The Townships of Peoria, Capital (City of Springfield Township), and Cunningham (City of Urbana Township) are scheduled to possibly approve a ballot resolution encouraging the federal government to divest funding to apartheid Israel.
As Tim Shelley of WCBU describes it:
The annual town meeting is a rare and obscure example of direct democracy enshrined into Illinois law in the mid-1800s. Any 15 registered voters in the township can propose an advisory ballot question at this meeting. Everyone in the room who was registered to cast a ballot in the township at least 28 days before the meeting gets a vote. A simple majority has the power to add an “advisory question of public policy” to the ballot.
If approved at the township meeting, the question will appear on the November ballot. The ballot question is non-binding and purely symbolic, but it sends a message nevertheless.
The ballot question is the same in all three townships:
“Shall the United States Federal Government & subordinate divisions stop giving military funding to Israel which currently costs taxpayers 3.8 billion dollars a year, given Israel’s global recognition as an apartheid regime with a track record of human rights violations.”
This comes as the U.S.-backed Israeli War on Gaza against Hamas enters its six month since the deadly terrorist attacks on October 7th, 2023.
Almost all international human rights organizations view Israel as an apartheid state against non-Jews.
CORRECTION: This article originally listed Urbana Township, instead of Cunningham Township.
