Think tank tells EU: Target Israeli banks dealing with settlements

[geek tragedy]

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.667234

The most significant proposal is on banking, where large Israeli institutions have daily dealings with major European banks, while also providing loans and financing to Israeli businesses and individuals based in the settlements.

Under European Commission guidelines from 2013, EU- and member-state-funded lending cannot be provided to Israeli entities operating in the occupied territories.

With the British government holding a controlling stake in some banks following the financial crisis, that would in theory prevent those banks providing financing to Israeli counterparts that have dealings in the settlements.

This ups the ante from labeling quite a bit.

[Israeli]

1. Tel Aviv bank index drops following think tank report on settlements

By Noam Sheizaf |Published July 22, 2015

The European Council on Foreign Relations publishes paper recommending the EU take measures against financial institutions that do businesses in the West Bank. Israeli bank stocks dipped shortly after the Israeli media quoted a Reuters article on the report.

The degree of nervousness in Israel over possible measures taken against local companies who do business in the settlements was evident for all to see Tuesday, after a report by a EU think tank caused the Tel Aviv banking index to drop 2.3 points in less than an hour (a total of 2.46 points for the day).

The drop came following a report published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, which included a series of recommendations intended to distinguish between formal EU-Israeli ties and complicity in settlement activities in the West Bank (read the full report below). According to the reports’ authors, Hugh Lovatt and Mattia Toaldo, “differentiating between Israel and its settlement activities within the EU’s bilateral relations is one of most powerful tools at the EU’s disposal for challenging the incentive structure that underpins Israeli support for the status quo.”

Continued @ :

http://972mag.com/tel-aviv-bank-index-drops-following-think-tank-report-on-settlements/109160/

[Little Tich]

2. I'm not sure if this is an altogether good thing, at least when it comes to Israeli banks.

There are many people in Israel who use Israeli banks and who have nothing to do with the settlements. It would be grossly unfair to punish them just because their banks are doing illegal things. In a way, it would be as if Israel did make the running of banks difficult in Gaza, just because some of their services will inevitably be used by Hamas.

Perhaps, if an Israeli bank was found to be more complicit in the illegal settlements than other banks, it could be barred from operating in the EU, but the involvement should have to be significant.