Protests opposing Palm Beach County’s nearly $1 billion investment in Israeli bonds took place during the county’s budget hearing in Florida. Palestinian American human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat was among those detained during the meeting on September 15, 2026.
Police handcuffed Erakat and escorted her from the building. She was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and was later released on bail. More than 100 people attended the hearing, while law enforcement also removed several protesters from the room.
Erakat said she wanted to speak against Palm Beach County’s investment policy at the public meeting, that she was treated harshly during the intervention and that she was held in a police vehicle for approximately two hours.
The county’s bond portfolio reached nearly $1 billion
Palm Beach County began investing in Israeli bonds in 2008. The county’s portfolio of these bonds reached approximately $1 billion after an additional purchase worth $350.5 million in January 2026.
Protesters argue that holding public funds in Israeli bonds indirectly supports the Israeli government’s war and state policies. However, no legally established finding shows that the investment directly finances the Israeli military or specific military operations. The county administration says investment decisions should be assessed within the framework of its financial and fiduciary responsibilities.
The size of the investment has also broadened the debate over how public funds held in a foreign government’s debt instruments should be addressed in terms of financial responsibility, political choice and ethical obligations.
Speaking time and the meeting agenda came under debate
Palm Beach County Mayor Sara Baxter reduced the time allowed for public comments from three minutes to one minute. Baxter also said that only county residents could speak and that Israeli bonds were not on the agenda of the budget hearing.
Protesters argued that the investments were connected to the public budget and therefore should be open to discussion at the hearing. The objections to the bond investments thus became intertwined with debates over public-comment rules and the removal of protesters from the room.
Legal proceedings concerning the investments in Israeli bonds also form part of the background to the developments. A lawsuit filed by county residents in 2024–2025 was dismissed in August 2026 on the grounds that the plaintiffs had failed to establish their standing to sue.
The decision was not regarded as a definitive ruling affirming the legality of the investment on its merits. The plaintiffs appealed the decision.
The events in Palm Beach County brought the question of which financial criteria local governments should use to evaluate public funds into the same debate as the limits of protest and freedom of expression at public meetings. Erakat’s detention connected the financial debate over Israeli bonds with questions about meeting order and dissenting views’ access to public institutions.
