Pro-Palestinian advocates pressure Pa. treasurer over millions in Israel bonds

HARRISBURG — Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators descended on the Pennsylvania state Capitol building Monday to protest the investment of taxpayer dollars in Israel Bonds, the first action in what organizers said will be an ongoing campaign to pressure lawmakers to divest from Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

The rally came a day before Gov. Josh Shapiro’s scheduled budget address, but activists with the progressive group Jewish Voice for Peace, the activist network Philly Palestine Coalition, and the Council for American-Islamic Relations came to the rally with a different target: State Treasurer Stacy Garrity.

Like other nations, Israel sells securities bonds to support government spending. While these mini-loans can be paid back with interest upon maturity, buying Israeli bonds is also viewed as symbolic financial investment that has long been tied to showing political support for Israel.

Pennsylvania has a history of using its investment powers to make political statements, from divesting in Russian assets in response to the invasion of Ukraine or selling off Chinese assets in opposition to their communist government. Most recently, Garrity, as treasurer, invested an additional $20 million in Israel Bonds after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Activists on Monday criticized Garrity for ramping up bond purchases and bringing the state’s total investment in Israel Bonds to about $56.4 million — a small but politically meaningful fraction of the $27.6 billion investment pool overseen by the treasurer.

Garrity, a Republican, said in a statement that she supports Israel and defended Pennsylvania’s 30-year tradition of investing in Israel Bonds.

“After the horrific and deadly attacks perpetrated against Israel by the terrorist organization Hamas, I unequivocally stand in solidarity with our ally,” Garrity said in a statement. “Put simply: If Hamas stopped fighting today, there would be no more war. If Israel stopped fighting today, there would be no more Israel.”

Israel Bonds did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

Monday’s protest began outside the Capitol, with a rally and prayer of about 200 protesters calling on Garrity to invest in Pennsylvanians rather than foreign entities. Protesters waved banners that drew attention to the more than 27,000 Palestinians killed in the first four months of the war.

“Why are we using our money as a political tool? We should be using our money to invest in our communities, our public transit, our health care, our education systems,” Dounya Ramadan, an activist from Philadelphia, said outside the Capitol.

Meanwhile, about 200 other protesters who had filtered into the Capitol throughout the morning gathered in the Main Rotunda and donned black T-shirts that said “divest from genocide.”

Within 15 minutes, Pennsylvania State Police and Capitol Police warned the crowd that protesters were unlawfully trespassing and they would begin arrests and likely charge them with misdemeanors, despite an attempted intervention from State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia).

Organizers said 186 people were detained and released by midafternoon. Capitol Police said 126 individuals were issued citations for trespassing.

Purchasing Israeli bonds amounts to essentially floating a loan to Israel. The returns on investment are fairly low in most cases, but experts said the bonds have carried symbolic meaning for Jewish people and institutions for decades.

While some bonds predate Israel’s founding in 1948, Israel Bonds launched its first major fundraising campaign in the early 1950s to help grow the state’s budding economy.

Early support came in the form of “bond parties” and “bond dinners” organized by Jewish groups in the Philadelphia region and other U.S. areas with significant Jewish populations.

Over the years, the bonds grew popular among public and private institutions as an investment tool. The Development Corporation of Israel, the official name of Israel Bonds, touts over $50 billion in worldwide bond sales to date.

Lila Corwin Berman, a professor of Jewish studies at Temple University who studies Jewish philanthropy, said bond purchases carry emotional power — whether they be for a bar mitzvah gift or a gesture of solidarity between states.

“People understand that politics doesn’t just happen through getting legislative action passed,” Berman said. “Foreign investment is a form of diplomacy.”

The state treasurer’s online dashboard does not provide a breakdown of all foreign investments, but Garrity said Israel Bonds purchases comprise less than 1% of the total investment assets managed by the treasury.

Small as they may be, those investments are frequently subject to political headwinds. After the war in Ukraine broke out in 2022, Garrity sold off about $3 million in holdings from Russia. “Every dollar matters,” she said at the time.

Garrity also divested $394 million from China that year, leaving just $50,000 invested, while Republican lawmakers continue to press the state to break off any investments in the communist country.

Meanwhile, interest in Israel appears to be booming at the state level. Pennsylvania was one of several states that purchased over $300 million in Israeli bonds during the first month of the Israel-Hamas war — part of a $1 billion total investment nationwide after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

In October, Garrity invested an additional $20 million in Israel Bonds. And in December, she was appointed to a newly formed government advisory board for Israel Bonds — a role that protesters also criticized on Monday.

Pennsylvania’s support has not gone unnoticed. Israel Bonds president and CEO Dani Naveh described Garrity’s purchase as an “uplifting message to Israel at this exceedingly difficult time” — one that provides “much-needed assistance on the ground,” according to an October treasury news release.

Garrity in turn described Israel Bonds as both a smart investment and as a “symbolic connection with Israel and the people of Israel for Jews worldwide.”

While the early months of the war were defined by massive demonstrations in the streets and acts of civil disobedience that sought to pressure elected officials into supporting a cease-fire, some activists have turned their focus onto Israel’s public- and private-sector financiers.

Divestment campaigns have been central to the pro-Palestinian movement for decades, but Monday’s action also highlighted the most-dramatic resurgence of this strategy in Pennsylvania as the Palestinian death toll continues to climb.

Activists in Pennsylvania have also targeted private corporations over their financial ties to Israel. In January, a group of protesters staged a “die-in” outside BNY Mellon’s headquarters in Philadelphia, drawing attention to the global investment firm’s ties to the Friends of the IDF as well Israeli weapons manufacturers.

Organizers behind Monday’s protest said they will continue to campaign against government investments in Israel.

“We are, as Pennsylvania residents, against oppression, regardless of the identity,” said Omar Mussa, 30, who lives in Harrisburg and is Palestinian. “We are going to divest from oppression and occupation and genocide, no matter who is committing the oppression. We cannot divest from Russia because of occupying Ukraine, and then not divest from Israel as they occupy Palestinians in Gaza.”