WELCOME TO THE
ISRAEL DIVESTMENT CAMPAIGN
UPDATE – January 16, 2012
Following our December 12th presentation to PERS and the submission of our petition with over 5,000 signatures (see report below), the IDC is initiating "conversations" with the Corporate Governance Staff of PERS. Depending on the progress of these conversations, we might be calling on our allies to contact PERS.
Please check the Website regularly to learn how you can help move the campaign forward and pressure PERS to begin investigating the five companies that IDC has targeted: Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Caterpillar, Elbit and Veolia.
IDC delivered your 5,321 signatures to PERS
On December 12th, members of the Israel Divestment Campaign submitted our petition to the California Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) calling on it to honor its own policy of responsible investing.
Speaking on behalf of our 5,321 petitioners, including 837 of you who are members of PERS and 545 of you who are members of the State Teachers Retirement Fund (STRS), three IDC coordinators gave compelling evidence of how investments in Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Caterpillar, Elbit and Veolia violate PERS' own policy of corporate responsibility.
After presenting the petition with its list of signers to the Board, Sherna Berger Gluck (Los Angeles) reviewed PERS' commitment to the UN Principles of Responsible Investing (UN PRI) and recapped the complicit activities of these five corporations. Emily Alma (Chico) and Mikos Fabersunne (Sacramento/Davis), who had just returned from an olive harvest delegation, gave eyewitness testimony of how the activities of these companies impact Palestinian life on the ground.
After Gluck's closing statement, the Chair of the Investment Committee thanked the IDC team for its presentation, and advised that the next step will be direct conversations between the IDC and the PERS staff responsible for monitoring compliance with PERS Corporate Responsibility Policy.
Following the IDC presentation, David Mandel, Jewish Voice for Peace-Sacramento, made a brief statement in support of the IDC call to PERS, noting that JVP has called for divestment from three of the same companies.
The Israel Divestment Campaign looks forward to conversations with PERS Corporate Governance staff and hopes that PERS will begin its investigation into the five companies after the first of the New Year. Check back regularly to follow our progress.
July 9th 2011 Marked the 6th Anniversary
of the Palestinian Call for BDS
In the six years since Palestinian civil society issued its Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), the movement has grown dramatically around the world and here in the U.S.
Our own Israel Divestment Campaign in California has gained additional support following our launch of a new petition addressed directly to the two state public retirement system boards (CalPERS and CalSTRS). More than 1500 Californians have added their voices to the international call for justice. Their signatures - gathered in less than four months since Global BDS/Land Day - come on top of those penned by more than 14,000 California voters who earlier supported a divestment initiative proposed for the California ballot.
These taxpayers, including many CalPERS and CalSTRS members, are making it clear they do not want these retirement boards investing in companies that profit from the Israeli occupation, and the violation of Palestinian human rights and international law.
If you have not yet signed the petition, we urge you to sign now, so that the voice of our numbers is greater when we present the petitions to the two boards in the late fall.
Join us in telling them to follow their own socially-responsible investment policies.
Join us in telling them that it is time to start their self-defined "engagement process" with companies such as Caterpillar, Veolia, Elbit, and Hewlett Packard - companies that are being targeted by European pension funds, as well as church and human rights groups. Click here to see some of these investments.
Join us in telling them that it is time to join the global movement to hold Israel accountable for its continuing violation of human rights.
And to those of you who have signed, our thanks. Please help spread the word and help us reach our next milestone: September 13th, the anniversary of the failed Oslo Agreement. Click here to contact your family, friends and colleagues.
IDC Launched Phase II
on Land Day/Global BDS Day, March 30th
The Israel Divestment Campaign joined with peace and justice groups throughout the world on Global BDS Day in renewing our commitment to a just peace in Palestine-Israel.
In mid-February, members of the Israel Divestment Campaign made presentations to the Investment Committees of both of the California State Retirement Systems, PERS and STRS, asking them to honor their own investment policies. You can listen to or read the transcript of the IDC presentation at CalPERS.
Action has yet to be taken by either of the California State Retirement System Boards, so we have launched Phase II, a direct petition campaign demanding that they begin an engagement process to respect their own investment policies. Click here to watch the IDC presentation at CalSTRS.
The IDC believes that with enough public pressure, the Boards will do the right thing - by adhering to their own policies and ultimately divesting from companies that facilitate Israel's violations of international law and human rights.