CT Investments in Apartheid
State of Connecticut Total Exposures to Israel $85 million in 2021
We sought an update on the amount of money Connecticut invests in Israel, Israel Bonds, bonds in Israeli companies, stocks of Israeli companies and Israeli currency. We wrote to the Connecticut Treasurer's office in late May. You can see by the emails below from Christine Shaw the Assistant Treasurer for Corporate Governance & Sustainable Investment on June 15 and June 25 that the total holdings by the CT Pension fund is a bit over $85 million.
Shaw, Christine To:
Stanley Heller
Cc:
Meier, Steven
Moody, Suzanne
Tue, Jun 15 at 12:19 PM
Good afternoon, Mr. Heller.
On behalf of State Treasurer Shawn Wooden and the Office of the Connecticut Treasurer, I am writing in response to your e-mail of May 24, 2021 concerning the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds’ (CRPTF) holdings of bonds issued by the State of Israel, as well as its investments in Israeli companies.
With respect to the CRPTF’s holdings of bonds issued by the State of Israel, as well as its investments in Israeli companies, as of May 27, 2021, the total exposure to Israel – which includes both stocks and bonds -- was approximately $47.3 million. This represents a de minimis exposure of roughly .11% of the State’s $43.3 billion pension funds. Of the $47.3 million, approximately $25.6 million was held in Israeli securities within our developed international stock fund. The remaining $21.7 million reflects the value of our holdings in diversified Israeli bonds -- and includes $1.7 million of Israel State Aid debentures which are backed by the U.S. Government. The bond maturity dates vary drastically with some maturing next year and others maturing into the next decade.
I hope that this is responsive to your request. Please advise if you have any further questions.
Sincerely,
Christine
Christine Shaw, JD, MBA
Assistant Treasurer for Corporate Governance & Sustainable Investment
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Fri, Jun 25 at 12:19 PM
Good afternoon, Mr. Heller. Please pardon the delayed response as we gathered the additional information you requested.
Attached you will find a spreadsheet which breaks out the Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds' total exposures to Israel under the categories of equities, fixed income and cash, with a total market value as of June 23, 2021 standing at $85.17 million. This figure is higher than what I shared with you last month, given that we've listed all holdings of companies that may be either headquartered or domiciled in Israel. We've also added information about our exposures to Israeli shekels.
I hope that this is responsive to your request. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Regards,
Christine
Christine Shaw, JD, MBA
Assistant Treasurer for Corporate Governance & Sustainable Investment
from Stanley Heller
Wondering about the amount of Israeli shekels held and the names of the companies Connecticut is investing in. Some companies are directly tied into some pretty bad human rights violations.
Am using this for an article, want to be accurate.
On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, 02:55:21 PM EDT, Stanley Heller wrote:
Thank you. In 2017 your office gave us a more detailed accounting. See attached. Could we get those details again? And do we still hold Israeli currency (shekels)? In 2017 your office reported it amounted to $36 million.
Sincerely,
Stanley
On These Dates in History
January
7 Palestinian Martyr's Day
8 Birth of radical pacifist A.J. Muste (1885)
9 Birth of Simone de Beauvoir, feminist, author of The Second Sex, (1908)
10 Peoples Peace Treaty between people of the US and Vietnam (1971)
11 Zionists of the Stern Gang offer Nazi German an alliance (1941)
15 Birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929)
16 The Palestinian girl Abir Aramin, 10, shot dead by an Israeli soldier while she was coming home from school. Anata, Jerusalem (2007)
16 A playground "Abir's Garden" dedicated in front of a school in Anata (2008)
20 Syria and Amal militia lifts siege of Palestinian camps in Lebanon (1988)
20 Yasser Arafat elected president of Palestinian Authority(1996)
22 US Supreme Court legaltizes abortion in Roe vs. Wade (1973)
25 United Mine Workers formed (1890)
27 Holocaust Rememberance Day - United Nations
27 Paris Peace Accords supposedly end Vietnam war. US promises payments (1973).
29 Tet Offensive (1968) show US is not winning the Vietnam War
February
1 Sit in movement begins in Greensboro, NC (1960)
2 Foreign slave trade outlawed (1807)
4 Birth of Rosa Parks (1913)
5 Birth of Hank Aaron, homerun champ (1934)
6 Uprising against Lebanese fascist government (1984)
13 al-Amariya bomb shelter blown up by US in Baghada. 400 incinerated. (1991)
15 Birth of Shaden Abu-Hijleh martryed Palestinian peace activist (1941)
15 Millions protest coming U.S. invasion of Iraq (2003)
16 Birth of Leonora O'Reilly, union leader, co-founder NAACP
18 Birth of Sholem Aleichem, Jewish writer (1859)
19 Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473)
20 Thousands of Jews attack Nazi Bund rally in New York City (1939)
21 Malcom X shot to death (1965)
21 First Indian language newspaper published (Cherokee) (1828)
21 Israeli Air Force shoots down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight #114 over occupied Egypt 98 deaths(1973)
23 Birth of African-American scholar and educator W.E.B. DuBois (1868)
25 Hebron Massacre by American born Israeli settler Dr. Baruch Goldstein (1994)
26 Birth of Victor Hugo, novelist, penned "Les Miserables" (1802)
26 Birth of Honore Daumier, sculptor, satarist (1808)
27 American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, SD (1973)
27 Birth of Ralph Nader (1934)
27 Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel meets with President Bush and urges "intervention" in Iraq as a "moral imperative" (2003)
27 Birth of Meena, martyred leader of RAWA, Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women (1957)
28 Israeli commandos kill 39 Egyptians in Gaza - Nasser turns to Soviets (1955)
28 Birth of Linus Pauling, won Nobel Prize for science and peace (1901)
March
1 Birth of Harry Belafonte, singer (1927)
2 Birth of Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss), children's book writer (1904)
2 Anne Sullivan began to teach Helen Keller (1887)
5 Birth of Rosa Luxemburg, revolutionary socialist leader (1871)
7 Singer Billie Holiday born (1915
8 International Women's Day
10 Plan Dalet adopted by Haganah - to conquer and expel in Arab Palestine (1948)
10 U.S. Bombers devastate Tokyo - 100,000 killed (1945)
11 Fukushima-Daiichi Japan nuclear power plant melt-downs (2011)
16 Rachel Corrie murdered by an Israeli using an American-made Caterpillar bulldozer(2003)
16 Over 500 murdered by US troops in the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam
19 Yusuf abu Akar Shawamreh killed after he went through apartheid fence as he tried to pick wild edible plants (2014)
22 the DC 9 ransack offices of Dow Chemical, makers of napalm (1969)
24 Archbishop Romero assassinated in El Savador by US supported rightists (1980)
25 Birth of Artouro Toscanini, brilliant conductor and anti-fascist (1867)
28 Three Mile Island nuclear accident
30 Land Day - Commemoration of the Ongoing Seizure of Palestinian Land
31 Birth of Cesar Chavez, farmworker organizer (1927)
April
3 Israeli attack on Jenin refugee camps. 70 killed. (2002)
4 Martin Luther King speaks out against the Vietnam War (1967)
4 Birthday of Thaddeus Stevens, Radical Republican congressman (1792) 5 Palestinian Child's Day
8 Al-Jazeera camerman Tarek Ayyoub assassinated by US military 2003
9 Deir Yassin Massacre 1948
9 Birth of Paul Robeson, actor, singer (1898)
10 Birth of Rachel Corrie (1979)
10 Fanatic Allan Goodman storms the Dome of the Rock firing randomly, killing one (1982)
11 Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan infamously calls Hitler a "very great man". On June 24 he calls Judaism a "gutter religion" (1984)
13 Liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp 1945
14 Vittorio Arrigoni killed in the Gaza Strip (2011) 16 Start of first Palestinian Intifada 1936
17 Prisoner's Day - Palestine
18 Qana Massacre in 1996 in Lebanon
19 Jews in Warsaw ghetto Poland begin revolt against Nazis
22 Earth Day
23 Vietnam veterans throw down their medals on the steps of Congress "Dewey Canyon III" (1971) 24 Over 1,000 killed in Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh (2013)
26 The Basque city of Guernica was leveled by the German Condor Legion allied with Franco (1937)
27 South Africa's first mult-race election puts Nelson Mandela in office (1994)
28 American soldiers kill 15 peaceful demonstrators in Falluja, Iraq. This formerly peaceful city became a hotbed of resistance. (2003),
28 Chernobyl disaster begins 1986
28 US Workers Memorial Day
28 Afghan Mujahadeen conquer Kabul and usher in a reign of terror, civil war and extreme attacks on women. (1992) Replaced by Taliban in '96. Restored to power by Bush in '01
30 Vietnam is reunited after 121 years of domination and colonial rule (1975)
May
1 International Worker's Day
4 Kent State Massacre 1970
5 Karl Marx born 1816
6 Anarchist leader Camillo Berneri murdered by Stalinists in Spain (1937)
8 Setif Masscre in Algeria, VE celebration turned into a protest march calling for independence, French soldiers kill between 15,000 and 45,000 people (1945)
12 US Ambassador to the UN, Madeleine Albright declares on "60 Minutes" that the killing of 500,000 Iraq children was "worth it" (1996)
13 firebombing of MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia 1985
14 British withdraw from Palestine - Israel declares independence
15 Al-Nakba (Catastrophe) Day
18 Entire Crimean Tatar population deporated by Stalin/Beria Communist Soviet Union 1944
19 Birth of Malcolm X (1925), and Ho Chi Minh (1890)
19 The Matewan Massacre, battle between coal miners and corporate thugs in WV (1920).
20 Rishon Le Zion massacre of Palestinian workers (1990)
21 birth of Johan Sabastian Bach
22 Birth of Harvey Milk martyred gay rights activist (1930)
30 Memorial Day Massacre - Cops kill 10 striking workers at Republic Steel in Chicago (1937)
31 Amal overruns Sabra camp in Lebanon - 700 Palestinans disappear (1985)
June
1 International Children's Day
2 Palestine Liberation Organization founded (1964)
3 Israeli planes bomb Lebanon killing 200 after attack on Israeli ambassador (1982)
5 Israeli-Arab War leads to Occupation of West Bank and Gaza (1967)
6 Begin and Sharon start the Israeli invasion of Lebanon (1982)
8 Israeli jets and torpedo boats attack the USS Liberty murdering 34 and injuring 172 (1967)
10 Geronimo Pratt released from prison after 27 years - judged innocent
12 Birth of Anne Frank, author of famous diary, murdered by Nazis
19 London Sunday Times issues first comprehensive report about "routine" torture in Israeli prisons (1977)
20 World Refugee Day
21 Three Civil Rights Workers Disappear in Mississippi - Schwerner, Goodman and Young Later Found Dead (1964)
22 Tal Az-Za`tar massacre in Lebanon (1976)
22 British Judge Lord Mansfield freed slave James Somersett. Mansfield recognized this slave had habeus corpus rights(1772)
25 Wobblies founded (1905)
27 Birth of Emma Goldman, anarchist, feminist, labor organizer
28 Israel's illegal annexation of Jerusalem (1967)
28 Gays fight back at Stonewall bar in Greenwich Village (1969)
30 Anti-Semite Henry Ford signs apology to Jews for publishing vile attacks on Jews in his paper the 'Dearborn Independent' (1927)
July
3 Children strike for an 11 hour day in Paterson, NJ (1835)
3 Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden tour Lebanon, supporting Israeli invasion (1982) Hayden apologized in 2006
3 The US cruiser Vincennes shot down Iran Airflight 655, a civilian plane, with the loss of 290 lives
4 Anti-Semites in Poland slaughter 42 Jews, 100,000 Jews flee country (1846)
8 Poet Ghassan Kanafani assassinated (1972)
14 Birth of singer Woody Guthrie (1912)
15 Israel declares "Law of Return" (1950)
17 Franco starts rebellion against Popular Front government of Spain
18 Birth of Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid fighter (1918)
19 London Sunday Times issues first major report on Israeli torture (1977)
19 Sandanistas overthrow US supported dictatorship in Nicaragua (1979)
22 Jewish terrorists blow up the King David Hotel (1946)
22 Israel assassinated Hamas military leader Salah Shehadeh by blowing up an apartment building - 15 dead including 9 children
26 Americans with Disabilities Act becomes law (1990)
28 FDR gets eyewitness evidence of effort to exterminate the Jews (1943)
30 Anti-Semite Henry Ford receives the Grand Cross of the German Eagle (1938)
August
1 Albert Einstein urges scientists to refuse all military work (1931)
6 Massacre of 22 Catholic immigrants in Louisville, KY. Bigots feared Pope would rule U.S. (1885)
8 Israeli soldiers kill 22 at Al-Aqsa mosque (1990)
8 MECC first publishes the print edition of "The Struggle" (1984)
9 Richard Nixon resigns
11 Reagan fires the PATCO strikers and labor does virtually nothing
12 First woman (Hattie Carraway) elected to the US Senate (1932)
12 Tel Al Za'tar massacre of Palestinians in Lebanon (1976)
13 Israeli Foreign Ministry brings chief minister of KwaZulu, the biggest puppet South African Bantustan to Jeruslam (1985)
14 Slaves brought to the future U.S. for the first time (1619) NYT collection of articles
14 Henry David Thoreau jailed for protesting US invasion of Mexico (1946)
15 Israel announces plans to put Stern Gang leader on stamp (1977) - Avraham Stern tried to interest Nazi Germany in an anti-British alliance in 1941
20 Bill Clinton uses cruise missile to destroy the El Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan eliminating an estimated 60% of the country's phamaceutical production. The charge that the plant was producing VX gas for Ossam Bin Laden was found to be totally unfounded. (1998)
. 21 Nat Turner leads bloody slave rebellion (1831)
21 George Jackson killed Soledad prison, CA (1971)
23 Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti executed, framed for two murders
28 250,000 people march in civil rights, "I Have a Dream" speech (1963)
29 Naji Al-Ali assassinated in London (1987)
31 Al-Bureij Refugee Camp massacre (1953)
31 Palestinian fighers leave Beirut and are betrayed by Reagan (1982)
September
1 Military Train drives over the legs of Brian Wilson during protest of arms deliveries to Central America (1987)
9 Over 1,000 inmates rebel at the Attica prison in New York. Governor Nelson Rockefeller puts it down brutally. 39 deaths including 10 guards killed by friendly fire. (1971)
11 Nearly 3,000 killed in 9/11 attack by al-Qaeda
11 Government of Chile overthrown, thousands murdered by fascist friends of Nixon/Kissinger (1973)
11 Mohandas Gandhi calls for a campaign of mass disobedience to South African pass laws (1906)
11 Appela Huebmeyer, Barbara Huebmeyer and Anna Schnelling burned as "witches" in Waldsee, Germany (1589)
11 Steve Biko, black South African activist, dies from multiple injuries caused by torture in prison (1977)
11 Norweigan trade union newspapers arrange the printing of thousands of letters rejecting Nazification (1941)
13 Oslo Accords signed between Arafat and Rabin (1993)
15 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon, 1300 murdered (1982)
17 1948 Count Folk Bernadotte assassinated by Stern Gang
28 Alaqsa Intifada (uprising) starts (2000)
October
2 Massacre at the Haram ash-Sharif in the old city of Jerusalem (1990)
7 Revolt at Auschwitz death camp led by Jews. Several SS killed. Crematorium burned. (1944)
7 Birth of Joe Hill, labor organizer and song writer (1879)
11 Shaden Abu Hijleh murdered by Israeli soldier in Nablus (2002) while sitting on her porch doing embroidery
14 Ariel Sharon's Unit 101 massacred 60 in the Jordanian village of Kibya (1953)
14 Revolt at Sobibor death camp (1943)
16 John Brown leads anti-slavery raid (1859)
17 French police massacre demonstrators supporting Algerian FLN in Paris (1961)
23 First national women's rights convention (1850)
28 Massacre of Palestians in the village of Dawaymeh (1948)
29 Kafr Qasem massacre (1956)
31 Balfour Declaration - British establish Jewish "homeland" (1917)
November
2 Balfour Declaration. British empire starts giveaway of Palestine to Zionists. (1917)
5 Birth of Eugene Victor Debs, labor leader, socialist, anti-war activist
5 Artouro Toscanini, brilliant conductor and anti-fascist premieres "Adagio for Strings"
8 Birth of Dorothy Day, radical, pacifist, Catholic Workers founder (1897)
9 Nazis smash 200 synagogues, kill 90Jews and send 25,000 to concentration camps in Germany (1938)
10 UN recognizes Zionism as racism (1975) [Eventually revoked]
11 Death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (probably murdered) (2004)
15 Palestinian declaration of independence (1988)
20 Native Americans and AIM occupy Alcatraz Island (1969)
22 President Kennedy announces blockade of Cuba - Demands Soviet nukes out (1962)
29 UN General Assembly votes Partition Plan for Palestine(1947)
29 International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
30 Birth of Mark Twain, writer, anti-imperialist (1835)
December
3 Union Carbide Bhopal disaster kills 2,000 in India 1984
3 Three Marynoll Nuns and a lay missionary murdered in El Savador (1980)
7 David Ben Gurion speech saying history of the People of Israel more important than saving all the lives of Europe's Jewish children (just after Kristallnacht 1938)
8 UNWRA established to help Palestinian refugees
9 First Intifada (uprising) erupts (1987)
10 International Human Rights Day
11 UN Resolution 194 passed (1948) recognizing Palestinian right to return
14 UN indentifies Puerto Rico as a colony (1973)
14 New York Times reveals Israeli Defense Minister Sharon had visited Apartheid South Africa for 10 days and reported that South Africa needed more weapons (1981)
16 President Clinton orders concentrated bombing campaign against Iraq "Desert Fox" (1998)
17 U.S. cruise missile strikes in al-Majala, Yemen kill 40, mixing the body parts with hundreds of sheep and goats (2009)
25 Birth of Isaac Newton, scientist
26 members VVAW (Vietnam war veterans) "capture" Statue of Liberty (1971)
26 Abraham Lincoln had 38 Dakota Indians hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, in the largest mass execution in US history (1862)
27 "Gaza Massacre" begins. Over 300 children and 1,000 other Palestinians killed (2008)
29 Massacre of 200 Sioux at Wounded Knee by US troops (1890)
The Fiction Front
Articles about novels, movies, songs, cartoons, etc.
New Review of 1973 film "Soylent Green". It Got a Lot Right
Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up Captures the Stupidity of Our Political Era - Branko Marcetic
Why Sneering Critics Dislike Netflix’s ‘Don’t Look Up,’ But Climate Scientists Love It - David Vetter - Forbes
Three Films Reviewed: “Being the Ricardos”, “Don’t Look Up” and “The Darkest Hour”
The ‘West Side Story’ Remake We Didn’t Need - Yarimar Bonilla
1957 Might Be Tonight - A. O. Scott
Why the Left Should Engage in Fiction - zoom panel, July 2021
Fiction Is a Beautiful Weapon in the Class War
How James Bond Becomes Edward Snowden in the Spy Series’ New Entry - Juan Cole
James Brown, the Hardest Working Asshole in Show Business - Glen Ford
"Get On Up" - Surprisingly Candid Biopic of James Brown - David Denby
A Criticism of the Palestinian Film "Omar" - Louay Oudeh
An Open Letter to the Makers of "The Wolf of Wall Street" - Christina McDowell
I Liked "White House Down" - Stan Heller
Breaking Bad: America Has Used Walter White Logic Since 9/11
An Ecosocialist Talks about "Under the Dome" - Louis Project
"The Attack" - a Sanitized Israeli Military Occupation
Sex Tapes and Butlers - Margaret Kimberly
"Elysium - A Future with a Few Rich and Lots and Lots of Poor" - Stanley Heller
Review of "Elysium" by Gavin Mueller "Just Flip the Switch" [CAUTION: LOTS OF PLOT SPOILERS]
Neo-Con Looks at World War Z - "Zombies in the Mineshaft"
A Turkish Movie about Past Attempts to Restrict Alcohol in Turkey
World War Z and (Z)ionist Propaganda Mohammed ...
Superman Fights "Krypto-Zionism" in "Man of Steel" - Connor Kilpatrick
Oscar Prints the Legend about Argo Nima Shirazi
"Argo" - Just Another Assault on Middle Eastern People - Stanley Heller
"Argo, F... Yourself" - Kim Nicolini
'Zero Dark Thirty' is the most vile and immoral war film I've seen in years - Noam Sheizaf
Furious with Michael Moore for His Support of "Zero Dark Thirty" - Mark Epstein
David Bromwich on the Torture in ZDT
Michael Moore Defends "Zero Dark Thirty"
I Won't Vote for Zero Dark Thirty in any Category
And the Winner is "Islamophobia" - Guardian (UK)
Zero Dark Thirty Portrays Torture as A Moral Necessity- Jackie Outka
Former CIA Analyst Takes on Rodriquez Defense of Torture in "Zero Dark Thirty"
Les Miz and Revolution - Stanley Heller
Joseph Massad talks about "Homeland"
Why This Black Man Loved DJango Unchained Dr. Boyce Watkins
D'jango is an "Abomination" - Ishmael Reed
Israeli Movie about Sabra and Shatila Massacre - "Waltz with Bashir"
Prometheus: The Tea-Party in Space - Jeff Sparrow
from 2005 a review of "The Kingdom of Heaven" - As'ad AbuKhalil
Is "The Dictator" Racist? - Stanley Heller
Spies - by Stanley Heller
How Hollywood Turned Forrest Gump Upside Down - by Stanley Heller
Movie "Avatar" Based on Bougainville War - Omar Hamed
We Need Movies About Heroes, not "Basterds" - Stanley Heller
Mornings in Jenin - review by Heba Awadallah
Adam Sandler's Shameful Film - Remi Kanazi
The Worst Movie of 2007 - Charlie Wilson's War - by Stanley Heller
Israeli Killers Humanized by Spielberg in "Munich" - As'ad AbuKhalil