DIVEST MINNESOTA FROM APARTHEID ISRAEL

The Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) invests in weapons manufacturers selling arms to Israel and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The SBI is invested in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems produces 85% of the drones used by the Israeli military to surveil Palestinians and conduct drone strikes.

Many of their weapons are advertised as being “field tested” on Palestinians. In May 2024, Elbit’s CEO said “The fact that our systems are in operational use in Israel helps us because customers prefer to get mature solutions.”

This marketing technique has worked, in particular, with the DHS. Elbit has been contracted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on numerous occasions to deploy their “field-tested” weapons along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the past, these multi-million dollar contracts have funded drone programs and various surveillance tech. Between 2023 and 2033, an additional 307 new surveillance towers will be propped up along the southern border.

The SBI is also invested in Palantir, Lockheed Martin, RTX Corp (formerly Raytheon) and General Dynamics.

Palantir is a high-tech surveillance company providing the AI tools used by Israel to generate Palestinian targets. They also work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to conduct workplace raids and deportations.

Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp (formerly Raytheon) are each some of the DHS’s largest contractors, frequently providing surveillance and tracking technology to CBP and ICE.General Dynamics has received billions of dollars from the DHS and works with ICE and CBP, providing the tools used totrack, monitor, and detain immigrants. These tools range from surveillance towers to biometric databases.

All these weapons manufacturers provide the Israeli army with the tech, drones, rockets, jets, and bombs used to surveil and slaughter Palestinians en masse. The violence perpetuated by these corporations doesn’t stop in Palestine or at the U.S.-Mexico border.

A 2022 MintPress News investigation of the “100 largest private Defense Department contractors” found that “... 37% of them were also profiting from incarcerated Americans, either in prisons and jails, or in [ICE] camps”.

“[In] many cases, weapons of war are directly manufactured using coerced prison labor.”

The SBI is invested in 27 out of 37of these corporations — over a third of which deal with Israel.

Many U.S. cops have traveled to Israel to be trained on violent repressive tactics by Israeli law enforcement, though it’s not just cops that are bringing these tactics back to the U.S. The CIA, FBI, and ICE also participate in these programs.

The systems of oppression upheld by the U.S. don’t stop in Palestine, but affect our communities too. Our struggles are connected and so is our fight. None of us are free until we are all free.