By Dr. HIND AKAR & LAWRENCE MAUSHARD
of Peoria For Palestine
In Illinois, we have a law that makes it illegal for our state funds to be invested in companies that divest from or boycott Israel, thereby requiring the Illinois pension board to make investment decisions that protect Israeli national interests over those of our public sector retirees.
First, the current law is an unconstitutional restriction of freedom of speech. In fact, anti-BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions) legislation failed in the United States Congress in 2014, a year before it was adopted in Illinois due to the efforts of one person who put the welfare of Israel over that of Illinois. In fact, the Illinois Senate president in 2015 said that it was a “terrible law.”
For those reasons and more, we are asking you all to vote YES on the important advisory referendum on the November ballot in Peoria and elsewhere.
This is an important Illinois human-rights issue, a constitutional freedom of speech issue, and a critical financial issue for our state.
This is not a partisan issue.
The November 2026 referendum reads:
Shall the Illinois Congressional members who represent [Peoria, Kickapoo, Medina] Township vote to support the Illinois Human Rights Advocacy Protection Act (HB 2723/SB 2462), which would repeal amendments to the Illinois Pension Code that penalize American businesses that choose to boycott Israel?
The Illinois Pension Board (ILPB), which determines the companies to restrict funding in, advises the pension fund managers of no less than seven Illinois retirement funds. The ILPB is made up of unelected members who are dictating financial policies for the state. ILPB has no fiduciary responsibility, no oversight and no fiscal analysis. The Illinois pension fund has a high potential for abuse by members who have the benefit of one country in mind: the state of Israel. It is in clear violation of Illinois state ethics laws.
The Illinois Pension Board has forced Illinois pension funds to be sold at a loss with no financial analysis of the long-term impacts of this policy on these funds.
At this time, 31 companies, including globally known companies such as Adidas and Air Canada, appear on the prohibited investment list. The five affected Illinois retirement systems — TRS, SURS, SERS, GARS, and JRS — collectively manage approximately $120-130 billion in assets. The potential for losses is devastating and can total hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
The equal-weighted basket of restricted companies returned approximately 15.7% annually over a representative five-year period, compared to approximately 8.6% for the benchmark — a spread of approximately 7.1 percentage points per year. Illinois retirement systems are losing all this money.
The Illinois Coalition of Human Rights, Peoria For Palestine, and allies throughout the state have been successful the vast majority of times at using local township annual meeting votes this year to place the advisory referendum concerning HB 2723 on the November ballots.
Township results to date to place the referendum on the fall ballots are:
Peoria — W 69-28
Medina — W 28-17
Kickapoo — W 11-9
Urbana — W 62-11
Normal — W
DuPage — W
Springfield — L
Savoy — vote postponed.
Champaign — sued for refusing to put it on the agenda.
Our efforts to bring this referendum for a vote at township meetings are in support of the Illinois Human Rights Advocacy Protection Act, HB 2723, referred to in the referendum, which aims to restore constitutional protections for peaceful protest, support the financial health of the Illinois retiree pension fund, and separate Illinois law from a misguided foreign policy agenda.
We now have the opportunity to let our representatives know our stance on this issue.
Voters throughout the City of Peoria will be heard in November 2026 regarding this important taxpayer financial, free speech, and human rights issue.
Please vote YES on this advisory referendum in November.
EDITORS NOTE: An unintentional mistake placed the term “Congressional members” in the referendum language instead of the word “representatives.” This technical error will not affect the legality or spirit of the advisory referendum.
Dr. Hind Akar is a Lebanese American and a retired scientist who has resided in Peoria for more than 30 years. She continues to work with scientific and civic organizations on local and international issues.
Lawrence Maushard is a journalist, human rights activist, and co-founder of Peoria For Palestine who was born and raised
in Peoria. He currently resides on the city’s East Bluff.