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Danish Pension Fund Blacklists Four ’Israeli’ Companies

Danish Pension Fund Blacklists Four ’Israeli’ Companies
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Following a report released by Danwatch in January, Denmark's third largest pension fund, Sampension, moved to exclude four publicly traded companies from their portfolio due to their investments in illegal "Israeli" settlement activities.

Danish Pension Fund Blacklists Four ’Israeli’ Companies

The move is a major win for the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] movement, which has increasingly come under fire in recent years as the "Israeli" entity and its allies had pushed to squash growing popularity with new legislation and political pressure on both public and private institutions.

Danwatch's report, Business on Occupied Territory, found that Sampension with $46.1 billion under its management, was the Danish pension fund that had been investing the largest sums of money in companies that do business in or around illegal "Israeli" settlements.

Ana Sanchez, speaking on behalf of the Palestinian BDS National Committee [BNC], the largest Palestinian coalition that leads the global BDS movement for Palestinian rights, welcomed the move, telling Mondoweiss it represents "the latest indicator of the mounting pressure on businesses that are deeply complicit in ‘Israel's' violations of Palestinian rights to stop profiting from ‘Israel's' military occupation and apartheid."

"All pension and investments funds must divest from ‘Israeli' and international companies that are involved in ‘Israel's' human rights violations not just in response to the BDS call issued by Palestinian civil society but also in compliance with UN principles and guidelines on business and human rights," Sanchez said.

According to Danwatch, Sampension chose to revise its investment guidelines following the report. In accordance to its new guidelines, Sampension excluded four "Israeli" companies from its portfolio.

The four companies excluded due to their involvement in settlement activity are all listed as companies targeted by the BDS movement. They were identified as two "Israeli" banks, Hapoalim and Leumi, the German construction company, HeidelbergCement and Bezeq, the entity's largest telecommunications company, which owns telecommunications equipment installed within settlements, providing the illegal communities with telephone and data signals.
Sampension shared a press release after the move, explaining the shift.

"During 2017, Sampension has expanded its policy and practice for responsible investments in several areas," the report read. "The focus areas are climate change, human rights and the pursuit of active ownership."

Director of Investments in Sampension, Henrik Olejasz Larsen, said the four companies were excluded from their investment portfolios due to "the financing of settlements and for the extraction of natural resources and the establishment of infrastructure for telecommunications in the occupied area."

In addition to the four "Israeli" companies already blacklisted on Sampension's portfolio, the company has stated it is now "initiating a dialogue" with another six companies about possible business activities in "Israel's" settlements, according to the most recent Danwatch report.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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