Protesters demand Illinois State Board of Investments, state treasurer divest from apartheid Israel

Chicago, IL – On Friday morning, March 21, over 50 protesters gathered outside the Illinois State Board of Investments (ISBI) office in downtown Chicago. They came to demand that ISBI and Vice Chair Michael Frerichs, who currently sits as the Illinois state treasurer, divest from Israeli genocide, apartheid and occupation.

The Anti-War Committee Chicago and BDS-Chicago, a project of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), called the action in support of their statewide campaign against State Treasurer Frerichs, calling on his office to divest from Israel Bonds, and calling on ISBI to divest from companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine.

Protesters rallied with banners and signs, pointing to the fact that Frerichs has brought Illinois’ total investments in Israel Bonds (also known as Development Corporation for Israel) to over $145 million, making Illinois one of the top five states in the U.S. to support Israel. Since February of 2025, Frerichs has doubled down and announced the purchase of an additional $10 million in Israel Bonds, on top of a bond renewal of $15 million. His complicity doesn’t stop there.

Frerichs is the vice chair of ISBI, which has invested millions of taxpayer dollars into companies that are complicit in the occupation and genocide of Palestine. As of March 2025, ISBI holds 20,621 shares in Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer. Lockheed Martin manufactures the fighting jets used to drop the bombs that have been destroying Gaza over the past 17 months. ISBI also invests in other war profiteers such as Boeing, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Northrop Grumman and many others.

Speakers were fired up during the rally and spoke to the many reasons why Illinois residents oppose these investments. Since the campaign launch, over 1850 Illinois residents and 40 Illinois-based organizations have signed on to the campaign to divest Illinois from Israel Bonds.

Kaya Rial, organizing director of AFIRE, said, “It is sickening how our government wants to implement dollars upon dollars of budget cuts from public resources such as health care and Medicaid, language access for immigrants, education and academic safety for our youth, housing and food assistance, and resources for survivors of police torture and all those wrongfully incarcerated while our state treasurer sends those same taxpayer dollars to fund the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the eradication of sacred, indigenous Palestinian land.”

Gaby Martinez, a rank-and-file member of SEIU Local 73, announced that over 30 members and retirees of SEIU Local 73 have united to file an ethics complaint against Frerichs. “Treasurer Frerichs needs to be censured in that he is not investing for the people of Illinois, but for his personal political agenda in support of Israel. The charges we make in the ethics complaint to the Executive Inspector General for the Illinois state treasurer are well documented. Violations include abuse of authority, corruption, favoritism, improper use of state time and other resources for prohibited political purposes, and misuse of public assets,” said Martinez.

As members of the public attempted to enter the building for public comment, they were met with intense police presence, including the 1st District Commander, heightened building security, and unclear entrance protocols, all of which were drastically intensified since AWC-Chicago and BDS-Chicago protested and gave public comment at the last ISBI quarterly meeting. Only five people were allowed to join the so-called public meeting, with 16 people directed to sit in the adjacent lobby. Building staff locked the doors of the building after the allotted 16 people entered, barring entrance to any other member of the public, including the remaining protesters.

Despite the attempt to intimidate the protesters, five people delivered public comments and demanded divestment from Israel. A member of BDS-Chicago addressed the board directly, stating, “This board and the state treasurer are more concerned about war profiteering than cutting ties with war criminals – more concerned with supporting an apartheid state rather than supporting communities here in Illinois that lack necessities like housing, healthcare, education and food.”

Michael Frerichs was not in attendance, a clear violation of the ISBI bylaws listed on its website. This is a repeat offense since Frerichs was also absent from the last meeting in December 2024.

As protesters were removed from the boardroom by Chicago police and the owner of the building, they chanted on their way out, making it clear that they will keep coming back until ISBI and Michael Frerichs divests from genocide.

Members from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE), Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), Rank-and-File SEIU Local 73 Members for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine-Chicago (SJP-Chicago), Chicago Irish for Palestine, and members of the public joined in support of the protest.

For Illinois residents, you can send a letter directly to Michael Frerichs at bit.ly/awcdivest

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #ChicagoAWC #USPCN #CAARPR

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/protesters-demand-illinois-state-board-of-investments-state-treasurer-divest?pk_campaign=rss-feed