The majority of Oak Park residents are probably unaware of the drama surrounding the right to boycott vote and prior efforts to keep this issue off the ballot.
It has been argued in these pages that a vote to allow Illinois pension funds to invest in businesses that boycott or divest from the state of Israel is an attempt to destroy the state of Israel. While there are no doubt a few among the BDS movement who seek an end to Israel, they do not represent all of those who find the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli government to be morally abhorrent and who seek means to end it. Highlighting these individuals is a classic straw-man argument. Yes, you can go to Portland, Oregon and find someone who uses a litter box as toilet, but that individual does not represent all liberals. The same logic applies here.
An eye for an eye leaves the world blind. The Netanyahu government seems to believe a head for an eye is a workaround. Illinois voters cannot physically stop the ethnic cleansing presently taking place in Gaza; we cannot personally deliver food to the starving or medicine to the sick because the IDF would stop us.
We can use financial levers to send a clear signal to the perpetrators that the world does not endorse and will not tolerate this. It is the absolute least we could do. The energy put into preventing this issue from coming to a vote and arguing against this measure would be much better spent trying to stop Israel from destroying Gaza and in so doing, destroying global goodwill toward Israel.
The best method to protect the state of Israel is to vote Yes on the right to boycott so that we may use financial measures to weaken its current extremist administration and strengthen the position of reasonable members of its government.
A “No” vote affords unique protection of Israel’s actions at the cost of American’s freedom of speech.
Brett Williams
Oak Park