Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism – A bill that would require Ireland’s Strategic Investment Fund to divest from businesses operating in Judea and Samaria is set to go to a vote in Dublin.
The bill would have the Strategic Investment Fund “divest itself of all assets, and to prohibit future investments in any companies, included on the UN Database of companies that operate within the illegal Israeli settlements,” Sinn Féin lawmaker John Brady wrote on his party’s website.
Referring to a 2021 motion in which the Dáil, the lower house of the Irish legislature, declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank annexation, and therefore a war crime, Brady said: “While Ireland has been critical of ongoing expansion of illegal settlements, Irish taxpayers have been made shareholders in the actions that we, as legislators… unanimously decreed as illegal.”
Brady claimed the fund “has invested Irish taxpayers’ money in nine of the 112 companies contained in the UN Database,” including four Israeli banks. Brady, who was demoted from holding his party’s foreign affairs portfolio last month, wrote the claim on the Sinn Féin website.
In a statement in Sinn Féin Website we read, this Monday marks the 75th anniversary of Nakba – meaning ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic – when more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Palestine war. Nakba Day commemorates these traumatic events, and raises awareness of the current plight facin Palestinian refugees and their families. The symbolism of passing this legislation the day after the 75th anniversary would send a real message of Ireland’s commitment to Palestinian human rights.
After demanding additional research on the bill by the Irish government, Brady said:“The passing of the amendment in the name of the Minister for Finance means that, for the next nine months at least, the government has ensured that the Irish taxpayer will remain mired in the mix of war crimes being committed through the Irish Strategic Investment Fund involvement in companies operating in the illegal settlements.
