JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network is asking the city\u2019s Police and Fire Pension Fund to stop investing in Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n
Shayne Tremblay, with the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network, joined Kristine Bellino on In Depth and talked about the group\u2019s campaign, its support for Palestinians and why members are focusing on an investment made here in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Group targets Teva investment<\/p>\n
According to information provided by the organization, the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund had nearly $2 million invested in Teva corporate bonds as of 2025.<\/p>\n
Tremblay said one of those bonds is coming up for renewal on October 1, which led the organization to bring attention to the investment now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to act now to bring it into the public sphere,\u201d Tremblay said.<\/p>\n
The organization is holding a press conference at 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 8, at Jacksonville City Hall, ahead of the City Council meeting. Tremblay said the group has not yet had direct conversations with the board that manages the pension fund.<\/p>\n
Why the group wants the investment dropped<\/p>\n
Tremblay gave several reasons for the campaign.<\/p>\n
He argued that the money could instead be invested in the U.S. and questioned whether the Teva bonds are a good financial investment for the pension fund.<\/p>\n
The group also points to Teva\u2019s history of legal cases involving opioids. Teva reached a nationwide settlement worth up to $4.25 billion to resolve thousands of opioid-related claims brought by states and local governments.<\/p>\n
For the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network, however, the campaign is also tied to the group\u2019s opposition to Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza and its support for Palestinians.<\/p>\n
Tremblay said the organization does not want local pension money invested in an Israeli company because of that position.<\/p>\n
Connecting Jacksonville to Palestine<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network has been around since 2017, according to Tremblay, but he said the organization saw a major increase in interest following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the war that followed.<\/p>\n
Tremblay described the organization\u2019s purpose as building solidarity between people in Jacksonville and Palestinians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe identify the ways in which Jacksonville can relate to Palestine,\u201d Tremblay said.<\/p>\n
He said money is one of the biggest connections the organization sees between issues overseas and people in the United States, which led members to look more closely at where Jacksonville-related funds are being invested.<\/p>\n
Tremblay acknowledged that international conflicts can feel far removed from the everyday concerns of Americans who are dealing with their own financial pressures.<\/p>\n
He argued, however, that learning more about the lives of Palestinians could change how some Americans view the conflict.<\/p>\n
Criticism of Israel and antisemitism<\/p>\n
The interview also touched on a broader debate surrounding criticism of Israel.<\/p>\n
Bellino asked Tremblay whether supporting Palestinians or criticizing the Israeli government should be considered antisemitic.<\/p>\n
Tremblay said he does not believe the two are the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can love the Jewish people and love Palestinians in the same breath,\u201d Tremblay said.<\/p>\n
He argued that criticism of Israel and Zionism can be separated from criticism of Jewish people and pointed to Jewish organizations and individuals that have also opposed actions taken by the Israeli government.<\/p>\n
How Tremblay became involved<\/p>\n
Tremblay said he was already involved in community activism before joining the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network.<\/p>\n
He became more involved with Palestinian issues following the events of October 7, 2023, saying the attack and the war that followed brought significantly more international attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.<\/p>\n
Tremblay said he began looking at how Americans and people in Jacksonville were connected to what was happening overseas and wanted to become more involved locally.<\/p>\n
The organization has continued to grow since then, he said.<\/p>\n
Tremblay did not provide an exact membership number but said the group now has enough participation to organize events nearly every week and has several campaigns underway.<\/p>\n
What happens next<\/p>\n
For now, the organization is trying to build public support around its Teva campaign.<\/p>\n
Along with the press conference at Jacksonville City Hall, the group has created an online petition asking the Police and Fire Pension Board not to renew its investment in Teva Pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n
Tremblay said the petition is meant to show the board and city leaders how many Jacksonville residents support the request.<\/p>\n
He also said the group had not seen organized opposition to the campaign as of the interview but expected that could change as more people learn about it.<\/p>\n
More information about the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network and its petition regarding Teva Pharmaceuticals can be found at Jaxpsn.org\/Teva<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u25b6 Listen to Jacksonville\u2019s Morning News Interviews<\/a><\/p>\n [\u00a0Read more local news from WOKV<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and traffic app. And click here<\/a> to subscribe to our daily 3 Big Things newsletter.<\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network is asking the city\u2019s Police and Fire Pension Fund to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[794,28,141673,116,118,117,157393,157387,157391,157388,148534,157390,157392,157389],"class_list":["post-394577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-duval","tag-florida","tag-in-depth","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-palestine","tag-jacksonville-palestine-solidarity-network","tag-jacksonville-pension-fund","tag-jacksonville-police-and-fire-pension-fund","tag-kristine-bellino","tag-shane-tremblay","tag-teva-investments","tag-teva-pharmaceuticals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}