A Cuyahoga County Council resolution seeking to stop the county from investing in Israel bonds and all other foreign securities will be officially withdrawn by its co-sponsors, vice president Cheryl L. Stephens and councilman Patrick Kelly, at the June 18 council meeting, councilwoman Sunny Simon told the Cleveland Jewish News.
“I do not support the resolution,” said Simon, representative for District 11 which includes Beachwood, Lyndhurst and South Euclid. “I am pleased that my colleagues decided to withdraw the resolution, and I respect their position for wanting dialogue within the community.”
Resolution-2024-0208 was originally brought forth at the June 4 council meeting. The resolution reads, “A resolution urging the Cuyahoga County executive and the county treasurer to immediately cease any additional county investment in bonds and other sovereign debt issued by the Nation of Israel; and urging the Investment Advisory Committee to amend the county’s investment policy to prohibit future investments in any foreign securities; and declaring the necessity that this resolution become immediately effective.”
Stephens, representative for District 10 which includes Cleveland Heights and University Heights, and Kelly, representative for District 1 which includes Rocky River and Bay Village, could not be reached for comment.
Simon said she supports investing in Israel bonds to support Israel, but at the same time, the investment board “must make that decision upon the return to the county” with the consideration of the county’s finances and needs.
“It’s important to understand that the resolution they introduced did not ask for immediate divestment,” Simon said. “It would not have cost the county any money. There seems to be some misunderstanding about that. It was a resolution encouraging no future investment in foreign bonds.”
Jason Wuliger, chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s government relations committee, told the CJN it’s “good news” the resolution is off the table for now. He previously told the CJN he believed the resolution was anti-Israel and it would meet the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
If the resolution were to pass, Wuliger said, it would “not only be detrimental to Israel,” but would add to the environment that has led to an “astronomical uptick” in antisemitic incidents.
“Israel bonds have been a safe, reliable, high-income investment for the county,” Wuliger said. “People who attempt to remove this option from the county treasurer are doing so to the detriment of the people of Cuyahoga County.”
Wuliger also said there is talk of Stephens and Kelly pursuing other avenues to end such investments beyond the proposed resolution. There isn’t “any guarantee” the people of Cuyahoga County won’t see another version of it, he said.
“We’re not going to be fooled by that,” Wuliger said. “We know what they’re doing. We know what they’re attempting to do and any effort to subject Israel to new restrictions is something we’re going to object to strongly.”
The resolution being pulled, Wuliger said, is a product of the Jewish community standing “together very strongly” in opposition.
As a Jewish person, Simon said she doesn’t believe Stephens or Kelly are antisemitic.
“I feel both of them have been very supportive of the Jewish community, and I consider that a strong benefit to have a colleague like that,” Simon said. “… We’ve got to look at the record and not just one resolution.”
At the June 4 council meeting, Simon said, “I don’t think passing this resolution at this time, in this forum, is the answer and I apologize for my emotion.” She also told the CJN June 14 she does not think “there is a time to do that, that I can see, in the near future.”
“While the war is going on, any change of our policy would not be a wise decision because it will show, I believe, a lack of support of the Jewish community,” Simon said.
Rabbi Miriam Geronimus, founding rabbi of Cleveland Jewish Collective, spoke in support of the resolution at the June 4 meeting. She said in a June 14 email to the CJN she is “disappointed that councilmembers Stephens and Kelly pulled the resolution.”
“This is not about antisemitism,” Geronimus said at the meeting. “It is simply not appropriate for Cuyahoga County to give a blank check to any country, Jewish or not, during a time of war or not. … Cuyahoga County should be investing in the lives of families here at home, in Cuyahoga County. My tax dollars should be supporting the lives of myself and my neighbors.”
Rabbi Scott Roland of Congregation Shaarey Tikvah in Beachwood told the CJN the resolution was not a “real or meaningful solution” to the Israel-Hamas conflict, nor a “smart financial decision” for the county and the state.
“Investing in Israel bonds is beneficial in multiple ways,” Roland said. “Not just to the Jewish community, but to Cuyahoga County. At the outset, the bonds themselves are a very good investment and the returns are higher than many other investments.”
Roland and over 30 other rabbis signed a Northeast Ohio rabbinic statement opposing boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel as of June 11, in response to the proposed resolution, the CJN previously reported.
“My intention is for the Google Form and the statement to stay up,” Roland said from Israel June 14 of the rabbinic statement. “The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the community and from most members of council as well.”
And Roland said he has “no intention” of taking the form down now that the resolution will soon be off the table because there were “multiple reasons” for making the statement.
“The notion that a small group of anti-Zionist Jews speak for the majority of the Jewish community is still something I feel we’re pushing back on,” Roland said.
This is a developing story.
