Saying no to Israel’s bonds
, one of the co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Minnesota State Board of Investment, writes about the campaign to make the state divest from Israel.
THE MINNESOTA Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) was formed in 2008 in response to the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. MN BBC now consists of well over 100 activists and several thousand supporters around the state.
The organization's consistent focus has been the divestment of approximately $18 million of Israel bonds purchased with pension funds and various other funds by the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI). These bonds are sold by the Development Corporation of Israel, and the money is used for a variety of illegal and immoral purposes from the building of the separation wall to bypass roads and settlement construction. Over 65 state and municipal governments across the U.S. own Israel bonds.
MN BBC initially focused on pressing state legislators to pass legislation to direct the SBI to get rid of its Israel bonds and stop supporting the abuse of human rights with state funds. Legislators passed the buck by telling activists to go directly to the SBI with their request, and the SBI said they would be happy to comply if only the legislature would direct them to do so.
After a year of this runaround, it was decided to file a complaint on legal and moral grounds against the SBI.
MN BBC was joined by 26 other co-plaintiffs, including Palestinian residents of the besieged village of Bil'in in the Occupied Territories and Jewish-Israeli members of the Israeli human rights advocacy group Boycott From Within. Filing a complaint gave the SBI an opportunity to resolve MN BBC's divestment demand without the necessity of court action.
However, at the SBI's December 12 meeting, attended by more than 40 activists from around the state, Gov. Mark Dayton soundly rejected the complaint, stating that he took offense at the accusation that the board was acting illegally when the attorney general had already issued an opinion that it was just fine to be investing in Israel bonds.
Another board member stated, "[M]y authority and my responsibility as defined by state law and the constitution...don't list morality."
ON THE day after the SBI rejection, the executive committee of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), headquartered in New York, issued a statement to all four constitutional officers of the SBI, including the governor, advising them that the SBI was aiding and abetting Israel's violation of international law, which also violates Minnesota law.
Following the governor's rejection of the complaint, MN BBC officially filed its lawsuit against the Minnesota SBI on December 15. Wasting no time, the state attorney general's office filed a motion on December 19 to have the suit dismissed. The motion for dismissal is to be heard in court on March 5, 2012. Even if the suit is dismissed, MN BBC will appeal.
MN BBC remains confident about the soundness of the suit, but regardless of the outcome, it can already be deemed a huge success due to the amount of publicity generated for MN BBC's divestment campaign and the issue of Palestinian rights generally.
Beyond that, it has linked Minnesota activists to others around the nation and world, including Palestine. Public education and pressure on state legislators will continue unabated.
