Minnesota Anti-War Committee Installs Billboards Advocating Divestment and Ending U.S. Aid to Israel

Minnesota Anti-War Committee Installs Billboards Advocating Divestment and Ending U.S. Aid to Israel

Press Conference:

• When: Monday, December 18, 2023 at 9:00 AM
• Where: Minneapolis Federal Building, 300 S 4th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55415

Minneapolis/St. Paul, December 18, 2023— The Minnesota Anti-War Committee proudly announces the installation of four billboards in Minneapolis and St. Paul. These billboards serve as a visual call to action, reinforcing the committee’s demands: “Divest Minnesota from Israel” and “End U.S. Aid to Israel.”

Strategically placed, these billboards are a powerful tool to amplify the Anti-War Committee’s demands that Minnesota divest from Israel and for the U.S. to end all support for Israel’s apartheid regime.

Billboards will be located at the following addresses:

• 515 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis
• 815 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis
• 328 S 3rd St, Minneapolis
• 2040 Marshall Ave, St. Paul

For years, the Anti-War Committee has been a vocal critic of the State Board of Investment (SBI) and its questionable use of public funds. The SBI, responsible for managing assets accumulated with Minnesota taxpayer money, oversees state retirement plans and pensions, state trusts, and agency cash accounts. The Anti-War Committee’s investigations reveal that over $1 billion of Minnesotan taxpayer dollars have been invested by the SBI in Israel, Israeli companies, and entities supporting Israel’s apartheid state.

Key investment breakdown as of June 2023:

• $57.282 million in Israeli companies
• $685.894 million in companies supporting and enabling Israel’s apartheid state
• $283.466 million in weapons companies supplying munitions to Israel

Notable entities receiving SBI investments include the State of Israel, Lockheed Martin, and Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer boasting about field-testing products on Palestinians. Elbit Systems has supplied 85% of the Israeli Occupation Forces’ land equipment and drones used in Gaza.

Since 1949, Israel has benefitted from over $150 billion in foreign aid  – more than it has ever sent to any other country. Israel is the only receiving state of U.S. foreign aid without capitulations nor conditions requiring repayment. However, recent polling indicates a substantial change in public sentiment, with a majority of Americans expressing opposition to additional funding that could potentially support alleged human rights abuses by the Israeli government. According to the survey, 43% of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents collectively oppose sending any further weapons or supplies to Israel. 

The objective of this billboard campaign is to raise public awareness of the U.S.-funded apartheid in Israel and the atrocities faced by the Palestinian people. The intention is to foster advocacy for Palestinian human rights and exert pressure on both local and national elected representatives, urging them to take decisive action. Specifically, the goal is to call for an immediate cessation of all U.S. military aid to Israel, an end to financing Israel’s apartheid state, and a commitment to divest from companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine.