AIPAC: States should disinvest from Iran

AIPAC is launching a 10-state effort to get public employee pension funds to divest from companies that deal with Iran. “If the largest state pension funds in the country were to divest from companies with ties to Iran, it would have a devastating effect on Iran’s economy,” Howard Kohr, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee executive director, said Monday at the group’s annual policy forum. “In this next year, AIPAC will be working with our partners in Jewish and other organizations to support divestment efforts in 10 states around the country,” Kohr said. He asked the 6,000 delegates “to work with your state’s decision-makers to educate them and ask them to ensure that their state’s pension funds divest from a regime that threatens the safety of our world.” Lawmakers in several states, including Ohio and California, already have launched disinvestment drives. A central plank of this year’s policy forum is the isolation of Iran as long as it resists nuclear transparency.