For the first time in decades, a European Bank has decided to close down its Israeli branch, Israeli daily Haaretz reported. Claiming it is simply reacting to the Greek debt crisis, the French Bank BNP Paribas recently decided to shut down its local offices and dismiss its 60 employees in Israel, as activists against Israeli occupation claim victory. Yet, the only foreign branch of the bank that is closing is the Israeli one, leaving the branches in Israel's neighboring countries untouched. This has sparked Israeli fears that the shutdown is due to a general turn in international attention to trading and operating inside the Jewish State. According to the daily, Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer was having harsh talks with the bank prior to the shutdown, saying that he “saw no reason for the bank to leave.” However, international activist groups have long been running campaigns to boycott Israel politically and economically, and fiercely advocating an end to any transactions with Israel. In that context, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Banks Supervisor David Zaken and their top officials believe the bank's board of directors conceded to what they dubbed as “pressure groups.” The biggest and most influential one of these is often labeled to be the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS), and is very likely to be the one that Steinitz and Zaken were referring to. Initiated in 2005 by Palestinian NGO's, the BDS aims to free Palestine by imposing boycotts, divestments and sanctions on Israel until it changes its policies and conduct towards Palestine and Palestinians in general, in compliance with international law and basic human rights principles. BDS campaigners have targeted banks, financial institutions, businesses and universities around the world to stop their transactions with Israel. It has experienced relative success in recent years, talking a vast number of companies into withdrawing from Israel. Just this summer, the largest Israeli agricultural produce exporter Agrexco, which has been heavily targeted, filed for bankruptcy due to an intense boycott of its exports. The French multinational urban systems corporation Veolia announced massive losses due to severe political pressure. The company had been contracted with the Israeli government to provide light rail services for Israeli settlers in the West Bank. On July 19, in Sweden, major Scandinavian supermarket chain Coop announced it would no longer sell home carbonation devices from the Israeli company Sodastream due to the company's activity in “illegal Israeli settlements.” Sweden is Sodastream's largest market, and the company took a major hit from the boycott. The political critique of Israel has been particularly strong from Turkey and Norway in recent years, in particular during the crisis which followed Israel's harsh answer to the Freedom Flotilla of 2010, which left 9 activists dead. Also coming from the international society, demands for a policy change have been fairly loud, as Israel has proceeded to conduct a hardcore military approach to tackling the Palestinian lands under occupation, the West Bank and Gaza. But in general, the international action taken to follow up on critique on Israel has been limited. Investments and trading in Israel is still sky-high despite repeated international calls from human rights agencies for nations worldwide to evaluate their relations to Israel. To exemplify, the list of foreign companies and contractors helping in construction of the Separation Wall, allegedly shielding Israel of Palestinian terrorists from the occupied territories, is long, and includes an Egyptian company. According to monitoring organization Stop The Wall, a mere 700 subcontractors were on the payroll in the construction of the wall in 2007, Israeli as well as foreign. Among the foreign ones were: American Bobcat and Caterpillar, supplying building materials. The German Liebherr Group, likewise supplying materials and gear for construction. American Shamrock Holdings and several others, affiliated with the construction of fences and gates. The worldwide security company Group4securicor (G4S) is supporting security measures, whereas companies such as Texas-based Electronic Data Systems (EDS) are contributing to surveillance technologies. According to Stop The Wall, the construction will annex some 46 percent of the Palestinian land, isolating communities and cutting Palestinian farmers off their privately owned land. BM
