The Bank of Ireland, the nation’s oldest financial institution, shut down the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement’s account in Ireland and Northern Ireland, following the enactment of anti-BDS legislation in the US, the Irish news RTÉ reported.
The Bank of Ireland’s actions come in the wake of similar actions taken by banks against the groups in the UK, Germany, France and Austria.
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The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) which had held accounts at the Bank of Ireland for 15 years, said the bank closed its accounts because the bank came to the conclusion that transferring funds to the Palestinian territories was dangerous
The decision by Bank of Ireland follows those of other banks in the UK, Austria, Germany, France, and other countries.
The Irish BDS movement is one of the most hostile towards Israel in the world. A few days ago, following the death of former president Shimon Peres, it published a statement calling Peres an unpunished war criminal who was responsible for apartheid.
According to the organization, the money they were transferring was received by a scarves (kaffiyeh) factory in the West Bank whose products are sold in Ireland, and that the PSC buys to promote solidarity.
The Palestinian News Network (PNN) claim that Israeli Minister in charge of anti-BDS operations, Strategic Affairs Minister, Gilad Erdan, has openly spoken of making BDS activists ‘pay the price’, and said that Israel is attempting to get banks to shut down BDS groups’ accounts.
“In light of these statements, we view this as a sinister move by Bank of Ireland suggesting interference by the Israeli state in the business affairs of a sovereign nation”, PNN said.
According to Jpost the Irish pro-Palestinian group opened a new account with the Allied Irish Banks (AIB).
According to its RTÉ website it has launched campaigns to force divestment from Israel’s Mashav (the Foreign Ministry’s Agency for International Development Cooperation) and started a letter campaign from more than 215 Irish artists to boycott Israel.
The PSC website wrote it seeks to “support the awareness-raising to expose the contamination of the global diamond market with Israeli ‘blood diamonds.”’
In addition SPC call to boycott Israeli products, because it aims to create an “Apartheid- Free Zone” in Ireland where Israeli goods are ostracized.
The Irish BDS movement is one of the most hostile towards Israel in the world. A few days ago, following the death of former president Shimon Peres, it published a statement calling Peres an unpunished war criminal who was responsible for apartheid. Shimon Peres shared in 1994 the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
