NEW YORK, April 13, 2013 (WAFA) – An Israeli law center is threatening to file a lawsuit against the American pension fund giant, TIAA-CREF, should the shareholders submit for a vote a proposal calling on the board to divest from companies supporting the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territory, a statement from the We Divest group said Friday.
“Shareholders request that the Board end investments in companies that, in the trustees’ judgment, substantially contribute to or enable egregious violations of human rights, including companies whose business supports Israel’s occupation,” said the resolution filed by 200 CREF shareholders.
We Divest, a coalition of several US-based human rights and anti-Israeli occupation groups, said the TIAA-CREF was seeking permission from the Security and Exchange Commission to allow it to deny shareholders the opportunity to vote on what would be the largest Israel/Palestine referendum to date in the United States.
The Israeli Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center) has recently threatened for file a lawsuit if CREF should submit the shareholder proposal for a democratic vote.
It claims that the resolution violates US and New York state anti-boycott laws “even though these laws have no application to human rights-inspired boycotts or to divestment resolutions,” said the statement. “These peaceful forms of political pressure, central to the US civil rights movement, have long been understood to be protected by the First Amendment’s free speech provision.”
“Shurat HaDin is using a practice known as ‘lawfare.’ This is a tactic of intimidation, using threats of legal action to coerce students, and now also TIAA-CREF, to refrain from using democratic processes to resolve issues,” said We Divest. “Shurat HaDin seeks to bar discussion of the serious human rights abuses associated with Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.”
Steve Tamari, a Palestinian-American educator and member of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, said on behalf of the CREF shareholders who signed onto the resolution that “TIAA-CREF has not only ignored our moral concerns, but now refuses to let us vote or have any voice on the issue.”
He said, “We are hundreds of investors who are deeply troubled that we are forced to support segregation and other abhorrent human rights violations in order to maintain our retirement accounts.”
We Divest Campaign National Coordinator Rabbi Alissa Wise said: “As in earlier campaigns to end human rights abuses by Sudan, South Africa, and the southern U.S., shareholders should be able to vote on whether their company should be profiting from Israel’s subjugation of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Commitment to such shareholder participation is assumed in a company, such as CREF, that is proud of its corporate transparency and democratic governance.”
We Divest National Coordinating Committee member, Riham Barghouti of Adalah-NY, said: “This resolution is one example of dozens of such discussions taking place in conferences, corporate meetings, and on campuses around the country. The Methodists and Presbyterians have voted on resolutions similar to the one CREF shareholders filed. Student governments are taking up this question on campuses across the country. What is it that TIAA-CREF is so afraid of?”
M.S.
