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Minnesota Break the BondsPeople of Faith Peacemakers
25 February 2015
Rev. David Whitten Smith, S.T.D., S.S.L.Emeritus Professor of Theology
University of St. Thomas, Minnesota
About 750,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes.
The 60,000 to 80,000 inhabitants of Gaza were overwhelmed by about 200,000
refugees.
If the refugees had been allowed to return to their homes,
the area that Israel controlled would have had an Arab majority.
So Israel did not allow the refugees to return.In fact, it destroyed their villages.
http://fasttimesinpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/four-panel-map.jpg
1,500,000 people in Gaza.
Boycott, Divest, Sanction.
The U.S. Government gives every year over 3 billion dollars worth of aid to Israel.
Most of that aid is military, especially weapons.
The U.S. Government vetoes resolutions in the UN Security Council
which it considers hostile to the state of Israel.
Zionist organizations attack individualswho criticize actions of the state of Israel.
Outside corporations provide Israel with the equipment it needs
to expand its occupation of the West Bankand to repress resistance to that occupation:
Bulldozers (Caterpillar)Construction cranes (Riwal)
Cosmetics (Ahava)Electronic surveillance equipment (Motorola)Settlement light rail links (Veolia and Alstom)
Israel Bonds help finance the occupation.
In 2005, over 170 organizations
of Palestinian civil society called for boycott, divestments, and sanctions
until Israel
1. Ends the occupation of Palestinian land.
2. Treats Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of Israel equally.
3. Allows Palestinian refugees to return home if they wish.
With regard to the second demand:
Israel claims to treat all equally.
In reality, it has over 50 lawsthat explicitly discriminate in favor of Jews.
The first of these laws is the “law of return”which gives special privileges to Jews.
The other 49 give special privilegesto “those who qualify under the law of return.”
http://www.adalah.org/en/law/index
Soon after that call for BDS,hearing an address by Omar Barghouthi,
Two Jewish women in the Twin Citiesdecided they should do something to respond.
A little research showed that Minnesota had invested some millions of dollars in Israel Bonds
from the state retirement funds.
David joined the group in the fall of 2008. He had served as a member of a Michigan Peace Team
for three weeks in Gaza in summer 2005and for three months in the West Bank
in the fall of 2007.
Minnesota Break the Bonds.The state of Minnesota has 10 million dollars
of its retirement funds invested in Israel bonds.
Money from these sales goes directly into the Israeli treasury
with no restrictions on its use.
We estimate that 20-25% of these fundsfinance Israel’s siege of Gaza
and its settlements in the West Bank
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on February 23, 2015,
Finance Committee member Stav Shaffirof the Knesset
reported that Israel has two budgets.
One is approved by the Knesset.
The other is secret, not controlled by the Knesset,and having no restrictions on its use.
She estimated that 15% of the total Israeli federal budget
is transferred by this secret budgetto West Bank settlements
over and above what they are already allocatedby the official budget.
http://www.haaretz.com/video/.premium-1.643817
Originally the bonds were advertised as necessary to support construction for new immigrants.
Much of that construction is in the West Bank:
SettlementsBypass roads
The separation barrierRail links between Israel and the settlements.
Minnesota Break the Bonds seeksby lawsuit or legislation
to force Minnesota to divest from these bonds.
Here is our argument:“We, the people of Minnesota,
have the moral obligation to make sound investments
that will not aid the oppression of any one race, creed or people.
“Minnesota's investment in Israel supports Israel's apartheid system
in both Israel and the Occupied Territories causing thousands of civilian deaths,
many of whom are children, and the widespread abuse of human rights.”
“This system defies rulings by the International Court of Justice,
more than 65 UN Resolutions, and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“We, the people of Minnesota, demand our state act on our good conscience
and support breaking economic ties with the apartheid state of Israel.”
Our ProjectWhen we spoke to legislators,
they said we should talk to the State Board of Investment.
They were the ones who decided how to investthe state’s money.
When we spoke with the State Board of Investment,they said we should talk to the legislators.
The board would do whatever the legislatureordered them to do.
Otherwise, the board made its decisionon economic grounds alone,
with no moral judgments.
So we developed a postcard on which Minnesotanscould register their concern,
and asked people to print their name and address.We collected them and delivered them
to the appropriate legislators.
Naturally, we also gave talks and held meetingsto explain why the issue is important.
We held one-on-one conversationswith people interested in getting more involved.
And we organized.
We held organizing meetings in the Twin Cities,and gave presentations around Minnesota:
Winona, Northfield, Duluth, Morris, Rochester . . .
We passed out flyers and postcards at numerous peace events.
We held core meetings and committee meetingsabout every other week for several years.
We hold monthly conference calls with regional organizers.
We met with legislators,
Developed a “day on the hill,”
Wrote op-eds and letters to the editor,
Responded to “backlash” from people who supported the Israeli occupation.
We developed a website :http://mn.breakthebonds.org
Put up a movement video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXJIpYFCgn8
And developed a graphic “Israel Bond” which we could “break” (fold up)
to illustrate what the money is used for.
Har Homa as seen from Bethlehem University. Only Jews are allowed to live here.
The Geneva Conventions forbid such settlements.
Blue dots represent Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
They are connectedby roads
that only citizens of Israelare allowed to use.
Brown represents the areaunder supposed
Palestinian controlafter the Oslo Accords.
Bulldozer. http://rafah.virtualactivism.net/about/snaps.htm
satellite imagery.http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/palestine/rafah-imagery.htm
21 April 2000 16 December 2003
In the South Hebron Hills, we observe a field of Palestinian olive trees cut down
by Israeli settlers.
The MN Break the Bonds Lawsuit
In late 2010, our research discovered that the Minnesota purchase of Israel bonds
in support of retirement funds for state employees violates the state’s own guidelines for investments.
The state has a section authorizing investmentIn U.S. and Canadian government bonds,
restricted in several ways.
It has another section detailing other allowable investments,
none of which are government or sovereign bonds.
The MN Break the Bonds Lawsuit
That later section ends with a general category of “international securities.”
The State Board of Investments interprets these to include government securities,
But none of the earlier securities in that section are government or sovereign bonds.
Our argument that the SBI violated these guidelines formed the first count of our lawsuit.
More significant in our opinionare objections 2 and 3 to these investments.
2. They violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Conventionthat forbids an occupying power
to settle its own populationin occupied territory.
3. They open the state to lossthrough lawsuits for damages
brought by Palestinians harmed by the occupation.
January 31, 2011We confronted the SBI with a demand to divest.
We met with the board on March 3and with their staff on March 18.
The Attorney General advised on March 31that the investments were legal.
We formally disagreed on April 8.
On June 31, we were informed that the board decided to retain the investments.
So we prepared a lawsuit, in collaboration with
the Middle East Committee of Women Against Military Madness,
Boycott From Within,
The Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements,
and 23 individuals.
The West Bank village of Bil’in,A co-defendant in our lawsuit,
is a prime example of the disastrous effectsof these investments,
having lost half its land to settlement seizures.
Ever since Israel began building the separation barrier
that expropriated 60% of its farmland,Bil’in has held weekly protests
and brought lawsuits in Israeli courtsthat forced Israel to withdraw
from about 1/3 of the land it seized.
Every Friday, after Mosque services, Bil’in citizens march to the barrier to protest nonviolently.
When protestors fail to stop marching, the army fires tear gas.
November 29, 2011We served a lawsuit on the SBI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKWJx8mPtlM
December 12We held a rally at the capitol
and attended the quarterly meeting of the SBI.
December 15Since the SBI refused to divest,
we filed the lawsuit with the courtto compel them to.
March 5, 2012The first court hearing was held.
We asked for summary judgment on the first count.
April 9 the court ruled against us,
accepting the arguments of the SBI.
May 31—the anniversary of Israel’s attack
on the Gaza Aid Flotilla—we filed an appeal.
September 27The appeals court
heard oral arguments on our case.
November 13 The appeals court ruled against us.
December 11We filed an appeal
with the Minnesota Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court declined to consider the case.
We discovered SBI human rights guidelines for investing
developed by Mark Dayton in the 1990s when he was MN State Auditor,
at the request of several labor unions.
Countries were researched based on six human rights categories
and classified into one of three groups.
Group I was the best the SBI could invest in Group I countries
without restriction (except as imposed by the statutes).
Group II countries had some issues. Although there were laws on the books
protecting human rights,these laws were not well enforced.
For the SBI to invest in a Group II country, the fund manager had to state
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 additional justification for the investment.
Countries were to be re-categorized annuallybased on the following 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
(6) Freedom from Discrimination based on Race, Religion, Sex or Social Status
Israel had always been classified as a Group II country.
It should be a Group III country, closed to investing
aside from exceptional circumstances explicitly explained.
We asked the SBI to re-categorize Israel in the appropriate group..
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,
nor have they since.
They blame our lawsuit for the delay.But it was filed 2 years after 2009!
. So we did their work for them, using their own categories
and data from respected human rights groups,and presented the results to them
at their meeting of 2 December 2014
“Twenty Years of Failure – A Report on
the MN State Board of Investment’s Neglect of Human Rights”
http://mn.breakthebonds.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MNBBC-White-Paper1.pdf
We also discovered that $10 million of Israel Bonds
would mature in July 1, 2015.Further investment would require
a decision to buy new bonds.
We asked the board not to re-investin Israel Bonds.
At the September meeting 2014, Governor Dayton told us they would consider the case at
their March 4 meeting.
In preparation for the March meeting,we have been soliciting signatures
on a petitionurging the SBI not to re-invest
in Israel Bonds.
One can sign the petitioneither in hard copy
or on-line at http://mn.breakthebonds.org/?p=2513
http://org.salsalabs.com/o/641/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=16951
“Dear Minnesota State Board of Investment,
“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.
-
“I urge the board 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 Israeli occupation.”
Sign the petition at http://mn.breakthebonds.org/?p=2513
Zionist response to BDS
Zionist rhetoric is moving from accusations of “Antisemitism”
and “Self-hating Jews”to “de-legitimizing the state of Israel”
Actually, critics are de-legitimizing the apartheid policies of the state of Israel!
They are also challenging the current structures of Israel
They are questioning the Zionist projectof a democratic state which privileges Jewsby laws that discriminate Jews from others.
Here is what Zionists are saying:
“While the need to refute their allegations is clear,
students and community groups must also adopt a proactive strategy
to undermine the credibility and influence of these groups [such as MN BBC].
This strategy will marginalize many of the BDS movement’s central actors,
and expose the lie that BDS is a grassroots protest
against Israeli policy.”
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=194275
Steve Hunegs, Jewish Community Relations Council
(JCRC):
"Israel divestment activists have been unsuccessful
in their endless campaign to delegitimize and demonize Israel
in Minnesota.”
“The following entities have rejected the efforts
of these Israel divestment activists:
the Minnesota Legislature,
the State Board of Investment,
as well as the repudiation of their legal claims
by the Ramsey County District Court which was affirmed
by the Minnesota Court of Appeals.”
From the President and CEOof the Development Corporation for Israel
“And, last summer, we reinforced our organization’s value
as a strategic asset for Israel when, in a matter of weeks,
we secured millions of dollars in Israel bond investments
in response to Hamas rocket attacks.”
The DCI even had the audacity to advertise
that investing in Israel Bonds is a way to resist
the international BDS campaign.
Their website no longer contains that comment.
Perhaps they realizedthey were just drawing people’s attention
to BDS
An op-ed in the Jerusalem Post said
“A value-added aspect of investing in Israel bonds
is the powerful statement it sends to Israel’s adversaries,
especially the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Knowing Israel will never be defeated on the battlefield,
BDS supporters employ confrontational economic tactics
on a wide variety of fronts.
“Yet, each and every Israel bond investment sends an unmistakable message
to BDS advocates: Israel’s economy will remain strong.
In 2013, with over $1.12b. in domestic US sales, that message was particularly emphatic.”
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Israel-Bonds-A-record-breaking-
strategic-asset-for-Israel-337529
According to Israel's Finance Ministry,"Israel has never defaulted
in the payment of principal or interest on any of its internal or external indebtedness."
[6] According to
the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress, as of 2002,
approximately $40 billion in loans to Israel by the United States Government
have been waived by the United States Government,
rather than repaid by Israel.[7]
'This heavily-fortified road leads from Jerusalem
to Ma'arat HaMachpelah (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron.
I was moved by the great measures that Israel takes
to protect its holy sites, its people, and its land.'
Bonds in Israel: Day 7 of the staff solidarity delegation –
The Ayalon Institute in Rehovot,
site of a secret pre-state ammunition factory, provides a fascinating look
at the resourcefulness that helped bring the dream of Israel to fruition.
The factory, hidden under a kibbutz laundry room,
[Using civilians as shields?]
was a pivotal means of supplying the new IDF
in the early days of the War of Independence.
Over ensuing decades, that same resourcefulness
has resulted in ingenious innovations that have strengthened and defended
the Jewish state, including the amazing Iron Dome, which has saved countless lives.
Israel Bonds: We Stand with Israel.
Other boycotts
CaterpillarRiwalAhava
Veolia and AlstomMotorola IsraelElbit Systems
G4SStop the JNF
Academic BoycottLabor Boycott (stevedores)
http://www.bdsmovement.net
Caterpillar
The company provides Israel with giant bulldozers
used to demolish Palestinian homes,uproot Palestinian olive trees,
and build settlements, access roads, and the separation barrier.
The Corrie family sued Caterpillarfor knowingly providing equipment
that was used to violate human rights,including the death of their daughter Rachel.
Bulldozer. http://rafah.virtualactivism.net/about/snaps.htm
“Following a concerted campaign in the US, Caterpillar was removed from MSCI-ESG,
an influential ethical investment index over the use of its bulldozers and equipment
to destroy Palestinian homes. This led to TIAA-CREF,
the US pension fund giant targeted by a wide US civil society coalition,
removing the company from its Social Choice Funds.”
www.bdsmovement.net/victories
Riwal
In 2004, the International Court in The Hagueruled that construction
of the West Bank "Separation Barrier" violates International Law.
It declared that UN member states and Geneva Convention signatories
should not cooperate with erection of the Wall nor allow their citizens to do so.
In 2008, the Dutch Government warned the Riwal company
not to provide cranes for that work.
In 2010, the Dutch Government raided the offices of the Riwal company. Computers documents were confiscated
showing that the company leased cranes to the company's Israeli branch
to construct the "Separation Wall" and settlements in the Occupied Territories.
After three years of investigation,the public prosecutor dropped the case
on the grounds that the contribution of the Dutch corporate executives
was minor in comparison with the overall construction.
Ahava
It’s cosmetics are madewith mud and minerals from the Dead Sea
which is in the West Bank,representing theft of Palestinian resources.
They are manufacturedat illegal West Bank settlements,
although their labels claim“Made in Israel.”
They pay no taxes to the Palestinian Authority,nor do they make use of Palestinian labor.
Motorola Israel
It provides electronic “virtual fences” for illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank,
sometimes with radar stations built on private Palestinian land.
These systems are also used in the West Bank separation wall,
the Gaza wall,and around military installations.
Veolia
Under pressure, Veolia sold out its 5% share of Jerusalem light rail
to the bus company Egged.Rail would link settlements to West Jerusalem.
“Local municipalities across Europe and Australia have decided not to award Veolia contracts
worth at least $14 billion following BDS campaigns.”
www.bdsmovement.net/victories
“On 20 August Haaretz revealed that CityPass, the contract-holding consortium
in which Veolia Transport and another French company, Alstom are a part
of, executed a survey among residents of Jerusalem.
CityPass asked residents whether they are comfortable with the rail line including stops in Palestinian neighborhoods
of occupied East Jerusalem, and whether they are bothered
by both Jews and Arabs entering freely "without undergoing a security check."
In Brief
If your friend is driving drunk,don’t buy him a beer.
If Israel is seizing the West Bankand violating human rights,
don’t finance the constructionand the occupation.
Share fairly.
What You Can Do.
Sign our petitionCome to the SBI meeting on March 4
Fill out a postcard for us.Talk with your legislator.
Introduce a resolution in your party caucus.Tell your neighbors.
Help us out with office work.
What You Can Do.
Join one of our committees:Legislative Action
Legal (lawsuit)Media
NetworkRegional Organizing
Or even the core itself!
