Illinois mulls change allowing pension investment in anti-Israel companies

By Sean Reed | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Multiple speakers shared personal stories Thursday from the conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinians in an effort to convince the state legislature to change how it invests pension dollars.

In recent months, municipalities in Illinois such as Normal Township, Bloomington and Peoria have considered measures related to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions, BDS, on Israel movement.

Current law restricts the state from investing in companies that engage in any boycott of Israel.

The law defines a boycott as, “politically motivated and are intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel.”

Those who want to change the law have said it punishes companies and stifles First Amendment protections on speech.

House Bill 2723 proposes to strike language related to Israel from current law guiding state investment.

Palestinian-American State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Berwyn, introduced the bill to the committee and said he proposed it because it supports Israeli settlement of Palestinian land in the West Bank.

“The law I am asking you to repeal is one of the tools of that project. It’s not the most violent tool and it’s not the most visible tool,” Rashid said. “It’s the only tool with Illinois’ name on it.”

University of Illinois Springfield Professor Ken Kriz spoke to the committee from a neutral stance, based on his 20 years of experience researching and advising cities on pensions.

“In general when restrictions are put in place, what we see is poor risk-adjusted returns,” Kriz said.

Kriz told lawmakers current law puts unnecessary costs on taxpayers.

“You have to have increased costs of monitoring to make sure there’s no investments going into a certain asset,” Kriz said. “Increasing the cost just reduces the benefits you can offer or increases the cost to the taxpayers.”

Rashid said the Illinois Investment Policy Board, which oversees state pension investments, isn’t currently guided by an anti-discrimination law, rather foreign policy guidance that Israel supports.

“The board has been used repeatedly to coerce American companies – San Francisco’s Airbnb, Chicago’s Morningstar – into changing their lawful business practices to align with the foreign policy preferences of a foreign government,” Rashid said.

Rebecca Weininger, the Midwest senior regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the proposal is antisemitism disguised as policy critique. She further criticized the proposal.

“This repeal is not about free speech. Individuals, organizations, and companies can still express their views. They can protest and they can support boycotts. This repeal is not about fiduciary responsibility,” Weininger said.

Marty Levine, a former social worker who led Jewish Community Centers in Chicago for 40 years, disagreed with Weininger.

“Those telling you that this law should stay in place want to depict BDS as something other than nonviolent. They say or hint that it is antisemetic. They say or hint it will lead to violence,” Levine said.

Levine continued by saying the current law’s sole purpose is to support Israel.

Rep. Dave Vella, D-Loves Park, said lawmakers on the committee need to do more research on the matter before the change would be voted on. Lawmakers on the committee, aside from Vella, did not pose questions during the informational hearing.