Hi John,

This week, LittleSis and ACRE released a new primer breaking down Israel’s debt landscape—how the Israeli government raises money, who it borrows from, and what role U.S. cities, states, counties, and pension funds play in sustaining Israel’s crumbling economy.

For the first time in its history, Israel has seen two credit rating downgrades, indicating a higher risk for investors that the country may fail to pay its debts. These credit downgrades are directly tied to Israel’s escalating military aggression and genocide against the Palestinian people. As Israel’s war on Gaza sends its national economy into decline, it is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign debt—especially from U.S.-based investors—to finance its apartheid regime.

Our report offers a clear overview of how U.S. working families’ taxes and retirement savings are being invested by government officials and investment managers in debt issued by the state of Israel amid its genocidal war on Gaza and the financial risk posed by these investments. 

From the findings in this primer, LittleSis and ACRE also produced a guide for peace activists to pressure financial institutions and governmental officials to stop using working families’ money to underwrite an atrocity. By targeting U.S. institutions that are entangled in Israel’s debt structure, we can build more strategic and effective divestment campaigns that will lead to reducing—and ultimately ending—U.S. funding to Israel.

We hope this tool is useful to organizers working toward Palestinian liberation and building economic strategies for divestment and peace across the United States.

In solidarity,

LittleSis

PS- Israel has escalated its genocide in Gaza since last week. We wanted to also share this toolkit from our partners US Campaign for Palestinian Rights to find all the ways you can take action through protesting, mobilizing, organizing, and pressuring your elected officials to stop the genocide.