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<\/a><\/p>\nDemonstrators with Break the Bonds North Carolina holding signs demanding divestment outside of the State Treasurer\u2019s Office on Oct. 29, 2025. (Jon Warlick media)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But despite the groups\u2019 claims, the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer said that the sale had nothing to do with \u201cdivestment\u201d but was simply a part of a routine portfolio rebalance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sale of two Israel Government International bonds was not related to a divestment exercise,\u201d the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. \u201cThe previously held bonds were sold in October during a larger fixed income portfolio rebalancing exercise that sold bonds with shorter remaining maturity than the portfolio typically holds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The activists had hailed the sale as a win for the boycott Israel movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cVICTORY: NC DIVESTS FROM ISRAEL!! Genocide and apartheid are a bad investment,\u201d wrote the Jewish Voice for Peace chapter of Triangle North Carolina in a post on Instagram, adding that the sale was a result of a \u201cpowerful campaign\u201d supported by over 40 local organizations.<\/p>\n
The JVP chapter had joined with several other groups, including Muslims for Social Justice and Jewish Voice for Peace Charlotte, to form Break the Bonds North Carolina Coalition, a campaign advocating for divestment. Similar campaigns have long lobbied treasury officials in other places.<\/p>\n
But the likelihood that officials in North Carolina would pass BDS measures appeared unlikely. In 2017, the state\u2019s governor signed into law a bill that banned state agencies from doing business with companies that boycott Israel. The elected state treasurer, Brad Briner, is a Republican, as is the majority of the legislature. The governor, meanwhile, is a moderate Jewish Democrat who has never made Israel a centerpiece of his politics.<\/p>\n
Still, anti-Israel sentiment that has surged among Democrats have made an impact on the state. In June, the North Carolina Democratic Party passed a resolution calling for the United States to implement an immediate arms embargo on Israel. And in August, the Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee announced that she \u201cwill not accept\u201d donations for the 2026 elections from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.<\/p>\n
Last month, on Oct. 29, Break the Bonds gathered outside the State Treasurer\u2019s Office to deliver a petition with 4,600 signatories and called on the state to divest the Israeli bonds held in its pension fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of North Carolina do not want a retirement fund invested in genocide, occupation, and apartheid,\u201d the petition read. \u201cWe demand that our savings be used to make our communities stronger and healthier, not to fund crimes against humanity abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while a press release from JVP cited the petition as part of its efforts to pressure the state to divest, the treasury said that its \u201crebalancing exercise took place before Break the Bonds NC Coalition presented its petition to our department.\u201d<\/p>\n
The treasurer also added that as of the end of October, it still held some Israeli bonds within its broader investments.<\/p>\n
The discrepancy between the group\u2019s celebratory tone and the treasury\u2019s explanation was not the first time that a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions effort elicited a conflicting response.<\/p>\n
In April 2024, anti-Zionist activists at Pitzer College in California, including the local JVP chapter, claimed victory after the school announced it would no longer pre-approve students to study abroad at Haifa University. The school later said the decision had come from waning student interest, not a principled objection.<\/p>\n
A similar episode also occurred this month in Minnesota, where pro-Palestinian advocates claimed they had successfully pressured the State Board of Investment to divest from Israeli bonds.<\/p>\n
Despite the statements from the groups, which included MN BDS Community and the Anti-War Committee, the state board told TCJewfolk that the sale of some Israeli bonds was a fiscal choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cContrary to statements from the organization referenced in your inquiry, the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) has not changed its investment policy regarding permitted investments,\u201d the SBI told TCJewfolk. \u201cThe SBI hires professional, third-party institutional investment managers to make investment decisions at the individual security level. These holdings are not static.\u201d<\/p>\n
The status of Israel bonds in New York City offers another glimpse at the complicated politics of the contested holdings. This year, Comptroller Brad Lander, a progressive, declined to reinvest Israel bonds that matured, giving anti-Israel activists a sense of the victory. But the city remains invested in Israeli assets, and activists there are continuing to push for divestment \u2014 which the mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, favors and the comptroller-elect, Mark Levine, says he does not plan to do.<\/p>\n
In a press release Tuesday, JVP said that the sale in North Carolina came shortly after \u201cMinnesota and Michigan announced their decisions not to re-invest.<\/p>\n
Reached for comment by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ari Rosenberg, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace Triangle and the Break the Bonds NC Coalition, said the state\u2019s decision \u201crepresents the power of people\u2019s voices from across the state \u2014 including public sector workers \u2014 who had been calling attention to these problematic investments for nearly a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor months, we met with the Treasurer\u2019s office, gathered 5,000 signatures from concerned citizens, and rallied with state pension fund recipients and community members to deliver our petition and our message,\u201d Rosenberg said in an emailed statement. \u201cThe Treasurer\u2019s decision makes it clear that our voices were heard.\u201d<\/p>\n