The Netherlands’ largest trade union FNV, which has seats in the boards of most big Dutch pension funds, has called on pension funds to sell all their investments in “companies that contribute to the illegal Israeli settlement policy on the West Bank”.
“This can, for example, concern construction companies building houses in settlements on the West Bank or banks providing loans to settlers,” commented FNV board member Piet Rietman, expanding on an earlier statement on the FNV website.
By investing in such companies, pension funds contribute to the existence of settlements in the area that are illegal under international law, Rietman added.
The FNV executive declined, however, to name companies in which pension funds should no longer invest.
Israel’s five largest banks – Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi Le-Israel, First International Bank of Israel, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and Israel Discount Bank – all provide mortgages to settlers in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Norwegian pension investor KLP Pensjon, among others, has been excluding those five banks for this reason since 2021.
PFZW also had excluded the five Israeli banks between 2014 and 2019, but it has since lifted this boycott. For several years, the €240bn healthcare scheme has been investing in the five Israeli banks again, with the investments totalling more than €20m.
Of the other large five Dutch pension funds, ABP and BpfBouw only invest €0.5m each in Israel Discount Bank. PME and PMT have no investments in Israel because the country is not included in their benchmarks.
PFZW declined to say whether it will now sell the five Israeli banks again.
“PFZW does not comment on any future policy adjustments in the investment portfolio,” a spokesman said.
The 10-member board of the healthcare fund includes two FNV representatives: Leonne Janssen and Ilse van der Weiden. They have been explicitly instructed by the FNV to try to convince their fellow board members to support the FNV line.
The statement is not the first time FNV has called for a boycott of a particular type of investment. Last year, for example, the trade union called on pension funds to sell all of their investments in oil and gas companies.
International Court of Justice
The trigger for the FNV statement was a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month. In it, the Court called the Israeli settlement policy in the West Bank “discriminatory” and “contrary to international law”.
According to FNV’s Rietman, the current conflict in Palestine has prompted many questions from its members.
“From conversations with them it has emerged that there is a need for the FNV to state more specifically and publicly what exactly this means with regard to the genocide in Gaza and the illegal settlement policy,” Rietman said, adding: “We are doing that in line with the ICJ ruling. Our message to pension funds now is to develop policies as quickly as possible that are in line with those Court rulings.”
Rietman stresses, however, that the position on Israeli investments is not a policy change.
“We have always had the position that pension funds should not invest in companies that contribute to human rights violations.”
In fact, this position is also held by PFZW. In a document on its website, the fund states, among other things, that it takes into account the negative impact of its investments on human rights. The pension fund requires the companies it invests in to take care of protecting indigenous peoples and their land rights.
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