# October 2024 Treasurer's-Office Israel Prayer Ceremony The Walther-era Arkansas Treasurer's office held a Christian-Zionist Israel solidarity event in early October 2024, parallel to and concurrent with the Auditor's-office October 7 2024 Capitol Rotunda Israel Solidarity Operation. The Treasurer's event used speaking notes drafted by Heather McKim ("COMMENTS: Celebrating Arkansas' Support for Israel") and framed the Arkansas State Treasury Israel Bonds position as Arkansas's "unwavering support for Israel during challenging times." The event was a recurrence of a previously-established Treasurer's-office annual Israel solidarity event (Pulley's 10/7/2024 review note: "this is a press release from 10/27/23. I think you sent me last year's release"). ## Context and provenance The wiki had previously documented the Auditor's-office October 2024 Israel Solidarity Operation extensively (see [[october-2024-israel-solidarity-operation]]) but had not captured the parallel Treasurer's-office event. The Treasury R1 (7-7-25) production introduces three primary documents establishing the event: 1. Eric Munson's 10/4/2024 4:53 PM email to Pulley forwarding Heather McKim's drafted speaking notes ("Please read over and proof attached press release") 2. The drafted "COMMENTS: Celebrating Arkansas' Support for Israel" text (full text preserved on the [[treasury-foia-r1-7-7-25]] source page) 3. Pulley's 10/7/2024 7:53 AM review response identifying that McKim had drafted the comments using 2023's $52M total figure rather than the contemporaneous October 2024 figure The Treasurer at the time was Larry Walther. The "Prayer Ceremony" subject line ("RE: Speaking Notes for Isreal Prayer Ceremony" [sic]) names the event type; specific date, venue, and attendee list are not in this batch. ## Text of the speaking notes McKim's drafted comments in full: > COMMENTS: Celebrating Arkansas' Support for Israel > > Good Morning, > > Today, we gather to celebrate the strong and enduring relationship between the State of Arkansas and the Nation of Israel. Our commitment to supporting Israel is exemplified through our significant investments in Israel bonds. > > Investment in Israel Bonds > > The Arkansas State Treasury increased its investment in Israel bond holdings by $10 million, bringing the total to $52 million. This decision was influenced by the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, highlighting our unwavering support for Israel during challenging times. > > Details of the Investment > > The Israel bonds we hold have an average maturity of 2 years. This investment not only demonstrates our financial commitment but also reflects our confidence in Israel's economic resilience and future growth. > > Economic Impact > > Our investment in Israel bonds is a testament to the strong economic ties between Arkansas and Israel. It underscores our belief in the importance of supporting Israel's economy, which continues to thrive despite regional challenges. The funds raised through these bonds contribute to various development projects in Israel, fostering innovation and growth. > > Conclusion > > As we celebrate this partnership, let us reaffirm our commitment to strengthening the bonds between Arkansas and Israel. Together, we can continue to build a future of mutual prosperity and shared values. > > Thank you. The "$52 million" total figure McKim used represents the 2023 portfolio state: Milligan's $25M plus Walther's $10M (purchased 11/1/2023) plus prior Milligan purchases totaling $17M (since this batch documents only $25M of Milligan's holdings, the additional $17M likely reflects positions that matured between purchase and 2023, including the $5M position that matured 2/1/2024 per Lenow's Treasury FOIA follow-up question to Reeves). Pulley's date-confusion response indicates McKim drew the figure from 2023's template; the contemporaneous October 2024 portfolio total was a different value (the wiki's documented Milligan-era total of $25M plus Walther's $10M plus prior matured-out positions does not reconstruct precisely without the intermediate trading records). ## The "ongoing turmoil in the Middle East" framing The key rhetorical move is the explicit linkage of the Treasury Israel Bonds investment decision to political-solidarity-during-crisis rationale: "This decision was influenced by the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, highlighting our unwavering support for Israel during challenging times." This framing is structurally identical to the SFOF Pennsylvania case study Milligan received via the 11/4/2024 SFOF newsletter ("to show our support at a time when the people of Israel are facing horrific terrorism") and to Stacy Peterson's draft framing of Milligan's 10/7/2024 Capitol Rotunda Christian-Zionist speech ("As a Christian, I have supported Israel all my life. The Bible tells us that our Jewish friends are God's chosen people, and I believe that it's my Christian duty to support you all"). The wiki's documented framing pattern across three institutions in October 2024: - **Auditor's office (Milligan, Capitol Rotunda 10/7)**: Explicit Christian-Zionist faith framing as the rationale - **Treasurer's office (Walther, Israel Prayer Ceremony)**: "Ongoing turmoil in the Middle East" plus "unwavering support" framing - **SFOF (Pennsylvania Treasurer Garrity case study)**: "Horrific terrorism" plus "pay above-market returns and they've never defaulted" dual framing McKim's draft positions the political-solidarity rationale before the pecuniary rationale ("This investment not only demonstrates our financial commitment but also reflects our confidence in Israel's economic resilience and future growth"). The pecuniary framing is secondary, presented as a consequence of the political-solidarity decision rather than the primary basis. This inverts the formal "pecuniary standard" Arkansas Act 498 requires (see [[pecuniary-frame-act-498]]) for pension investment decisions: political-solidarity-as-primary-rationale, pecuniary-as-secondary-consequence. The Treasurer's office is not subject to Act 498 (Act 498 governs pension investment fiduciary duty; Treasury investments are governed by separate statutes including the State Board of Finance custodial framework). The McKim framing is therefore not legally non-compliant for Treasury purposes. The structural significance is the rhetorical template: political-solidarity-as-primary-rationale is documented as the Walther-era Treasurer's-office articulation, and the same framing then appears across the Auditor's office Christian-Zionist outreach and the SFOF network promotional materials. ## The recurrence pattern Pulley's 10/7/2024 7:53 AM review: "I'm confused this is a press release from 10/27/23. I think you sent me last year's release." Two structural conclusions follow. First, the October 2024 Israel Prayer Ceremony was a recurrence of an established annual Treasurer's-office Israel solidarity event. The "10/27/23" press release Pulley identified as the source template is a previously-undocumented 2023 Treasurer's-office Israel event. The wiki does not have the 2023 press release in any production. A 10/27/2023 date falls 20 days after the October 7 2023 Hamas attack on Israel; the 2023 event was therefore plausibly the Treasurer's-office immediate post-October-7 solidarity response. Second, the framing has carried forward across years. The pattern of "ongoing turmoil in the Middle East" as the rationale for additional Treasury Israel Bonds purchases is documented as the Walther-era articulation in October 2024 and is plausibly the same articulation that supported the Walther $10M November 2023 purchase (which immediately followed the documented 10/27/2023 press release date by approximately one week). ## The connection to the Walther $10M November 2023 purchase The Walther $10M Israel Bonds purchase settled on 11/1/2023 (cleared through the BofA wire hold at 3:04 AM 11/2/2023 per the wire-pending thread). If the 10/27/2023 Treasurer's-office press release Pulley identified was the public announcement of the Walther purchase or its preceding solidarity event, the documented Walther-era operational pattern is: - 10/27/2023: Treasurer's-office Israel solidarity event with $52M-figure press release (per Pulley's later identification) - 11/1/2023: $10M wire executed to Israel Bonds via Bank of America NY → Computershare - 11/2/2023 03:04 AM: wire clears through BofA fraud-prevention hold; Walther's $10M position settles The political-solidarity event then would have preceded the financial transaction by approximately 5 days, with the framing in the press release ("ongoing turmoil in the Middle East" or equivalent 2023 language) providing the public rationale for the imminent purchase. The wiki does not have the 2023 press release text to verify this reading, but the temporal proximity is suggestive. The October 2024 recurrence of the Israel Prayer Ceremony would by parallel pattern preceed an additional Walther-era $10M purchase. No such October-November 2024 Walther purchase appears in the wiki's documented Treasury Israel Bonds holdings — Walther's documented Treasurer-era position remains the single $10M from November 2023. Whether the McKim draft's reference to "increased its investment in Israel bond holdings by $10 million, bringing the total to $52 million" is forward-looking (anticipating a planned but ultimately-not-executed October-November 2024 $10M purchase) or backward-looking (carrying forward 2023's $10M-increase-to-$52M language without contemporaneous accuracy) is not documented in this batch. Pulley's date-confusion review response is consistent with the backward-looking interpretation. ## Cross-references [[treasury-foia-r1-7-7-25]] source page [[heather-mckim]] Treasury staff who drafted the speaking notes [[eric-munson]] Chief Deputy Treasurer who routed the draft to Pulley for review [[steve-pulley]] Senior Investment Officer who reviewed and identified the date confusion [[larry-walther]] Treasurer at the time; presumed deliverer of the event speech [[october-2024-israel-solidarity-operation]] parallel Auditor's-office October 7 2024 Christian-Zionist event [[sfof-state-financial-officer-network]] concept page on the SFOF network's parallel "show our support" framing [[pecuniary-frame-act-498]] concept page on the formal "pecuniary standard" that applies to pension investment decisions (the Treasurer's office is not subject to Act 498 but the rhetorical inversion is structurally relevant) [[state-treasurer-israel-bonds-holdings]] concept page on the Treasury Israel Bonds portfolio the speaking notes characterize ## Treasury R2 9-23-25 production: the speaking notes maintained as a 11/16/2024 template The Treasury R2 production produces two additional documents establishing the Israel solidarity speech as a maintained Treasury template: **"Israel comments 11-16-24.pdf" (3 pages).** Contains the verbatim Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 10/28/2023 article reporting Walther's $10M Israel Bonds purchase announcement, plus a "State of Arkansas current holding of Israel Bonds" data box ($52 million par amount, average coupon rate 2.85%, average maturity 10/13/2026, average yield 2.85%, current bond rating Baa1 by Moody's and A by Standard & Poors), plus the "COMMENTS: Celebrating Arkansas' Support for Israel" speech draft framed around the 10/28/2023 announcement context (referencing "$57 million" and "5.40% interest rate"). The Walther-era biblical Christian-Zionist framing within the Democrat-Gazette article: "Those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed." Sanders quote: "Arkansas stands with Israel." **"Israel update 11-16-24.pdf" (1 page).** A revised version of the "Celebrating Arkansas' Support for Israel" speech using the updated $52M total (post-2/1/2024 maturity figure) and "average maturity of 2 years." The page includes an Arkansas-Israel intersected-flag graphic. The 11/16/2024 filename date indicates Treasury maintained the speech as a living document and revised it on 11/16/2024 to reflect the post-Feb-2024 maturity portfolio figures. The two documents together establish: (1) **The Israel solidarity speech is a maintained Treasury template, not a one-off document.** Treasury maintains the speech as ready-to-deploy material with updatable financial figures. The recurrence pattern Pulley identified ("this is a press release from 10/27/23. I think you sent me last year's release") is now extended to a documented template-maintenance practice. (2) **The 11/16/2024 revision date establishes that Treasury was preparing the speech for deployment 16 months after the October 2023 originating event.** The deployment context for the 11/16/2024 revision is not in the wiki documentary record. Possible deployment contexts include: a planned but undocumented late-2024 Treasury Israel solidarity event (post-Walther, pre-Thurston transition); preparation for a 2025 Israel solidarity event; archive purposes after the October 7 2024 Israel Prayer Ceremony. (3) **The "$57M" figure in the 11/16/2024 Israel comments document is the 10/28/2023 post-Walther-purchase total documented in the Democrat-Gazette article.** This figure is structurally inconsistent with the 10/8/2024 Israel Internal Credit overview's $52M total (which reflects post-2/1/2024-maturity figures). The two 11/16/2024 documents capture both the pre-maturity ($57M) and post-maturity ($52M) speech versions, indicating Treasury maintained both contemporaneous variants. [[treasury-foia-r2-9-23-25]] source page [[treasury-internal-credit-analysis]] the 10/8/2024 internal credit overview producing the $52M figure used in the 11/16/2024 "Israel update" speech revision ## Tensions This concept page surfaces 1 first-class tension filed as a tension page per the Hegelion layer documented at [[methodology]] § II. - [[T011 - McKim Speaking-Notes Deployment Context]] — the contested mechanism is what the existence of the 11/16/2024 speech-template revisions establishes about deployment context. Statement A: the revision is forward-looking template prep for a planned-but-not-executed late-2024 Walther solidarity-and-purchase event interrupted by the Thurston transition. Statement B: the revision is backward-looking template archival maintenance, with the McKim "increased by $10 million" language merely carrying forward 2023's $57M-era press-release language. *Evidentiary tension. Status: open. Confidence: medium (both Statements rest on plausible inferences from the same documentary record with thin direct evidence either way).*