Thanks to Gregg Voss for his evenhanded Wednesday Journal article on this difficult issue. [Oak Park Neighbors United, Wednesday Journal, Oct. 1].
Voters will soon be asked whether Illinois should repeal its 2015 law (1) restricting state pension fund investment in companies that boycott Israel. For many Oak Park Jews, seeing this question on our ballot is isolating and frightening. Supporters frame this as free speech. But the real question is: should taxpayers fund companies participating in a movement that rejects the existence of a Jewish state?
As Voss noted, Oak Park Neighbors United believes that the boycott is “part and parcel with the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Movement.” (2) The Journal cites BDS’s misleading self-description as a movement for “freedom, justice and equality.” However, the goal of BDS is not a change in Israeli policies, it is elimination of the Jewish state. It is not an objection to a government but to a people.
BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti admits this goal, stating: “Definitely, most definitely we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No Palestinian … will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.” (3) The issue in supporting a boycott is not merely changing Israeli policies; the logic of BDS would eliminate Israel’s future as a Jewish state. During debate on Illinois’ pension restriction, state Rep. David Harris explained the law’s rationale: Illinois should not support entities that call for “the destruction, the elimination of Israel.” (4)
The free-speech argument advanced by referendum proponents is also inconsistent. At Sonoma State, Rutgers, and The New School, protesters pushed universities to sever ties with Israeli schools simply for being Israeli. (5) Free speech cannot mean protection for me, but not for thee.
There are 16 million Jews, 0.2% of humanity; nearly half in Israel. Opposition to the continued existence of the one Jewish state — for a people this small and concentrated — is both terrifying and existential.
I am no apologist for Israel’s government or policies, and the suffering in Gaza is real. But neither BDS nor this advisory resolution will help a single Palestinian and this discriminatory referendum, like BDS, does real harm to our local Jewish community.
Our sense of safety and belonging is the true question on the ballot. Please vote No and send a message of inclusion to your Jewish neighbors.
Sources:
1. 40 ILCS 5/1-110.16; see also Cook County Board of Commissioners, Resolution 15-4701 (approved July 29, 2015) (describing Illinois as the first state to fight the BDS movement).
2. Gregg Voss, “Oak Park Neighbors United,” Wednesday Journal, Oct. 1, 2026.
3. Omar Barghouti, “Strategies for Change,” Oslo, Sept. 2013, video excerpt, YouTube, uploaded May 26, 2014, at 1:08, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYvpsGd8K4Y; see also H.R. Res. 246, 116th Cong. (2019); see also statements by BDS advocate Ahmed Moore, “Does BDS Mean the End of the Jewish State?,” HuffPost, Apr. 22, 2010.
4. Illinois House of Representatives, Transcript of Debate, March 26, 2015, p. 55.
5. Praveena Somasundaram, “Sonoma State President Retires After Announcing Agreement with Protesters,” Washington Post, May 17, 2024; CBS New York, “Rutgers University and Pro-Palestinian Protesters Reach Agreement,” May 2, 2024; and Rowan Cahill, “New School Students for Justice in Palestine Calls for an Immediate ‘Strike for Divestment,’” New School Free Press, May 5, 2024
Josh Grossman
Oak Park