Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.

Organizers in Palm Beach County, Florida, are fighting to stop the county from investing further in bonds that help fund Israel’s occupation and genocide. The county already holds $1 billion in Israel Bonds, making its investment the largest in the world and roughly three times the next highest investor, the State of Florida. The Our Taxes, Our Needs campaign is ramping up ahead of the county’s next planned purchase of Israel Bonds on November 1.

“[The campaign] is twofold, because one, we don’t want our taxpayer dollars to go to actively genociding any other individuals,” Melissa Salerno, an organizer with the Our Taxes, Our Needs campaign, told Truthout. “And two, we could really see some positive changes in our community [with local investment], there’s a long list of ways we could improve the quality of life for our fellow community members.”

The Development Corporation for Israel sells Israel Bonds to raise foreign funds for the Israeli treasury. Divestment campaigns targeting the bonds have gained steam nationwide since Israel’s invasion of Gaza in October 2023. Campaigns elsewhere are making similar demands that local dollars be invested at home, rather than in fueling violence abroad.

A unique piece of the Palm Beach County campaign is a lawsuit against the clerk of the circuit court and comptroller of Palm Beach County, which argues that the county’s Israel Bonds holdings violate Florida’s constitution and laws governing the investment of taxpayer dollars. The plaintiffs are three unidentified Palestinian American county residents whose family members in Gaza have been killed or displaced during Israel’s assault on the enclave.

“Our plaintiffs feel this really extra level of pain that is physically wreaking havoc on their bodies because they are locally financing this genocide,” Lydia Ghuman, executive director of the Internationalist Law Center, the firm leading the suit, told Truthout. “Taxes that they pay on their home are then being used to bomb their family members’ homes.”

New Yorkers Are Pushing Their State to Stop Investing Millions in Israel Bonds

The case was filed in state court last October, seeking acknowledgement from a judge that past investments in Israel Bonds violated the law and an order barring similar investments in the future. A state circuit court judge dismissed the case on the basis of standing following a July hearing, but lawyers for the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal in late August. The case will continue in appeals court, with the next filings due in late November.

“We don’t want our taxpayer dollars to go to actively genociding any other individuals.”

“We don’t want our taxpayer dollars to go to actively genociding any other individuals.”

While lawyers prepare next steps in the case, organizers with the Our Taxes, Our Needs campaign are hard at work aiming to stop an anticipated November 1 reinvestment of $67.5 million in maturing Israel Bonds that would deepen Palm Beach County’s ties to the foreign treasury funding the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“Our first and foremost form of organizing is awareness and education,” johann c. muñoz-tapasco, a lead organizer with the campaign, told Truthout. “[County officials] have been moving very much with impunity; they’re not hiding the fact that they’re investing all of this money into this. But not everyone necessarily knows about it.”

“Taxes that they pay on their home........

© Truthout