Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Toward Palestinian Liberation

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A New York campaign is angling to be the next to notch a win in a nationwide struggle for divestment from bonds that fund Israel and its attacks on Palestinians. Break the Bonds New York State is part of a nationwide initiative launched by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which seeds and supports local efforts to demand divestment from Israel Bonds. The initiative launched in 2024, when news of Israel’s genocide was impossible to ignore, and a growing number of Americans were looking for ways to throw sand in the gears.

“We’ve seen, as a result of grassroots campaigning and the persistence of local organizers, a series of victories everywhere from Michigan to Maryland [and] Minnesota, where state treasurers, local treasurers, et cetera, have made the decision to not reinvest in Israel bonds,” Dani Noble, senior campaigns organizer at JVP and member leader of JVP-Philadelphia, told Truthout. Noble helps coordinate the nationwide network of Break the Bonds campaigns, which currently includes the New York campaign and 14 others. Break the Bonds New York State itself is a coalition of organizations, including JVP and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapters, as well as Palestine solidarity and civil rights groups from across the state.

The municipal and state investments targeted in Break the Bonds campaigns account for some of the more than $1.6 billion in Israel Bonds held by state governments, municipal governments, and public pension funds nationwide. The Development Corporation for Israel sells those bonds to raise foreign funds for the Israeli treasury. Bondholders maintain no oversight of how their funds are used once invested. Dayna Locitzer, an organizer with JVP-Hudson Valley and Break the Bonds New York State, told Truthout the bonds are essentially “blank checks to the Israeli government.”

“Apartheid is expensive, occupation is expensive, genocide is expensive, and military activity is expensive,” Locitzer said. “So, we know that the budget of the Israeli government is largely allocated for military operations, and part of military operation is the intense oppression of the Palestinian people and the denial of their sovereignty.”

But Break the Bonds organizers also point out that it’s not just the connection to Israel’s military that makes Israel Bonds problematic. Since Israel invaded Gaza in October 2023, the Big Three credit rating agencies have downgraded the country’s rating and warned of a negative outlook for its growth, public finances, and ballooning debt — signs that investments in Israel Bonds are higher-risk. Moody’s reaffirmed this July that Israel’s rating remains the worst it has ever been, at Baa1, a level it first sank to in September 2024. Organizers question whether officials who continue to use public funds to purchase such poorly rated investments could be violating their fiduciary duties. They........

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