Sunday 10 April 2011

Triodos Bank boycotts Dexia Bank for involvement in Israel

Triodos Bank is a European self-styled ethical bank .  It has decided to exclude Dexia Bank (read boycott) for involvement in Israel.  Search the Triodos site for boycotting for excluding Saudi Arabia for human rights violations and predicatably the return is nil ...  Triodos writes that Dexia is a Belgian bank.  In fact, and Triodos knows it full well, Dexia is a French-Belgian bank, but the extremely violent pro-boycott campaign comes from Belgium and is tainted with antisemitc tones, like the European multisecular blood libel accusations.  As revealed by this blog and NGO Monitor : Pro-divestment rally attended by NIF, EU grantees turns to antisemitism : "The event featured an antisemitic episode, when one rally leader drank fake blood out of a wine glass – an apparent reference to the libel of Jews drinking Christian blood as wine – to highlight Israel’s alleged brutality.  The target of the rally was Dexia, a bank with an Israeli subsidiary. The use of the ugly blood libel motif – codified as antisemitic by Europe’s rights monitoring agency – raises important questions about the relationship between the BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions) Movement and antisemitism."



Brussels: demonstration against Israeli blood drinkers - blood libel revisited

Triodos Bank announcement: Dexia excluded for involvement in Israel

Belgian bank Dexia has been excluded from the Triodos sustainable investment universe because of its ongoing financing of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Dexia in Israel
Dexia Israel Bank (DIB), a subsidiary of Dexia, has financed Israeli settlements in the past. In response to shareholder and stakeholder pressure, DIB stopped new loans to Israeli settlements in June 2008. There are also indications that current loans are being withdrawn, although the longest maturity loan in the portfolio will not end until 2017. DIB’s actions have caused uproar in Israel and a regional council major in southern Israel called for a DIB boycott.

Despite the freeze on new loans and withdrawal by DIB, the bank still has loans outstanding to the Municipality of Jerusalem. Jerusalem lies at the heart of the occupied territories and since 1967 East Jerusalem has been under Israeli government rule. Settlements have been established for Jewish Israeli occupants only and settlers receive substantial financial benefits, as well as access to land and natural resources in the disputed territory. By financing the municipality, DIB loans are potentially being used to finance human rights abuses against Palestinians in East Jerusalem.


Dialogue
Dexia is aware of its potential involvement in violating United Nations (UN) resolutions and Triodos has had extensive dialogue with the company on the issue, but to date it has not expressed its intention to withdraw or earmark its finance activities to the Municipality of Jerusalem. Nor has it indicated any intention to otherwise ensure that DIB financing does not contribute to violations of human rights in the disputed territories. For these reasons, Dexia has been excluded from the Triodos sustainable investment universe.

Belgian boycott Israel "success story"
Belgium - "Dexia Bank Get Out of Israel" campaign goes on

Anti-Israel and anti-US sentiment:
"The United States of America
In Dexia We Don't Trust
In You We Do
TEN DOLLARS"

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