Firefighters’ and Police Pension Fund Board Drawn Into Middle East War Divestment Controversy

The retirement fund for Pasadena’s firefighters and police officers is being drawn into the controversy over the war in Gaza, as divestment advocates press its board to pull money from companies they identify as complicit in human rights abuses — while two Jewish organizations warn that doing so would single out Israel and leave local Jewish residents feeling less safe.

The Pasadena Fire and Police Retirement System administers pensions for a closed group of public-safety retirees and their beneficiaries. Its board makes binding investment decisions that do not require City Council approval, so the choice — and the fiduciary duty that governs it — rests with the board alone.

The proposal would direct the fund to divest from companies tied to human rights violations, with advocates naming weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel companies and private prison operators, and pointing to a list maintained by the American Friends Service Committee.

The Pasadena 4 Palestine divestment coalition, which describes itself as a multifaith, multiracial group of community members, has made the central case. In a presentation to the board, it argued that divestment aligns with fiduciary duty rather than conflicts with it, citing what it described as research showing that portfolios screened for environmental, social, and governance factors perform as well as or better than traditional ones.

The coalition claimed that the fund earlier divested 23 percent of its holdings from companies tied to apartheid-era South Africa in 1988, and argued today’s targeted holdings are smaller.

It characterized the war in Gaza as a genocide, asserted that first responders there have been deliberately targeted — using the term “medicide” — and tied that to Pasadena’s own first responders. These are contested characterizations advanced by the coalition, not findings of the board or any neutral body in the packet.

Pushback against divestment came from two Jewish organizations. David Englin, senior regional director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Los Angeles office and a self-identified Pasadena resident, urged the board to reject the measure, calling a policy aimed at Israel alone a discriminatory double standard that would make Jewish and Israeli-American residents feel less safe. His letter cited ADL data reporting rising antisemitic incidents in California; those figures are the ADL’s own.

The Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, in letters from president Jeanine Borland Mann and executive director Jason Moss, argued a municipal body lacks the mandate to adjudicate a foreign war and that the proposal conflicts with California and federal anti-boycott policy. Whether it would violate applicable law is a question this article cannot resolve.

Supporters also submitted a Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor infographic citing Gaza casualty totals — figures originating with that group and Gaza’s Ministry of Health, unverified here — and petitions the campaign said carried roughly 320 in-person signatures. The packet’s sheets account for a smaller number, several dozen, with signers listing ties as residents, workers, students and congregation members.

Both sides claim the fiduciary high ground. The board will weigh the competing claims.