"Illinois Bill Would Ban State Pension Funds from Divesting from Israel"

...[Illinois state] legislators have devised a way to further politicize the pension debate—this time, by using it to shield Israel from the grassroots momentum of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian human rights.  With the unanimous passage of Illinois House Bill 4011 and Senate Bill 1761, Illinois’s five state pension funds would be forced to divest from any company that publicly supports or engages in a boycott against the state of Israel... Last month, Indiana and Tennessee state legislators passed legislation formally opposing BDS... At the federal level, U.S. Senators...slipp[ed] an anti-BDS amendment into the controversial “Fast-Track” Trade Promotion Authority... This amendment...would allow the U.S. to use international trade negotiations to pressure foreign companies not to engage in “politically motivated actions to boycott, divest from or sanction Israel”...[including] companies based “in territories controlled by the State of Israel”...