{"id":273682,"date":"2026-09-01T22:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/273682\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T22:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T22:11:09","slug":"miami-dade-county-votes-to-allow-more-investment-in-israel-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/273682\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami-Dade County votes to allow more investment in Israel bonds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Real journalists wrote and edited this (not AI)\u2014independent, community-driven journalism survives because you back it.\u00a0Donate<\/a>\u00a0to sustain Prism\u2019s mission and the humans behind it.<\/p>\n

Activists across the country have pushed local leaders to divest from Israeli government bonds<\/a> as the genocide in Gaza continues. But in Miami-Dade County, commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to increase the amount of the county\u2019s investment portfolio that can be allocated for Israeli government debt from 3% to 5%. The county is not required to reach that higher ceiling but has the option to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlorida statutes and the Miami-Dade County investment policy itself specifically state that their top priority is the safety of public funds and liquidity of public funds above all else,\u201d said Mina Trachtenberg, a Miami resident who spoke against the move during the commissioners\u2019 meeting. \u201cAnd yet the resolution passed today achieves the opposite, opening the door to the purchase of high-risk, even junk-quality bonds of a foreign entity. Please divest from apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the county\u2019s third-quarter investment report<\/a>, as of June, Miami-Dade had about 1.5% of its portfolio invested in Israel bonds, totaling $130 million. According to emails Prism reviewed between Jewish Voice for Peace<\/a> and the county\u2019s director of cash management, Miami-Dade went on to make at least one more purchase of Israel bonds, of $11 million, after the report\u2019s cutoff period.<\/p>\n

But for the residents who came to Tuesday\u2019s meeting hoping to challenge the policy, the decision was already made before they reached the microphone. Item 11A2, sponsored by Commissioner Ren\u00e9 Garcia, was approved as part of the commission\u2019s initial agenda vote. Because no commissioner pulled the item for individual discussion, it passed without a separate debate on the dais.<\/p>\n

By the time of the meeting\u2019s public hearing portion, county officials repeatedly told residents who showed up to speak that 11A2 had already passed and that they could not use their allotted time to address it. The county said the public already had its required opportunity to speak on the measure during the July 15 Intergovernmental and Economic Impact Committee meeting, where it was presented and forwarded to the full commission with little notice.<\/p>\n

Instead residents signed up to speak on a different bond item and used the time to criticize the Israel bonds measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at a point when [Miami-Dade] Commissioners will not allow people to speak about a $141 million foreign investment policy using public funds,\u201d said Miami artist and activist Eddie Arroyo, who was cut off when attempting to speak during the hearing, in a text message. \u201cEspecially for a genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commissioners defended the measure and pushed back on descriptions of the vote as the county giving hundreds of millions of dollars directly to Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur board today didn\u2019t vote to give any money to anyone,\u201d Commissioner Oliver Gilbert said. \u201cWe set investment criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia likewise characterized the measure as an investment-management policy. Miami-Dade manages roughly $9 billion in investments, Garcia said, which is used to generate returns that help fund county government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are already making these investments,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cIt gives the clerk and our investment personnel the flexibility to get the best return on yields for this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents argue that the issue is not simply about investment mechanics. Several residents said Tuesday that Miami-Dade should prioritize local investments and questioned whether county funds should go toward Israeli government debt amid the war on Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are sleepless to know that the investments that are being made by this commission \u2026 are going to Israeli bonds, which are funding a genocide in Gaza,\u201d said local community activist Mishka Ahmad, before her mic was cut off.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, speakers repeatedly referenced the human toll of the genocide and accused the commission of prioritizing Israel over Miami-Dade residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur county finds itself in the middle of another budget crisis,\u201d said Marcelo Balladares, who works with the Sierra Club\u2019s Florida chapter. \u201cAnd instead of figuring out how we can best continue to support the services and programs that are essential to the residents of Miami-Dade County, the commission has just passed an item that would allow for further investment in a foreign country. This decision puts another country first over the many residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tension in the chamber escalated as Chair Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez warned that people who continued speaking about the already-passed item would be removed from the chamber.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m already worried that I\u2019m going to be escorted out just for being Palestinian,\u201d said resident Mohannud Mohammad during the hearing. \u201cOur tax dollars paid for this building; it pays for all of your salaries, and in that case, I will say that 11A2 is an absolute disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The confrontation intensified following the surprise appearance of James Fishback, the controversial far-right candidate who recently lost the Republican primary for Florida governor and has sharply criticized Israel. Fishback took the microphone to slam the county\u2019s investment in Israel bonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you serve the people of Aventura or of Tel Aviv? Do you serve the people of South Miami or of Jerusalem?\u201d Fishback asked. \u201cThis money should be invested here in this community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Fishback spoke, an audience member shouted, \u201cAmerica first.\u201d<\/p>\n

The episode drew criticism from another speaker, Catalyst Miami\u2019s<\/a> Rachel Prestipino, who said Fishback had not registered to speak and was not associated with their group of organizers opposing the measure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would just like to point out that that heinous display was from someone who was not called and was not registered to speak,\u201d Prestapino said.<\/p>\n

Prestipino then returned to the larger question of how Miami-Dade should invest its money.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou all are taxpayers; we are taxpayers investing in hospitals,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the kinds of things bonds can fund. They can fund affordable housing. Municipal bonds can fund roads.\u201d<\/p>\n

She urged commissioners to consider what their constituents were asking them to fund at a time when many residents are struggling<\/a> to afford to live<\/a> in Miami-Dade.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is calling your offices? What are they asking for?\u201d Prestipino said. \u201cI know it\u2019s not foreign governments.\u201d<\/p>\n

On earning returns on county investments, Prestipino added, \u201cWe can do that ethically, financially, responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editorial Team:
Sahar Fatima, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Real journalists wrote and edited this (not AI)\u2014independent, community-driven journalism survives because you back it.\u00a0Donate\u00a0to sustain Prism\u2019s mission…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[1414,74627,74628,44969,1278,496,9285,37,29011,6539,22925,42,498],"class_list":["post-273682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-activism","tag-community-activism","tag-divest","tag-divestment","tag-florida","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-genocide","tag-israel","tag-israel-bonds","tag-miami","tag-miami-dade-county","tag-news","tag-palestine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117198080284795476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}