B’nai B’rith applauds the Chicago City Council for unanimously passing a resolution for the Municipal Employees Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago to divest from companies involved in Iran’s energy sector. The resolution calls for this divestment to occur gradually over the next few years.

B’nai B’rith International, represented by Cary Wolovick, program coordinator for B’nai B’rith’s Midwest Region, joined other Jewish organizations in advocating for the resolution’s passage.

“Chicago’s city government has set an important example for other municipalities to get on board to isolate Tehran,” said B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs, who resides in Lake Forest, Ill. “Sanctions are working. Resolutions such as this are helping unite local governments as well as the global community in a cohesive effort to isolate Iran.”

Chicago is now the 13th municipality in the country, along with New York City and Washington, D.C., to take such a step. This mirrors a similar law that applies to the government of the State of Illinois, which has fully divested from Iran at a profit. The resolution was proposed by Alderman Michele Smith (43rd Ward) and Alderman Debra Silverstein (50th Ward), with 21 cosponsors and backed heavily by the Human Relations Committee Chairman Alderman Joseph A. Moore (49th Ward).

“This marks a crucial step forward for local governments to mirror international sanctions to help isolate Iran, the largest state-sponsor of global terrorism,” said B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin. “Tehran’s lucrative oil industry is being affected by sanctions, and measures such as these send a strong message to the Tehran regime that it must abandon its nuclear program.”