Dutch pension giant boycotts Israeli banks, G4S faces OECD investigation

Dutch pension fund giant PGGM has withdrawn all its investments from Israel's five largest banks because of their complicity in West Bank settlements. The report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz was apparently confirmed by PGGM this morning.

The Israeli banks targeted are Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot, the First International Bank of Israel and Israel Discount Bank.

Citing a source, Haaretz said that PGGM - which has reported assets of €131 billion - spent months informing the Israeli banks that their ties with both settlements and other companies also involved in settlements, was problematic from the point of view of international law. The Israeli paper pointed out that PGGM's "decision is liable to damage the banks' image, and could lead other business concerns in Europe to follow suit".

There are two interesting points to note here. Firstly, PGGM's process has shown the limits of 'dialogue'. After engagement with the five banks, the Dutch company realised that simply expressing concern was insufficient. As the report put it, "since [PGGM] had not managed to alter [the banks'] conduct with regard to the settlements via dialogue, and since no change in the situation seemed likely in the foreseeable future", divestment followed.

Secondly, the rationale behind PGGM's decision highlights the weakness of those who push a 'settlement products only' boycott strategy. The Dutch realised that "it would be impossible to create a firewall between its investments in Israeli banks and the banks' activities in the territories", and thus opted for boycott even of banks that only had "indirect" ties to settlements. more

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