Delshad To Introduce Iran Divestment Measure

(left to right, Israeli Consul General Ehud Danoch and Jimmy Delshad, Mayor of Beverly Hills)

By Karmel Melamed
07/20/07

On July 13th Iranian Jewish Mayor of Beverly Hills, Jimmy Delshad announced plans to introduce a city measure later this month that will require city employee pensions to divest several million of dollars in investments with companies doing business with Iran. “I have a fiduciary duty to our city employees to protect their pensions by not having investments in countries like Iran that could be attacked,” said Delshad. “I also wanted to send a message to the people of Iran that we support Democracy for them”. On July 12th the Beverly Hills City Council voted on a resolution to support California Assembly Bill 221. The State legislation which would require state pension funds to divest an estimated $24 billion in investments from more than 280 companies doing business with Iran. The bill has received wide support from local Iranians of various faiths and was unanimously approved by the California State Assembly in early June. State officials who introduced the bill said they expect it will be signed into law by September. Beverly Hills becomes only the second city in the U.S. to propose Iran Divestment legislation after the L.A. City Council approved a similar Iran Divestment measure late last month.

This article was originally published by the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=17940