The Labour Party is calling on the Government to tell the two major wealth funds, the NZ Super Fund and ACC, to withdraw investments from companies listed by the United Nations as complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The move follows Labour’s recent call for the Government to use procurement rules to ban any government agencies purchasing goods or services from the illegal settlements.
“I don’t think New Zealanders will feel good about their money being invested in companies that are complicit in the building and maintenance of Israel’s illegal settlements,” said Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker.
“The National Government is sitting on its hands and not taking action on Gaza despite the horrific violence against civilians and humanitarian crisis that is continuing there.
“We have called on the Government to take action in a number of ways; by recognising Palestine diplomatically, by creating a special visa for Palestinians with family in New Zealand, and by banning government procurement from the illegal settlements. Still, they’re doing nothing.”
The settlements in West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights have been condemned by the International Court of Justice as in breach of international law. The ruling means New Zealand should not “render aid or assistance” to the occupation.
“This is the least the Government can do to show its support for the ICJ and its opposition to what the ICJ has called ‘the sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power’,” David Parker said.
David Parker said he understood the Super Fund invests in five overseas companies on the UN list.
“This Government says it supports the International Rules Based Order. Decisions of the ICJ are an important part of that. The ICJ ruling is not a suggestion. It is the application of international law,” said David Parker.