The giant Dutch pension fund ABP, one of the largest pension funds in the world, announced Wednesday that after looking into the matter it saw no reason to stop its relationship with three Israeli banks.
The bank's announcement runs firmly against the grain of the increasing public perception that Israel was on the verge of wholesale boycotts by European financial institutions. In January another Dutch pension firm, PGGM, announced it was divesting from five Israeli banks because " their involvement in financing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
ABP posted on its website on Wednesday an announcement saying that publicity about boycotts of Israeli banks has led the fund to explain why it does not exclude Israeli banks from its investments.
The fund said that its environmental, social and corporate governance policy (ESG) - a catchall phrase for what is known as socially responsible investing -- is based on two objective criteria: international law and the principles laid down in the UN Global Compact, a policy initiative for businesses who want to align their operations with 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.
The fund said that these matters are discussed each year by its directorate, and that it has concluded that the Israeli banks – Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, and Mizrahi-Tefahot -- "do not act contrary to international law and regulations," and that there were no court rulings indicating the need to end investments in those banks.
Danske Bank, the largest in Denmark, recently said on its website that it was boycotting Bank Hapoalim for “legal and ethical” reasons. And Nordea Bank, the largest in Scandinavia, has asked for clarifications from Bank Leumi and Mizrahi-Tefahot regarding their activities beyond the Green Line.
It was later reported that Danske Bank featured unflatteringly in a State Department cable from May 12, 2009 – released by Wikileaks -- , which said that the bank had a "correspondent account" with Tanchon, a North Korean trading company which has been involved in financing ballistic missile sale to an Iranian group.
ABP is a pension fund for some 2.8 million government, public and education workers with invested capital last year of some 292 billion euro.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday again slammed the world for double standards, saying that Israel was "a light unto the nations, but only for those in the international community who want to see the light, because there is a lot of hypocrisy."
Netanyahu, speaking at a ceremony recognizing those fighting human trafficking, said that Israel fights for human rights and does everything to preserve human dignity in a "struggle against us with endless cruelty."
He said that Israel is characterized as a war criminal and serial violator of human rights, while "around us the most horrible things are taking place."
"This hypocrisy," he said. "harms efforts to eradicate the evil and promote the good. But we will not be deterred, we will continue our efforts to be a light among the nations, if only they will want to see the light."