Stop Funding Genocide - Pfleger, Muslims, Jews Call on Illinois to Divest Its $100 Israeli Bonds

Taking a page from the apartheid movement, Farther Pfleger is asking Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs to divest Illinois taxpayer’s dollars from Israel’s $100 million bonds.

 

“Divestment worked with apartheid, and it will work with genocide,” said Pfleger.

 

“Illinois has $100 million in taxpayer funds invested in Israel Bonds—a decision that persists even after October 2023, with $45 million added since then,” said Pfleger.

 

“This isn’t just financial. It’s a moral issue. Activists calling attention to the war in Gaza characterize these bonds as direct support for ongoing violence and displacement,” Pfleger said.

 

The United Nations has reported that only 40 percent of drinking water facilities in Gaza are functioning. We are here today because the World Health Organization declares that one in five children under the age of five-years-old in Gaza is now malnourished.

 

“We are here because every hospital in Gaza has been bombed. We’re here today because churches and mosques have been bombed. We’re here because people have been executed in food lines. Medical and food aid have been blocked.

 

“The United Nations and human rights organizations have accused Israel of committing genocide,” Pfleger said. Referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to take over Gaza City, Father Pfleger said, “The people of Gaza are now starving from a man-made famine.”

 

Pointing to a report from Doctors Without Borders, Pfleger said, “People are being starved, shot and burned while waiting in line for food.

 

Calling for a ceasefire, Father Pfleger also called for the release of all hostages, and “to an end to the genocide and ethnic cleansing that Netanyahu has ordered.”

 

Pfleger also demanded that, “The Trump administration stop funding and being co-conspirators of this genocide. Stop funding Israel immediately until this war is over.

 

As Christians, Muslims and Jews, Father Pfleger said, “It is hypocritical for us to say we are pro-life and be silent while babies are being murdered and starved to death in Gaza. Shame on the faith of people, Christians, Muslims and Jews who are being silent while babies are being burned and starved.”

 

To Netanyahu and Trump, Pfleger had a message for them: “Stop starving people. Stop the genocide in Garza. Stop the war now. People of faith speak up, rise up, shout out and stop this immoral war now.” 

 

Among many speakers, there was one young man who lived in Gaza for the first four years of his life. “This is not OK. We do not need bombs sent overseas to bomb people, said Husam Marajda, a Christian Palestinian who has lost a string of family members in Gaza. He said that money would be better spent on improving education and jobs in the U.S. that would improve the lives of the Black and brown communities.

 

Joining Father Pfleger in calling for Illinois to divest of Israel’s $100 million in Israeli bonds, Marajda also called on all companies doing business with the state of Israel.” He asked Frerichs to “stop funding genocide.”

 

Pfleger pointed to House Speaker Mike Johnson who recently made a highly visible and controversial visit to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. He is the highest-ranking U.S. official to have done so which Pfleger says signals a strong alignment with the hardline policies there.

 

Calling Trump a “murderer,” Pfleger said, “This genocide and ethnic cleansing taking place in Gaza is immoral and unacceptable. It must be stopped and America must stop being a co-conspirator of it by funding starvation and murder.”

 

“I am here today because I cannot be silent. My conscience propels me to speak. I cannot be silent because before I am a Jew, I am a human being, and one who is compassionate and have mercy," said Attorney Al Hofeld, Jr., a Chicago Jewish civil rights lawyer.

 

“I cannot be silent because the income tax I pay to my federal government is funding Israel’s war including and especially the bombs that have killed children and the blockades of food and medical supplies,” Hofeld stated. “I cannot be silent because I am a Jew.”

 

“In Judaism enshrines the sanctity of human life as the highest ethical and spiritual life and that is all life not just Jewish life,” Hofeld said. “I cannot be silent because too many Israeli and American Jews wear blinders when it comes to the lives and suffering of people of color including Palestinians lives and suffering. They believe that Palestinians are worth less than Israeli lives,” Hofeld stated. “I cannot be silent because those who survived the Holocaust should know the value of life and the value of refraining from bombing, shooting and starving innocent men, women and children. They should wonder that they are making a mockery of the lessons of the Holocaust.”

Pfleger was also joined by Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago (CAIR), William Asfour, from Gaza, Becca Lubow, from Jewish Voices for Peace, Salman Aftab, Chairman, American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections – PAC, and others.

 

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to wipe out Gaza City, one of the last strongholds of safety, Netanyahu vowed to take over that city and to give Gaza to a friendly Arab country.

 

“Given Hamas’s refusal to lay down its arms, Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas,” said Mr. Netanyahu. “Dismantling the two remaining Hamas strongholds in Gaza City and the central camps — this is the best way to end the war,” he said to the New York Times.

 

Father Pfleger is asking the public to call Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs and urge him to immediately divest public funds from Israel Bonds, and to call U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson at (202) 225-2777 and demand that he reconsiders U.S. funding and political support for settlements “that deepen conflict.”

 

Efforts to reach Frerichs failed; however, his positions on this issue are listed on social media; however, according to Capitol News Illinois, Frerichs admits to investing significant funds in Israel bonds, including $60 million since October 2023, and a $10 million purchase announced in March 2025. The total amount invested in Israel bonds is currently $100 million.

 

And Frerichs justifies these investments by stating that Israel bonds offer strong returns and are a safe and stable investment for Illinois. He says that Israel has never defaulted on its bonds in over 70 years and that the investments diversify the state's portfolio.

 

According to Frerichs. the investments are also seen as reflecting a partnership between Illinois and Israel, with Frerichs emphasizing Israel as an important ally.