ISRAELI BANK BLACKLISTED IN GERMANY
Berlin, 18 Rabi’ul Akhir 1435/18 February 2014 (MINA) – Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank (DB), has included the Israeli Hapoalim bank in a blacklist of “unethical companies” reportedly because of its involvement in funding settlement activities in the West Bank.
Deutsche Bank said Hapoalim does not abide by ethical standards, and that the bank’s work in settlements is no different from selling explosives or other acts that violate human rights,Maariv newspaper reported as quoted by Middle East Monitor (MEMO) and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).
Based on the same classification, DB blacklisted 16 international companies which it pledged not to deal with or invest in. The list includes 13 companies involved in arms and explosives businesses. It also includes a mining company and the Japanese Nissan automobile company.
A growing number of governments and international businesses have said they will not trade with Israeli firms with ties to Jewish settlements, highlighting the creeping success of a Palestinian-led boycott campaign.
The so-called BDS movement — boycott, divestment and sanctions — works to convince governments, businesses and celebrities to cut ties with Israeli companies active in the occupied Palestinian territories, in a bid to repeat the success of the boycott which ended apartheid in South Africa.
The boycott has been given added impetus by a European Union decision to block grants and funding for any Israeli entity operating in the occupied territories.
A Foreign Ministry official told AFP on Monday there was a crucial difference between the BDS movement and “European states and institutions that have problems with Israel’s actions” in the occupied West Bank.
The BDS was a “fringe group” that effectively “seeks to bring an end to Israel” by calling for the right of return for all Palestinian refugees to Israel, the official said.
Moves by European firms to disengage from Israeli companies with West Bank activities “could not be considered a boycott of Israel” since they continue to invest in the Jewish state, “only choosing in which firms.”(T/P03/P04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
