Why we must divest from the siege on Gaza

Consider employing my remarks at the Naperville City Council meeting as a template for your city council meeting as well

This week I spoke at the Naperville City Council meeting on the critical need to divest from the siege on Gaza. Far from unprecedented, I argue—and bring the receipts—that this is a noble act cities have historically taken to disavow war, oppression, and the killing of innocent people. I hope you take a few minutes to watch my remarks below, and take action in your respective city councils as well. I share the text below as a template to adjust to your own personal needs, if you so cohose. It is critical we maintain justice and humanity in all we do, and divesting from a siege that is indiscriminately killing civilians is a critical step forward to ensure that happens.

Let’s Address This.

Watch my three minute long remarks here, or if you prefer on Instagram, and read my full comments with references below:

Good evening, Mayor, and Naperville City Council.

My name is Qasim Rashid. I’m a human rights lawyer residing here in Naperville with my wife Ayesha and our three children in Naperville public schools. 

And I’m here today to ask the Naperville City Council to uphold justice and divest from the horrific siege on Gaza.

First I want to discuss historical precedent. Historically, American cities have led the way to divest from injustice and prevent our dollars from harming innocent civilians.  When President Reagan and Congress’s efforts to fight Apartheid South Africa were grossly insufficient, more than 90 U.S. cities courageously acted to divest billions from South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu applauded these efforts, and a freed Nelson Mandela joined U.S. mayors to continue the fight. That local activity helped generate the thrust for a victory in 1986 with the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, a bill so popular by then that it won over the veto of President Reagan. City leaders overpowered even the President of the United States.

That is the wisdom and energy we must take into today, and thus my second point, current reality.

On 24 February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. By December, just 10 months later, Governor Pritzker signed HB1293 into law, effective immediately, divesting Illinois state pension funds from Russian banks and companies. HB1293 was signed specifically in response to the mass civilian casualties in the Ukraine, as a result of Russian bombing.

According to official counts, Russian bombing has killed about 10,500 Ukrainian civilians. A horrific number that almost makes one lose hope in humanity. How horrifying then, that official counts place the number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli bombing at more than 35,000 -- more than triple Ukraine -- with 70% of them being women and children? 

It is no wonder that the ICJ has described this as the verge of genocide. The ICC has now officially filed for arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister. And even the US State Department in their report just last week admitted that Israel is violating international human rights law by killing civilians. Why help fund a government engaging in such atrocity?

And thus, third and finally, I want to discuss what the future will remember about what we do here today. (Note, Naperville has financial ties with Boeing, who is building arms dropped on Gazan civilians). It is worth noting that the Illinois bill passed to divest from Russia represented less than .005% of Illinois’ economy. Any divestment from Naperville will undoubtedly be small compared to the grand scheme. But indeed that is the message—every small act towards justice is critical and that is the message Holocaust scholars give us. 

So I close with an excerpt from a letter written by 55 scholars of the Holocaust and Genocide studies, many of whom are themselves Jewish. They wrote on December 9 of last year making 7 demands, of which I only have time to read the first and the last for the purposes of our discussion today. They write, first:

The time for concerted action to prevent genocide is now. We call on governments to uphold their legal obligations under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide by implementing an arms embargo on Israel. 

And they write, finally:

We also call on businesses and labor unions to ensure that they do not aid and abet Israeli mass violence.

They write that such acts will ensure safety and security for Jews and Palestinians alike, will guarantee the equality, freedom, dignity, and security of all the people “who live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

May the future attest that we here in Naperville, under righteous leadership, heeded this call for justice, and stood on the right side of history. Thank you.