Achi news desk-
Ireland’s 15 billion euro sovereign investment fund will debar six Israeli companies, including the country’s biggest banks, over their activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Irish Finance Minister Michael McGrath said on Friday.
The Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), which invests at home to support economic growth but also holds a portfolio of liquid international assets, has come under pressure from the main opposition party, Sinn Fein, to dispose of the assets.
It will sell shares worth a total of 2.95 million euros ($3.19 million) in Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd., First International Bank and Rami Levi, one of Israel’s leading supermarket chains.
“I have been advised by the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) that it has decided to divest from certain ISIF global portfolio investments in companies with specific activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” McGrath said in a statement, describing the movement as “correctly.”
The decision will be implemented as soon as possible over the next few weeks, he added.
Ireland has been among the most critical in Europe of Israel’s conduct in its military campaign in Gaza, which was launched after thousands of Hamas terrorists rampaged through southern communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people. They also kidnapped around 253 people to Gaza, where more than half are believed to be staying.
Amidst the IDF ground attack, launched at the end of October, 260 soldiers have been killed and 1,552 injured.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 33,000 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the fighting so far, a figure that cannot be independently verified and includes around 13,000 Hamas terrorists Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed around 1,000 gunmen inside Israel on October 7.
A long-time champion of Palestinian rights, Ireland last month joined Spain, Malta and Slovenia in taking the first steps towards recognizing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Over the years the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s $1.6 trillion fund, has divested from nine Israeli companies, marking their stake in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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