by Jewish Voice for Peace
More than nine months into Israel’s unrelenting bombing campaign against the Gaza Strip, more and more Americans are acknowledging our governments’complicity in these atrocities. Human rights groups, national and local governments, international agencies, and grassroots activists have banded together to demand an end to Israel’s siege and to our governments’ support of it.
To protest the violence, cities and counties across the country have divested from war-profiteering corporations involved with Israel.
In solidarity with this movement, Alachua County has recently divested from all corporations. The County’s actions followed a grassroots movement composed of local organizations, small businesses, University of Florida student and faculty groups, and community members calling for the county to pass a cease-fire resolution.
The county initially refused, citing a position of neutrality. The Gainesville chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace exposed the hypocrisy of the County’s position by revealing its substantial investments in war-profiteering corporations.
Divesting from all corporations was a circuitous way for Alachua County to divest from war profiteers involved with Israel. Florida’s anti-BDS laws prohibit local governments from divesting for anything but financial reasons, including divestment on the grounds of ethical, environmental, or humanitarian causes.
Moreover, the laws exert harsher punishments for explicit divestment from Israel. The state of Florida’s prohibition of ESG divestment contradicts its supposed focus on freedom, which includes the right to use money to oppose companies that profit from war.
Some of the primary targets for divestment include Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, and RTX. Alachua County formerly held investments in many of these corporations, and the city of Gainesville continues to do so. Gainesville is a long-term investor in Caterpillar, a company that supplies Israel with D9 (armored) bulldozers. Israel uses these bulldozers to illegally destroy Palestinian homes across Gaza, occupied East Jerusalem, and the occupied West Bank. As of September 2023, Gainesville’s pension plan held 1355 shares of Caterpillar, currently valued at over $450,000.
Destroying homes using Caterpillar bulldozers is part of Israel’s ongoing strategy to usurp land from Palestinians and pave the way for Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law. According to the Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions, Israel has demolished 56,500 homes in occupied Palestine (including Gaza) since 1967. In 2003, Rachel Corrie, an American member of the International Solidarity Movement, was crushed to death by a D9 bulldozer while attempting to prevent the destruction of a home in Gaza.
In June of 2024, Norway’s largest private pension fund, KLP, announced divestment from a $69 million stake in Caterpillar. A KLP representative offered the following justification: “Around 100 Caterpillar D9R bulldozers were reported to be used in Gaza … Israeli forces were accused of using bulldozers to bury alive civilians outside the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in Gaza following a nine-day siege. The NGO Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has demanded an investigation into the allegations.”
The city of Gainesville’s investment in Caterpillar and other war-profiteering corporations flies in the face of the city’s motto of “citizen centered, people empowered.”
Alachua County, along with Richmond and Hayward, CA, have paved the way for other local governments nationwide to join the divest movement. Moreover, Alachua County’s recent actions show that divestment is both possible, in spite of Florida’s anti-BDS laws, and desired by its people. So what is Gainesville waiting for?
Join us on Thursday, August 15th to call upon the Gainesville City Commission to follow Alachua County’s example and divest from all corporations! We will gather at City Hall at or around 1 pm — please follow @jvp_gnv on instagram or email jvpgnvpod@gmail.com to join our email list for updates on the exact time to show up!