Israeli organization Who Profits spearheading BDS efforts - Nadav Shragai

by Nadav Shragai

Report by NGO Monitor reveals Israeli nonprofit that keeps "blacklist" of companies that have ties to or financial investments in Judea and Samaria, east Jerusalem and Golan Heights • The group receives funding from state-funded European bodies.

An Israeli left-wing organization calling itself Who Profits is spearheading the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel, according to a new NGO Monitor report.

Who Profits maintains and updates a database of more than 500 Israeli and foreign companies, businesses and organizations that have ties to or financial investments in Judea and Samaria, east Jerusalem and the Golan region. 

This "blacklist" has effectively become an invaluable resource for the BDS movement and anyone seeking to impose economic sanctions on Israeli businesses.

The report, put together by NGO Monitor expert Itai Reuveni, details Who Profits' funding sources, which prominently include European church-affiliated organizations that receive money from European governments. For example, Dutch aid group the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation, which provides funding to anti-Israel website Electronic Intifada, also transferred more than a million shekels (about $264,000) to Who Profits in 2014 and 2015.

Typically, Who Profits sends a letter to a company that it intends to include in its database, giving the company three weeks to respond. Among the companies that have been targeted by Who Profits are SodaStream, mobile phone service provider Partner Communications Ltd., Israel's national water company Mekorot, cosmetics giant Ahava, and multinational security company G4S. 

In the warning letters, Who Profits informs companies that they are playing a part in the process of kicking Palestinians out of their homes and off their land, "a process that began with the Nakba in 1948."

Until 2013, Who Profits worked in tandem with the Coalition of Women for Peace, before splintering into an independent organization. Among the group's founders are Dr. Anat Matar, who belonged to the Refuseniks Parents' Forum and co-founded the Israeli Committee for the Palestinian Prisoners, Esther Mitzenmacher and Hannah Amoriya. 

Repeated efforts to contact Who Profits for comment on these matters went unanswered.

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Rick Scott was praised earlier this month for signing a bill that would prohibit the state from investing in or doing business with companies that boycott Israel.

"I am proud to ceremonially sign this bill today with the many organizations and individuals who supported it, and look forward to our continued relationship with Israel," Scott said.

Nadav Shragai

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=33067

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