Noura Erakat was charged with misdemeanor trespassing after officials restricted discussion of the county’s $1 billion Israel Bonds holdings.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL — Human rights attorney and Rutgers University professor Noura Erakat was arrested during a tense Palm Beach County budget hearing Sept. 15 after residents challenged the county’s $1 billion investment in Israel Bonds and officials ordered several people removed from the Governmental Center.
The confrontation unfolded during the county’s second public budget hearing for fiscal 2027. County officials said the Israel Bonds investment was not part of the budget matter before commissioners that evening and told speakers to limit their comments to the hearing’s agenda. Several residents nevertheless raised objections to the investment, prompting warnings and removals before commissioners recessed the meeting. Erakat was arrested during the recess and charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
According to a probable-cause affidavit described by CBS12 News, County Mayor Sara Baxter and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy told Erakat that she was no longer authorized to remain inside the Governmental Center. The deputy said Erakat asserted that she had a constitutional right to stay and refused repeated instructions to leave. The affidavit accused her of yelling toward the crowd as deputies attempted to clear the area. Despite language in the report alleging that she was trying to incite the crowd, Erakat was charged only with trespassing.
The dispute followed public comments from a man wearing an Air Force uniform who identified himself as a longtime county resident and veteran. He told commissioners that he opposed extending the county’s Israel Bonds investment. County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo responded that the bonds were not part of the budget discussion and that commissioners were not setting investment policy during the hearing. Baxter then ordered the speaker removed after further exchanges over when the issue could be addressed.
As deputies escorted the veteran from the chambers, Commissioner Joel Flores told him that he was “embarrassing that uniform, sir,” according to video and local reporting. The comment drew shouting from members of the audience and contributed to the decision to recess the meeting. Commissioner Maria Sachs later said veterans should be respected while also criticizing people who wear a U.S. military uniform but do not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Baxter had limited public speakers to one minute and restricted comments to county residents. She also warned that disruptions, including applause, could result in removal. Other attendees who continued discussing Israel Bonds were ordered from the room. A First Amendment specialist interviewed by CBS12 said government bodies generally may enforce subject-matter limits during public comment, while whether applause justifies removal can depend on the extent to which it disrupts a meeting. He did not offer an opinion on whether Erakat’s arrest was lawful.
The controversy centers on an investment that reached exactly $1 billion in January after then-Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Mike Caruso purchased another $350.5 million in Israel Bonds. The Clerk’s Office said the purchase made Palm Beach County the largest investor in Israel Bonds in the world. County officials said the bonds offered a higher return than other investments permitted under Florida law and projected that the January purchase would contribute to approximately $136 million in interest income over a three-year period.
Caruso said at the time that the investment decision was based on safety, liquidity and market returns rather than politics. The county’s Board of County Commissioners had voted unanimously in October 2025 to temporarily raise the allowable cap on Israel Bonds from 15% to 18% of the county investment portfolio. State law lists Israel Bonds among the investment options available to Florida local governments. Critics have challenged both the concentration of county funds in the securities and the broader implications of lending public money to the Israeli government during the war in Gaza.
The investment has also been challenged in court. Palm Beach County residents filed a lawsuit seeking to contest the county’s bond holdings, but a judge dismissed the case this summer for lack of standing without deciding the merits of the underlying claims. The plaintiffs have appealed. That dispute remains separate from the criminal trespassing charge filed against Erakat following the Sept. 15 hearing.
Advocacy organizations, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Florida chapter, condemned Erakat’s arrest and described it as an infringement on free-speech rights. Those statements represent the organizations’ position; no court had ruled on the legality of the arrest as of Sunday. County officials and deputies maintained during the meeting that people who had been directed to leave were required to comply with orders to exit the Governmental Center.
Erakat’s misdemeanor trespassing case adds another dispute to the continuing debate over Palm Beach County’s Israel Bonds holdings. The county’s investment policy, the pending appeal over the bonds and questions surrounding the removal and arrest of attendees remain separate matters proceeding through different legal and governmental channels.
Author note: Last updated September 20, 2026.