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Activists ask Minnesota to sell off Israeli investments
State panel oversees public employee retirement fund investments.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Pro-Palestinian activists Wednesday urged Minnesota’s top leaders to stop investing state employee retirement funds in the Israeli government and defense contractors who supply arms to that nation.
Members of the Free Palestine Coalition crowded into a hearing room in the Senate Office Building where Gov. Tim Walz, Secretary of State Steve Simon, and State Auditor Julie Blaha were meeting as members of the State Board of Investment. Attorney General Keith Ellison, the only Muslim member of the board, missed the meeting because of a scheduling conflict.
“I don’t know of a single educator who wants our money invested in weapons companies, and in bombing school buildings in racist wars,” Drake Myers, a member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee who is also active in the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, told the panel.
Max Vash, who has a Palestinian son, spoke out against the state’s holdings in Elbit Systems, an international defense and aerospace contractor based in Israel.
“You have the power and the responsibility to ensure that neither my son, nor any other Palestinian person experiences these horrors,” Vash said.
Lucia Wilkes Smith, a longtime member of Mothers Against Military Madness, said the BDS movement — Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions — shouldn’t be written off as antisemitic.
Mike McDonald of Veterans for Peace didn’t address Israel directly but said the Board of Investment shouldn’t have money in defense contractors that are arming nations across the planet. He asserted the state has $800 million in holdings in companies that make weapons of warfare.
It’s not the first time the investment board has heard from people calling for divestment from Israel. In 2015, activists unsuccessfully pressed the board to sell off its Israeli government bonds.
This time around, activists look to build support based on outrage over thousands of Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza in the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. That fighting was sparked by a series of coordinated surprise attacks by Hamas on Israel Oct. 7, in which 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were slain and 250 others were taken hostage.
Since the war began, the Gaza Health Ministry has reported more than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed, roughly two-thirds of them women and minors.
The board members — Walz, Simon, and Blaha — listened and took notes, but didn’t take any action in response to the request.
Before the meeting, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas held a news conference at the State Capitol calling on the investment board to reject the calls for divestment.
Rhona Schwaid, the JCRC Vice President, said that the BDS movement uses antisemitic memes and tropes as part of its rhetoric.
“It would be irresponsible and dangerous for the State of Minnesota to further hostilities and trauma by supporting a movement that is anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish at its core.”
Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat, said that Palestinian children are exposed to teaching and television programming that celebrates killing Jews, and that those pushing for divestment want Israel wiped off the map.
“Divesting from Israel would be supporting and motivating a terror group to repeat the October 7 atrocities again,” Sen. Latz said.
He co-authored the law that bars Minnesota government agencies from entering into contracts with companies that have boycotts against Israel.
According to the State Board of Investment staff, the state holds $116.3 million worth of investments in Israel. That includes $21.5 million in Israeli government bonds, $67.5 million in publicly traded investments, and $27.3 million in non-publicly traded investments.
The industries covered include fuels, aerospace, defense, banks, real estate developers, software companies, retail, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
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Fire officials say the flames started in a garage but then jumped to an apartment building and hotel.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Fire Department (MFD) evacuated residents after a four-alarm fire sparked on the city’s south side late Wednesday night.
The fire chief told KARE 11 that the fire started in a garage unit on the 5600 block of Lyndale Ave. S and quickly jumped to a motel and apartment complex nearby. All three will be declared a total loss.
The Red Cross was called to help a reported 50 displaced tenants find a place to stay. Two firefighters and one resident were medically evaluated for injuries.
Fire crews used an aerial ladder water tower to dump large amounts of water on the apartment building in an effort to knock down the flames.
KARE 11 will update this story as more information is available.
Jerry McAfee, founder of 21 Days of Peace, said many of these kids are committing crimes for recreation and don’t understand the consequences of their actions.
MINNEAPOLIS — Community leaders say they were disheartened to see the latest string of youth crime, but they’re not shocked.
“The youth that age and younger have been participating in criminal activity long before you guys just found out,” said KG Wilson, a retired peace activist.
Wilson said the perception of kids committing crimes is hard for people to imagine.
“Nobody wanted to believe that these children this young would be doing this type of criminal activity in the community,” he said. “Instead of them listening to the few of us that we’re trying to tell them about this before it gets worse, it got worse. And then you got the taps on the hands because a lot of these kids have been doing this for years.”
Jerry McAfee has seen the same things. He’s the founder of 21 Days of Peace and works with dozens of kids to keep them on the right path.
“This behavior is not new. What is new is we are yet to be alarmed to the point that the necessary synergy is created to get ahead of that stuff and to try and stop it,” McAfee said.
He believes it’s time for a new approach.
“What we were doing three or four years ago and have been doing the last few years isn’t working. It’s getting worse. So, if it’s getting worse just stop, admit it’s not working, and let’s put something together,” he said.
McAfee said many of these kids are committing crimes for recreation and don’t understand the consequences of their actions.
“That’s the message they got to get. This is not games. This is real-life,” he said. “I don’t think there is many repercussions, and what kids deem now as fun is dangerous.”
Wilson agrees the problem is getting worse each year, and kids and teenagers need to be held accountable.
“There’s going to have to be some consequences to their actions and they’re going to have know, these children are going have to know if you do this, this is what’s going to happen to you,” Wilson said. “If that doesn’t happen, they’re going to say and think in their mind, we can do anything we want and we’re just going to get a pat on the hand.”
He said it’s not all on the parents. He said some of them have tried to get their child help, but nothing seems to work.
“A lot of times these kids have gotten so out of control that some of the parents fear them. The parents fear them,” he said.
Wilson believes people need to become neighbors again and look out for kids on their block.
“We got to start getting back to community meetings,” he said. “It’s about tough love. It’s going to have to be about tough love. You’re going to have to get tough. It’s either you’re going to let them go, let the streets have them, or you’re going to take them back yourself.”
McAfee said it might be time to air public service announcements explaining the consequences of committing crimes.
The boy had been last seen on the 2500 block of 14th Ave S.
MINNEAPOLIS — Police in Minneapolis say a 4-year-old who was reported missing has been found safe.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, Jacob Gonzalez Orbe had been last seen around 3:40 p.m. Wednesday on the 2500 block of 14th Ave S.
In an update Monday evening, police said he was found and is safe.
This story has been updated from a previous version.
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