The Palestine Solidarity Network says the New Zealand Superannuation Fund must exclude Israeli banks from its investment portfolio, instead of increasing the Fund’s links with them. The PSN has referred to the Fund a Human Rights Watch Report into the role of Israeli companies in the occupation of Palestinian territories.
‘Attention at the moment is justifiably on Kiwisaver companies which invest in anti-personnel weapons in other parts of the world. But we would like to remind the Superannuation Fund that it has unfinished work in cleaning up its Israeli investment portfolio,’ says Janfrie Wakim spokesperson for Palestine Solidarity Network.
‘In 2012 the Fund pulled its investments in companies which were building illegal settlement colonies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. At the time we pointed to three Israeli banks which were blatantly funding settlement construction. The Fund however claims that funding the construction of illegal settlement colonies is somehow different to actually building them. We can’t understand this. Neither can Human Rights Watch, which condemns the role of Israeli institutional and often subsidized investment in exploiting Palestinians and depriving them of their rights and land in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Wakim says the Super Fund has increased its holdings in the three banks since 2012 (see attached graph).
‘This is completely the wrong signal. We were shocked to discover recently that despite a clear message the Fund was giving itself in 2012, that the occupation activities of the Israeli government in the OPT were illegal, and condemned by the United Nations and New Zealand government alike, that the Fund has bought up even more shares in these banks.’
‘The Human Rights Watch Report makes is clear that the confiscation of Palestinian land by settlers and the exploitation of the Palestinian population is inextricably tied to both to the Jewish-only settler policies of the Israeli government and the ongoing role of Israeli business enterprises in the OPT making it all happen.’
‘ Occupation, Inc. How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel’s Violations of Palestinian Rights’,Human Rights Watch, 19 January 2016, available here;
Well yes, it’s just as bad as funding cluster bombs. Like them, shouldn’t it be illegal ?
WTF ! ?
And Israel deepens its investments in NZ / Aotearoa.
It certainly does invest in NZ and is probably of the top 6 foreign investers
We are all ‘investing’ in this fuckup system.
I’f you use the dollar to survive, ie food, power accomodation etc, then you support this system, it doesn’t matter if you directly donate to a cluster bomb factory, Israeli bank or buy the bloody news paper , or invest in a wind farm. By supporting the $, we are all locked into killing people and the environment for our short term survival.
Horrified, sickened angry as hell……
The Super Fund is on the wrong side of history on this matter.
Did they learn nothing from the apartheid era in South Africa?!
The same divers Frank. We desperately need to change the drivers.
Superfund should also divest from: Israel Chemicals, maker of white phosphorus a war crime weapon if used on civilian populations (like crowded Gaza);
G4S, provider of prisons for Palestinian political prisoners including women and children;
Caterpillar, maker of a special bulldozer/tank for the IDF to use in house demolitions and urban warfare.
These are NOT ethical investments.
Boycott Israel until its people over throw its criminal Govt.
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