Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is set to quietly ban any financial-risk standards when local governments use public money to invest in bonds funding Israel’s government — just months after a major credit rating agency warned the bonds were at risk of default and a potential “junk” rating.
By creating the special carveout and allowing unrestricted investments into a foreign country on the brink of regional war, Florida politicians now threaten to funnel an even greater share of local governments’ savings to the Netanyahu regime’s war efforts.
The legislation also introduces a new financial model enabling local governments around the country to invest virtually limitless sums in the Israeli war effort, despite the mounting financial risk of doing so.
The Florida bill was brought to the legislature by one of the state’s wealthiest counties and home base of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort: Palm Beach, which is facing a lawsuit from its own residents for sinking 15 percent of its savings portfolio in debt-issued Israeli bonds, making the county the world’s largest investor in Israel bonds. The only foreign bonds that localities in Florida can invest in by law are from Israel.
Outside of direct military assistance to Israel from the federal government, bond purchases have become a key node for US states and localities to provide billions of taxpayer dollars to Israel, particularly during the Israel-Hamas war following the October 7 attacks.
The main broker for Israel bonds, which operates on behalf of the Israeli government, lobbied for the first-of-its-kind legislation, according to records reviewed by the Lever.
The introduction of the bill came just months after the preeminent Wall Street credit rating agency…
Auteur: Katya Schwenk
