Op-Ed: Why is Illinois invested in Israel Bonds?

“It’s morally reprehensible, fiscally irresponsible, and politically untenable.”

By STEVE TAMARI     

Newspaper readers are familiar with the death and destruction rained down on Gazans for more than a year and a half. Tens of thousands killed, mostly women and children, more than 80% of Gaza’s infrastructure gone, hospitals destroyed, and all twelve of Gaza’s universities turned to rubble.

After three months of Israel’s total blockade on humanitarian aid, the scourge of mass starvation haunts every Gazan family.

As US taxpayers we have been implicated in what many experts in international law agree is an on-going genocide.

Foreign aid, particularly unconditional US military aid, enables Israel to maintain this war and wars on the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. The US supplied Israel with close to $20 billion in military between Oct. 2023 and Dec. 2024. In April 2025, the Congress approved another $14 billion in aid to Israel.

The federal government is not the only American political entity that makes Americans complicit. States, cities, and counties are also invested in these wars through investment in Israel Bonds.

Disturbingly, these investments skyrocketed as Israel expanded its bombing campaign on Gaza. According to a July 25, 2024 report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, U.S. states, cities, and counties bought more than $1.7 billion in Israel Bonds. These investments are unrestricted and are easily funneled into Israel’s military budget.

Illinois is one of the handful of states – all but two dominated by Republicans—that have ramped up investment in Israel bonds since the bombing began in Oct. 2023.

Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs purchased $60 million in Israel Bonds since Oct. 2023 including $5 million this April. Illinois’ current investment comes to $140 million making it one of the biggest state investors in Israel Bonds. We, citizens of our fair state, pay for these bonds. Our state treasurer has boosted our complicity in genocide.

If you are not moved by the moral case for ending investment in Israel bonds, the fiscal argument may be more compelling.

As stated on the website of the Office of the State Treasurer, Frerichs is duty bound to “protecting the state’s portfolio, ensuring the liquidity of all investments, and consistently producing earnings at or above industry standards.”

After close to two years of war, the Israeli economy is in a shambles. U.S. credit agencies have twice downgraded Israel Bonds over the last year; they are approaching junk bond status. It’s not difficult to see why. Fifty thousand Israeli businesses have gone bankrupt. Within six months of the war on Gaza, foreign investment in Israel dropped 60 percent. In June 2024, semiconductor manufacturer Intel pulled out of a project to build a $25 billion factory in Israel. Tourism in the Holy Land is at a standstill.

It may take decades for the rubble to be cleared in Gaza and billions and billions to rebuild close to half a million destroyed housing units. It may be impossible for Israel to recoup the financial losses from the economic catastrophe wrought by the war on Gaza.

If moral and fiscal arguments are not persuasive, perhaps the political calculus will be.

Americans’ historic sympathy for Israel declined precipitously after Oct. 2023. According to a February 2025 Gallup poll, less than half of Americans have a favorable view of Israel, the lowest in 25 years of Gallup’s annual tracking of this measure. Sympathy with Palestinians is higher than ever and Democrats sympathize with Palestinians over the Israelis by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio (59% vs. 21%).

Illinoisan Democrats are likely in line with their counterparts across the county. The state treasurer’s investment in Israel Bonds implicates all taxpaying citizens of Illinois in a foreign war of genocidal proportions against a largely defenseless population facing starvation.

There are enough reasons—moral, economic, and political—for us to demand that Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs divest from Israel Bonds.

Steve Tamari is Emeritus Professor of Middle East and Islamic History at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He lives in Glen Carbon, Ill.