OPT: Report exposes billions in EU financial support to companies in illegal Israeli settlements
"Exposing the financial flows into illegal Israeli settlements" 29 September 2021
... Israeli, European and international business enterprises operating with or providing services to Israeli settlements, play a critical role in facilitating the functioning and growth of settlements. Considering the illegality of settlements, the associated wide range of international humanitarian law violations, severe adverse human rights impacts on the Palestinian population and the obstruction of the development of the Palestinian economy...However, despite its illegal nature, European financial institutions continue to invest billions into the Israeli settlement enterprise.
Main findings
- New research by a cross-regional coalition of 25 Palestinian and European organisations shows that, between 2018 and May 2021, 672 European financial institutions, including banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension funds, had financial relationships with 50 businesses that are actively involved with Israeli settlements.
- During the analysed period, US$ 114 billion was provided in the form of loans and underwritings. As of May 2021, European investors also held US$ 141 billion in shares and bonds of these companies.
- The 50 companies for which this research found financial relationships with European financial institutions, are: ACS Group, Airbnb, Alstom, Altice Europe, Ashtrom Group, Atlas Copco, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Bezeq Group, Booking Holdings, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), Caterpillar, Cellcom Israel, Cemex, CETCO Mineral Technology Group, Cisco Systems, CNH Industrial, Delek Group, Delta Galil Industries, DXC Technology, eDreams ODIGEO, Elbit Systems, Electra Group, Energix Renewable Energies, Expedia Group, First International Bank of Israel (FIBI), General Mills, HeidelbergCement, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Israel Discount Bank, Magal Security Systems, MAN Group, Manitou Group, Matrix IT, Mivne Group, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, Motorola Solutions, Partner Communications Company, Paz Oil Company, Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006, RE/MAX Holdings, Shapir Engineering and Industry, Shikun & Binui, Shufersal, Siemens, Solvay, Terex Corporation, Tripadvisor, Volvo Group, and WSP Global.
- All 50 companies are involved in one or more of the “listed activities”3 that raise particular human rights concerns, which constitute the basis for inclusion in the UN database of business enterprises that are involved in Israeli settlements, which was published in February 2020.
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The report provides a set of recommendations for financial institutions, business enterprises, European governments and institutions, and local authorities across Europe...
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The “Don’t Buy into Occupation” (DBIO) coalition is a joint initiative between 25 Palestinian, regional and European organisations based in Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom (UK). The coalition aims to investigate and highlight the financial relationships between business enterprises involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and European Financial Institutions (FIs)...
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The financial institutions mentioned in the main body of the report were given the opportunity to review the results and provide input on the findings on financial relationships, as well as on their approach to human rights due diligence. In total, 138 financial institutions were contacted. Similarly, the business enterprises covered in the three case studies of this report, and the additional companies that are not part of the UN database, were given the opportunity to comment on the findings presented by the DBIO coalition. At the time this report went to press, the coalition received content-related responses from 21 financial institutions, the three case studies (Booking, BNP Paribas, and HeidelbergCement) and four of the additional companies included in the company selection. These responses have been considered and noted throughout the report.