Israel Bonds are loans from individuals and institutions to the Israeli treasury that help sustain the Israeli state economy. 

As such, Israel Bonds provide critical financial support for the Israeli military and government–including the Israeli military’s genocidal war on Gaza as well as forced displacement of Palestinian families from their homes, and the Israeli government’s separate-and-unequal system of apartheid. 

Halting the flow of money to the Israeli military and government deprives these institutions of the material resources that power violence against Palestinians and sends a clear message: until Israel follows international law by ending its illegal apartheid system, illegal military occupation of Palestinian lands, immoral and unlawful attacks on Palestinian civilians, and theft of Palestinian lands–the international community will continue to advocate against investment in the Israeli military, government, and Israeli corporations that enable and profit off of this suffering. 

We have a powerful role to play: local institutions in our communities make up a significant percentage of Israel Bonds investments, which themselves constitute billions in funding for the Israeli military and government. We are uniquely positioned in our communities to demand our local and state governments, universities, pension funds, unions, places of worship and other local institutions stop supporting apartheid and genocide.

Many community and financial institutions in the U.S. have the ability to invest in Israel Bonds, which are direct loans to and investments in the Israeli military and government. In addition to city, counties, and states: 

• Some retirement funds — especially index funds that include bonds — include Israel Bonds, meaning that our personal funds and any employer-matched funds may be invested. 
• Some religious institutions — such as churches, synagogues, mosques, as well as their associated retirement funds — can technically invest in Israel Bonds. Read here about the U.S. United Methodists and the Presbyterian Church (USA) in their Israel Bonds divestment victories. 
• University and college endowments often have the ability to accept Israel Bonds as gifts of monetary value.
• Foundations can be invested directly or indirectly in Israel Bonds, either through holding the bonds directly or by investing in big funds whose portfolios include Israel Bonds.

Of course, Israel Bonds are just one way in which our community institutions may be enabling and profiting off of the Israeli military and government’s violence against Palestinians: we also need to focus on ending investments in companies both fueling and profiting off of occupation and genocide–from weapons manufacturers, to tech companies, to consumer brands with facilities on stolen Palestinian land. To learn more generally about divestment from Israeli apartheid, visit the American Friends Service Committee’s (AFSC’S) divestment guide and Investigate corporate research tool.

The short answer is not on your own! Our power to ensure our communities invest in our neighbors and families, not in genocide via Israel Bonds, comes from joining together with other and acting collectively. The best way to make an impact is to join a local/state organization or coalition working towards divestment. Find your local JVP chapter here, or connect with other coalitions and organizations doing work in your city through social media.

• A great place to start is endorsing organization Little Sis’s article on U.S. state and local treasury investments in Israel Bonds. 
• Many municipalities and states have published press releases about Israel Bonds investments that are easily searchable online. 
• Municipal and state investments in Israel Bonds will sometimes appear in publicly available and searchable annual or quarterly “investment reports” from government websites. Sometimes, Israel Bonds will appear as a unique investment in a ledger of investments in those reports. Most often, however, if these investments exist, they won’t be listed uniquely, but rather are subsumed in categories like: “fixed-rate,” “sovereign bonds,” “foreign securities” or other categories like that. 
• Further information is available through public record requests, although don’t go it alone: always work with a local organization or coalition before proceeding with any research efforts. 

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent, proven form of economic activism to support human rights. These tactics to support Palestinian rights are modeled after the nonviolent movement to end South African apartheid, which ultimately was successful in great part due to economic pressure campaigns started at the grassroots level. These tried-and-true tactics were also used by Black organizers to push for civil rights reforms and an end to racial segregation in the United States, as well as to pressure California grape companies to agree to the demands of farmworkers for better wages and working conditions.

BDS is based on the idea that the Israeli military and government continue to violate Palestinian rights not only because of political impunity, but because of the many corporations and institutions that support Israel in its actions. Boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns, therefore, target the institutions and companies that profit from or are complicit in the violation of Palestinian rights with the ultimate goal of changing the actions and policies of the Israeli government and military–working towards a world where Palestinians and all communities can life in safety, freedom, and dignity.

For many of us in the Jewish community, the commitment to tikkun olam (or “repairing the world”) is core to our Jewish identity and tradition. By committing ourselves to demanding Israel Bonds divestment, we center tikkun olam and reject investment in the Israeli war machine while embracing investment right here at home so that all of our communities can thrive.

Elected officials and other decision-makers have made it clear that the billions in investment in Israel Bonds–in the Israeli war machine–is being done in the name of our Jewish community and Jewish safety. We know better: We refuse to have our community’s collective grief used to justify filling Israel’s war chest in order to commit genocide of Palestinians and force Palestinian families from their homes. We know that investment in weapons, war, and racial segregation will only lead to more violence and injustice. As Jews, we say: not in our name, not ever–no exceptions.

For U.S. Jews, unfortunately, Israel Bonds have been part of a political project to inextricably link the American Jewish community with the Israeli government since the founding of the state of Israel. The development of the American Jewish custom of gifting Israel Bonds for Jewish rites of passage, including B’Nai Mitzvot (coming-of-age ceremonies) and weddings, has further tied Jewish religious, spiritual life with financial and political support for the Israeli government.

If you think you may have been gifted an Israel Bond for a life cycle event or inherited one upon the passing of a loved one, and you want to check if you are eligible to get rid of it, you can call to verify with Development Corporation of Israel by calling Computershare at (866) 764-3425. Unfortunately, only in rare circumstances are you usually able to redeem your bond before it “matures” (reaches the full length of the loan). For more information, click here.