ISRAEL IS A CRIMINAL NATION... TO BACK OR INVEST IN ISRAEL IS BEING OR BECOMING AN ACCESSORY TO CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
BY KEN FOX
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 17, b
The vice chairman of the county's investment policy committee is vowing to resign his post if county officials decide to invest in Israel.
Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock recommended last month the county invest as much as $15 million of its $2.3 billion investment portfolio in Israeli bonds after Commissioner Burt Aaronson, the panel's chairman, asked her office to explore the purchase.
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The committee is expected to discuss the bonds at a special meeting Wednesday. Purchasing them would help sustain Israel's growth and development, according an analysis by Bock's office.
"This is purely a social issue," Bock said this month. "I chalk this up to the same way that we as an individual will buy a company because of their environmental standing."
With more than 262,000 Jewish residents, Palm Beach County has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, according to a survey by the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach.
But Vice Chairman James Derba, who has served on the committee for the past decade, said Monday the "investment defies common sense" because the area is "the most strife torn" and "tumultuous" in the world.
"Investments are not made based on emotion, social mores, form of government or political consideration," he wrote in a letter sent to the county. "The suggestion to purchase the bonds in question is not in the best interest of the county. If a decision is made to purchase them I resign."
During the legislative session, state lawmakers approved a bill that allows local governments to invest in Israeli bonds, regardless of their rating.
In order to purchase the A-rated bonds, the county commission would have to adopt a similar policy because the rating is below county requirements, officials said. Current rules allow the county to purchase bonds that are AA-rated or higher.
Aaronson did not return a call for comment Monday but has said that he personally invests in Israeli bonds and that the investment would be a "good thing" for the county.
"The state seems to have great faith in the State of Israel," Aaronson said. "I'm not saying we should put all of our money in it."
If approved by the commission, the one-year bond is expected to generate $768,000.
Reached at his summer home in Cape Cod, Mass., Derba said Israeli bonds are not the best investment for the county. They do not meet the county's strict requirements on safety, liquidity and return, he said.
Derba will not attend Wednesday's meeting because he is out of the state.
"If we had 300,000 Chinese living in Palm Beach County, are we going to go and buy Chinese bonds?" Derba said. "I think there are enough reasons to look closely at this and not to purchase them."
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