EU nations, firms warn against West Bank investments

...Eleven more EU nations (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia) issued warnings on Thursday against investing in the West Bank. They join the ranks of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Portugal, who had announced similar measures earlier in the week.

A total of 17 countries out of the 28-member European Union have now lent their indirect support to the boycott and divestment movement (BDS) which, earlier in the month, had gained a complicated ally in Dutch pension fund ABP.

On June 1, ABP, the third-largest pension fund in the world – with holdings of more than $400 billion – announced that it would divest from two Israeli companies for their role in the manufacturing of cluster munitions.

Aryt Industries Ltd., an Or Yehuda-based company which produces detonators through a subsidiary, Reshef Technologies. According to documents leaked by Wikileaks, in 2009 senior officials admitted some 80 percent of Reshef’s business is with the IDF.

Ashot Ashkelon Industries Ltd., a small aerospace and defense sector manufacturer with less than $100 million in annual revenues, was targeted for divestment for its part in producing cluster munitions – Ashot is also a subsidiary of the government-owned Israel Military industries Ltd. more

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