) that the plaintiffs failed to state a claim of aiding and abetting human rights abuses against the SBI. These were the defense’s proposed orders verbatim, copied and pasted, without analysis or discussion.
This is the real disappointment of the ruling. We have all been working hard for justice and many of us have taken significant personal risks for this cause. Because of her question about the Geneva Conventions, the judge had seemed to show an understanding of the issues, including the oppression against the Palestinians; and she seemed to understand how Minnesota is complicit in the oppression and human rights abuses. She could have made a powerful statement on the side of justice and human rights. Yet she chose to make the politically correct career move. This choice was highlighted by some of the judge’s own past writing about judicial independence from special interest groups, and her involvement in protecting vulnerable adults (see profile). Once again we see that protection of human rights is always “safe” and “commendable” unless the human rights that one is trying to protect are those of Palestinians.

For those of us in MN BBC, the ruling changes nothing. We still enthusiastically support the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS. We will continue to work for justice, and this work will continue on many fronts: legal, legislative, and educational. And we are firm in the knowledge that changes in public awareness and understanding will eventually allow more elected officials to take courageous stances in favor of human rights and justice.

Published first on Mondoweiss.net: http://bit.ly/JDcTaU

Photo: dawnhanna.blogspot.com

JUDGE DISMISSES LAWSUIT AGAINST STATE FOR ILLEGALLY INVESTING IN ISRAEL BONDS

[St. Paul] MN Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) is a statewide campaign aimed at stopping Minnesota investment in Israel’s human rights and international law violations. In November of last year MN BBC filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) which was dismissed yesterday by a Ramsey County District Court Judge.

The lawsuit contended that the SBI’s investments in Israel Bonds are unlawful and imprudent. The investments violate Minnesota statutes that control the types of foreign investments the SBI is permitted to make. Foreign government bonds, including Israel Bonds, are not included in the SBI’s statutory list of authorized investments. Canadian Bonds are the only exception.

The lawsuit further claimed that the SBI’s investment in Israel Bonds is unlawful because the SBI is knowingly aiding and abetting Israel’s internationally recognized violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention by financing Israel’s illegal settlement activities, which involve the prohibited transfer of Israel’s civilian population into the occupied Palestinian territories. International law affirms the culpability of those who financially aid and abet this type of international law violation.

Finally, the lawsuit argued that the SBI is in breach of its fiduciary obligations by exposing Minnesota taxpayers to liability to any victims of Israel’s human rights abuses and international law violations due to its material support of Israel’s unlawful activities.

On April 8, 2012 Judge Marrinan issued a ruling dismissing the lawsuit on all counts. Judge’s Marrinan’s order was nearly identical to the proposed order that SBI’s lawyers drafted at her request. MN BBC is disappointed in the lack of independent analysis of its careful and detailed legal arguments. MN BBC disagrees with this ruling and plans to file an appeal.

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“Minnesota Battle Over Israeli Bonds”

A legal fight is underway in Minnesota over the state’s investment in Israeli bonds that are used to support settlements and other Israeli actions in the West Bank deemed illegal under international law. Sylvia Schwarz, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, explains why she’s demanding the state’s divestiture.

by Sylvia Schwarz, Consortiumnews.com, March 31, 2012

“I do not think this is a radical call,” says Ronnie Barkan, of Boycott From Within (BFW), an Israeli human rights group that advocates boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) of Israel until it complies with international law and human rights consensus.

“Simply by investing in the State of Israel, Minnesota inadvertently supports the criminal policies of the State [of Israel], which are detrimental to both the Palestinians and the Israelis.”

Graffiti on the Palestinian side of Israel’s “separation wall” recalls the words of John F. Kennedy in decrying the Berlin Wall with the words in German, “I am a Berliner.” (Photo credit: Marc Venezia)

Boycott From Within is one of three organizations and 24 individuals listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the State of Minnesota for illegally investing in Israel bonds, bonds which are used to fund projects such as the Separation Wall (ruled illegal in 2004 by the International Court of Justice) and illegal settlement construction and infrastructure (a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Minnesota is one of more than 75 state and municipalities which holds Israel bonds. Most of these bonds were purchased in the last decade, when the Development Corporation of Israel made a major sales push.

The Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) is a state agency which is charged with investing state retirement and pension funds. The SBI members are Gov. Mark Dayton, State Auditor Rebecca Otto, State Attorney General Lori Swanson and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.

Boycott From Within members are all Israeli citizens living in Israel. They have publicly and enthusiastically endorsed the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS against Israel to force the state of Israel to comply with international law. For this act of free speech (recognized under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights), they face lawsuits and civil penalties under Israel’s recent “anti-boycott law.”

Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC), which also endorses the Palestinian call for BDS, was formed in 2006 in response to that request for international solidarity. Made up of a diverse group of people from varying occupations, histories of activism, and levels of involvement with the Palestine/Israel issue, members of MN BBC all agreed that providing accurate information to the public was a major obstacle in ending Israel’s colonialism and oppression of the Palestinians.

In every respect, the news media, schools and universities, and even culture and entertainment have, until recently, ignored the Palestinian side of the issue. Palestinians, when portrayed in the media at all, have been demonized, equated with terrorists, and dehumanized.

Few stories of Israeli violence against Palestinians are reported in the media, while reports of Palestinian violence against Israelis are repeated over and over again, giving the impression that the latter occur more often than the former. (The UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs website shows accurate statistics. See a report comparing incidents of violence versus the number of reports in the mainstream media.)

Three Main Goals

MN BBC has three main goals. The first is to persuade Minnesota to divest from its Israel bonds investments. The second goal of MN BBC is to educate every Minnesotan about the state’s involvement in the human rights abuses in Palestine. Since every Minnesota taxpayer pays for the SBI’s investments, every Minnesotan is actively involved in the international law violations committed by the Israeli government.

The third goal is to serve as a model for organizations in other states and municipalities that are attempting to divest of Israel bonds. MN BBC is one of the first organizations that have targeted these investments and a vast amount of knowledge and experience has been accumulated within the group.

In early 2011 it became clear to the legal minds in MN BBC that the State Board of Investment had invested in Israel government bonds in violation of Minnesota statutes, which allow investment in government securities of only one foreign country: Canada, and then only with certain restrictions.

Although this seems like an unexciting legal technicality, it is actually a stunning discovery. From available records it appears that the SBI broke the Minnesota law for Israel alone, in order to show solidarity with Israel and to single it out for special favored treatment.

Regardless of the human rights and international law violations that the money buys, regardless of the international community’s disapproval of the financing of these crimes, and regardless of the prohibition under Minnesota’s own statutes, the SBI showed its favoritism towards Israel by its zeal to invest Minnesota taxpayer funds in a clearly illegal enterprise.

Minnesota has trade relationships and commercial partnerships with many other countries, but in no case (until this lawsuit was filed) did the SBI break Minnesota law to invest in non-Canadian foreign government bonds, except for Israel bonds.

Israel defenders often ask why we single out Israel for condemnation. Other countries have equally poor human rights records. Why not decry China’s or Iran’s abuses? But for which other country are our own state’s laws broken to make Minnesota taxpayers complicit in these human rights violations?

We repeatedly demanded that the State Board of Investment divest from Israel bonds on moral and legal grounds but it refused and even purchased more bonds. Because the law prohibits this type of foreign government investment, we filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit has three counts.

The first count states that the investments are illegal according to Minnesota statutes. The second count states that by investing in activities which are clearly illegal according to international law, the State Board of Investment is acting contrary to the U.S. and Minnesota Constitutions which state that international treaties and conventions signed and ratified by the United States, like the Geneva Conventions, are laws of the land.

The third count states that these investments expose the SBI and the Minnesota taxpayers and pensioners, who would foot the bill, to lawsuits brought against them by individuals who have been harmed by Israeli policies under the Federal Alien Tort Statute. In other words, the investments are supplying material support for oppression and Minnesota could be liable for these damages.

Money’s Use

It is important to understand how these investments are used. The Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, another plaintiff on the lawsuit, is a direct victim of investments made in Israel Bonds.

Since 2004 the Bil’in Popular Committee, which is comprised of villagers from the West Bank town of Bil’in, has been holding weekly non-violent demonstrations to protest the illegal annexation of the village land by Israel for illegal settlements and an extension of the separation wall.

The annexations began in the early 1980s and now more than 60 percent of Bil’in’s arable land and several water wells have been confiscated to make way for the wall and Israeli settlements. Although the protests are non-violent, they have been met with extreme violence from the Israeli Defense Forces.

Several demonstrators have been killed (including Bassem Abu Rahmah who died when Israelis fired a tear gas canister directly at his chest, and his sister, Jawaher, who died from inhalation of tear gas). Many injuries have resulted from IDF violent responses to these non-violent protests, and many people, including children, have been arrested and held without charge or trial in “administrative detention.”

The confiscation of Palestinian land and resources and the movement of Israeli civilians into occupied territory are clear violations of international law. This is undisputed and acknowledged by the U.S. State Department and when U.S. loan guarantees were given to Israel between 1992 and 1997 to settle immigrants from the Soviet Union, they were expressly forbidden to be used to fund settlement activity in the West Bank.

When Israel violated this provision, the loan guarantees were cancelled. In other words, the U.S. acknowledges that Israel violates international law.

The Geneva Conventions were signed and ratified by the United States. Under the Supremacy Clause, Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, Minnesota, as well as every other State, is obligated to uphold international treaties ratified by the federal government.

Since the money invested in Israel bonds finances projects which are in violation of a signed and ratified convention, the investments violate both the state’s and the U.S. Constitution. Again, Israel is favored for special treatment. Minnesota would violate a provision of the U.S. Constitution for no other country.

The Fourth Geneva Convention is not the only international law which Israel violates. Israel was admitted to the UN by Resolution 273, which called for the implementation of Resolution 194, including the return of (or compensation to) the 750,000 refugees who had been ethnically cleansed from their homes within Israel between 1947 and 1949.

The call for the return of the refugees has been reaffirmed many times within the U.N. and by human rights organizations. The personal right to return to one’s home is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet Israel has never allowed any of the expelled refugees to return. This is an enormous unhealed personal and national wound for Palestinians which is expressly written into the Israeli system of law (Israel has no constitution) in order to create and maintain a Jewish majority.

A Palestinian Refugee

One of the 750,000 refugees from 1948, and another plaintiff on the MN BBC lawsuit, is my husband, Nadim Shamat. After growing up in Beirut, Lebanon, and attending the American University of Beirut, he immigrated to the United States, where I met him. As a former employee of a state agency, he is a recipient of pension funds managed by the State Board of Investment.

When Nadim was born, in 1945, my maternal grandmother was being liberated from Bergen Belsen, the Nazi concentration camp, after two horrific years of slave labor and starvation. She and my mother, the only survivors in her family, spent the next few years trying to salvage what was left of their former lives and finally made their way to British Columbia, where my parents met.

Understanding the personal and family trauma through which my family lived makes me very aware of the pain of unhealed traumas.

Because of Israel’s racist laws granting special privileges to Jews and denying those privileges to non-Jews, I have the “right” to “return” to Israel any time I want (even though my background is European and the most recent of my ancestors to live there were there at least 2,000 years ago) and take citizenship there.

I can purchase property managed by the Jewish National Fund and held for Jews only. I can live in a Jewish-only community within Israel, the West Bank, or the Golan Heights. But my husband, who was born in Jaffa, who left involuntarily, who lost all his possessions, and the community that would have supported him as he grew up, is not allowed to return to his actual homeland. Before funding Israel’s racist and colonialist policies, Americans should consider the fundamental unfairness of this situation.

Each of the 27 plaintiffs on the lawsuit against the SBI gives a unique reason for the state to divest from Israel bonds (see some of the stories here.) The judge, however, has only to rule on one count in our favor: the mundane legal technicality that foreign government securities are illegal investments according to Minnesota law, and order the SBI to divest from its Israel bonds.

It appears to be such a clear legal case, and if it were any other country, it would never have required a lawsuit. But this is Israel, the country to which the U.S. gives military aid of more than $3 billion per year, more than any other country in the world.

This is Israel, whose international law violations the U.S. upholds and protects in the UN Security Council. This is Israel, to which the I.R.S. grants tax-exempt charitable status to finance ethnic cleansing through the Jewish National Fund . This is Israel, whose prime minister received overwhelming applause and 29 standing ovations in Congress that were, in the words of Thomas Friedman, “bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.”

So this lawsuit, though clear and solid in its legal foundation, might not win in court. Judges are elected in Minnesota. They are subject to the same types of pressures as other elected officials. But we don’t believe that a loss in court is necessarily a setback. We have made enormous strides in educating people around the state and the country about Israel and Palestine.

Our membership is growing and we have even had a presence in the mainstream media. We believe our goals of reaching out across the state and the country and bringing forth the Palestinian side of the story can only be furthered by this effort. We are committed to justice, freedom, and equal rights for all and we believe our efforts will bring Palestinians closer to this goal.

Sylvia Schwarz is a member of the Core Team of Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign and a plaintiff on the lawsuit against the State. She is married with two children and works as an engineer in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Photo: consortiumnews.com

by elisabeth geschiere, February 15, 2012

When I arrived at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday February 3, I was thrilled to see Allen Dershowitz’s face front and center on the campus’ newspaper. Dershowitz, a well-known Harvard Law Professor and Zionist figurehead, had spoken at UPenn the night before the conference at the emergency invitation of a number of local Jewish Zionist groups whose panicky reaction to the impending BDS Conference generated the kind of controversy the press loves covering. This time, however, the self-identified pro-Israel community took controversy to a whole new level. Leading up to the conference, one Penn professor, Ruben Gur, went so far as to compare the conference organizers to ‘Nazis’ and Penn President Amy Gutmann issued a statement that fell all over itself to distance the university from the conference with declarations like “We fundamentally disagree with the position taken by PennBDS”. The Chair of the Penn Board of Trustees even introduced Dershowitz plainly stating, “We are unwavering in our support of Israel” (The Daily Pennsylvanian 02/03/12).

Yet, as Palestinian activist Ali Abunimah stated during his compelling keynote speech: “This insane hysteria about the conference tells us something about the moment we are in. In terms of the battle of ideas, we are in the end game.” The conference itself reflected this intellectual concept more emotionally. You felt excitement, solidarity, anticipation, power, and the overwhelming sense that change is inevitable in every room. This came simply from being surrounded by three hundred other active folks in the BDS movement, who were merely representatives of the thousands of people in this movement, as well as from the incredible content of the weekend-long event.

The conference opened with the first screening of a powerful new film called “Roadmap to Apartheid”. Using brilliant cinematography, the film juxtaposes how apartheid looked in South Africa and looks today in Palestine/Israel, as well as the eerily similar repression tactics and strategies of the the apartheid South African government and the Israeli government to liberation movements. It also focused on the effectiveness of the BDS movement in helping to end apartheid in South Africa, and the successes and potential of the current Palestinian-led BDS movement for affecting change in Israeli policy. I was able to meet one of the filmmakers, Eron Davidson, and MN BBC is planning on partnering with other organizations to host a screening of Roadmap to Apartheid in the Fall!

In general, the weekend was full of networking, visioning, and building. If you were not already aware, you should know: people and organizations all over the nation are inspired by MN BBC. Folks from other amazing groups such as Mondoweiss, Existence is Resistence, Adeleh NY, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Prometheus Project, WhoProfits.org and more were thrilled to be gifted a copy of our “Not Just a Bond; A Bonds with Israeli Oppression” posters as well as campaign pins. In addition, Anna Baltzer, the National Organizer for the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, asked MN BBC to put together a toolkit about how to develop an Israel Bonds Divestment campaign. We will be working on that project over the next number of months. Finally, people were really intrigued to hear about the lawsuit we are bringing against the MN State Board of Investment, and were energized by the fact the Bi’lin Popular Committee is one of our co-plaintiffs since that directly connects our work to the grassroots in Palestine.

While its focus was on achieving Palestinian human rights, the BDS conference was about so much more than this one struggle. It was about the rights of all indigenous people; it was about the struggle of all peoples against racism and all other forms of oppression and for equity and justice; and it was about de-colonizing the whole planet, starting with ourselves. Featured speakers Susan Abulhawa and Ali Abunimah both captured this reality eloquently in their respective addresses, and I encourage you to watch them in full. This inclusive, broad vision is what distinguishes the BDS movement from the opposition’s efforts to sustain the status quo, which is about “the few” having power over “the many”. Therefore, as we in MN BBC move our work forward both on divestment and education, I challenge us to position ourselves as one bold, active, and willing partner in a truly global struggle for justice for all.

Photo: pennbds.org