The ‘Ethical Bank’ Stabs Palestinians in the Back as it closes Palestinian solidarity accounts

Boycott the Co-operative Bank and Withdraw Your Accounts

The Bank for Ethical Racists

The Ethically Zionist Bank

Last month, without any warning, the Co-operative Bank junked its ‘ethical banking policy and closed the accounts of 21 Palestinian related accounts including national Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the International Solidarity Movement and other campaigns listed below.

We should not be surprised by this decision.  Ever since its 2013 financial crisis, when it was rescued by American hedge funds and the Co-op Bank’s Chairman Paul Flowers resigned in a comedy of drug taking and other misdemeanours, the Co-op’s attachment to an ‘ethical’ banking policy has been more a matter of words than actions. 

Bunny Rabbits 'r' fine - Palestinians aren't

Now when the excuse of ‘anti-terrorism’ is being used to justify mass surveillance of the population and the eradication of basic civil liberties, as per the Government’s Prevent and anti-Extremist policies, as political and anti-capitalist activities are reclassified as ‘Extremist’, we should not  be surprised that Palestinian solidarity organisations are being targeted.  The Co-operative Bank’s decision that holding Palestine related accounts offends its ‘risk appetite’ is particularly scandalous and cowardly, but there is little that one can expect from the Co-operative brand today.

We agree - actions speak louder than words - and the actions of the Co-op in barring Palestinian accounts say all that needs to be said

This is not the first time this has happened.  Many years ago Alliance & Leicester played  a similar trick and PSC was forced to transfer its bank account to the Co-operative Bank.  Now, once gain, support for  Palestine is being made a question of ‘terrorism’ buying into the Zionist narrative that support for those who are victims of ethnic cleansing, mass murder and racism are ‘terrorists’ unlike the terrorist state that expels, murders and disposseses them.  This is imperialist democracy and the Co‑operative Bank is playing its part in the McCarthyist atmosphere of today.

The Rev. Flowers - The drug dealing, porn addict who  was the Co-op Bank's Chairman

We should not forget either that the same tricks were tried with the African National Congress, which the State department and Margaret Thatcher used to classify as ‘terrorists’ in the days of Apartheid.  States, unless they come into conflict with NATO and the USA are never deemed terrorist regimes, no matter how many people they murder or torture.  This is the hypocrisy of free market capitalism and this is where co-operatives which operate in a market economy end up.

The Co-op Bank Opposes Torture - Except if Israel is doing it

Our message?  Withdraw your accounts and  boycott the Co-op Bank until it backs down.

Today the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has launched a legal case against the Co-operative Bank on the grounds of discrimination.

The Politically and Financially Bankrupt Bank

Last month, PSC’s account was closed by the Co-operative Bank which cited “the Bank’s risk appetite” for the closure and has refused to elaborate further.

That's true - the Hedge Fund owned Co-op Bank isn't the usual bank

Another 20[i] organisations working for Palestine – including a number of PSC branches – have also had their accounts closed or denied.

PSC and its legal team believe the decision is discriminatory and contravenes the Equality Act 2010. 

PSC has today initiated legal proceedings against the Bank.

ITN solicitors, acting on behalf of PSC, state the Co-operative Bank’s “failure to provide any reasons for the closure of PSC’s account, which has been compounded by your failure to provide appropriate disclosure, leads to the conclusion that the decision to close the account is based on:

1. Our client’s cogent belief in Palestinian rights, including the right to self-determination and the right of return, and to oppose Israel’s occupation and violations of international law.
2. The nationality or religion of the Palestinian people.”

Therefore the decision to close PSC’s account is “contrary to sections 13 and 29 of the [Equality] Act [2010]”.

ITN solicitors said: “Our clients have been refused banking services, without any reason or an opportunity to provide representations. Our clients have therefore sought a full explanation from the Co-operative. It appears that the decision was taken because of PSC’s support for Palestine. A decision based on active support of Palestinian causes – or on the nationality or religion of the Palestinian people – would be discriminatory. It is in the wider public interest to ensure that banks are held to account for their decision making processes; a bank cannot be above the law by virtue of its status.”

Sarah Colborne, PSC’s Director said “Many people and organisations choose to Bank with the Co-operative because it markets itself as an ethical bank. But in deciding to close down the accounts of those working for or in Palestine it is clear the Co-op Bank has turned its back on its ethical principles.

“The Co-operative Bank is very good at professing its ethical principles. It has a glossy 27 page document which proclaims it believes in ‘acting with honesty and transparency… treating customers fairly, [and] promoting human rights and equality’. It is very hard to see any evidence of these principles today. Instead it has closed the accounts of those working for human rights and equality for Palestine, offering no honest or transparent explanation – only the banking jargon of ‘risk appetite’.

Sarah continued “PSC and our members are angry and disappointed at the Co-operative Bank which has turned its back on the ethical principles which drew so many of us to open accounts there in the first place. And today we will be writing to our members telling them of the Co-operative Bank’s decision and asking those who Bank with the Co-operative Bank to move their accounts.

“It is quite clear that the Co-operative Bank no longer cares about human rights – the Palestinians suffer incursions on their human rights day in, day out at the hands of an occupying force that continues to violate international law. In the UK we have a great tradition of solidarity organisations coming together to stand against human rights violations throughout the world – this is something that the Co-operative Bank should support and not punish.

“But in taking this decision it appears that the Co-operative Bank has chosen to discriminate against those who are working for the freedom and human rights of those in Palestine.”

[i] List of local groups who have had their accounts closed or denied:

1. Abergavenny PSC branch
2. Abu Bakr Rauf Memorial Scholarship Fund
3. Boycott Israel Network
4. Bristol PSC branch
5. Cambridge PSC branch
6. Computers for Palestine
7. Discover Palestine
8. International Women’s Peace Service Palestine
9. Liverpool Friends of Bil’in
10. Norwich PSC branch
11. Northern Palestine Solidarity Network
12. Nottingham PSC branch
13. Oxford PSC branch
14. Plymouth PSC branch
15. Saddleworth Women’s Scholarship Fund
16. Sheffield PSC branch
17. Sheffield Palestine Women’s Scholarship Fund
18. West Midlands PSC branch
19. York PSC branch
20. Yorkshire Palestine Cultural exchange

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How Israel exerts its influence on the BBC

by Amena Saleem

In the early hours of 12th November, around two dozen Israeli gunmen, one disguised as a pregnant Palestinian woman, others wearing fake beards, invaded a hospital in Hebron and gunned down a 28-year-old man.

In a rare burst of reporting on an Israeli atrocity, the BBC ran an article on its website headlined: “Israelis shoot dead Palestinian in Hebron hospital raid”.

It was a straightforward headline which summed up the story. But later in the day, a changed headline appeared above the article.

This read: “Israelis in disguise raid Hebron hospital, seizing suspect”.

As is standard practice for the BBC, the amendment was not noted at the bottom of the page, so newcomers to the article would not have known the headline had been altered.

It was spotted, however, by the media-watch organisation, Media Lens, which posted a screengrab of the two headlines, before and after, on its Facebook page, along with the questions: “What happened? Pro-Israeli flak? Bending to pro-Israeli pressure?”

Haneen Zoabi and the Lessons from Kristallnacht

Guardian letter 14.11.08.

Interior of Fasanenstrasse synagogue in Berlin after Kristallnacht - today mosques and churches are burnt in Israel

Germany and the Jews, Israel and the Palestinians. One Must Compare

what does this remind you of?

We live in a society that cultivates the feeling, from kindergarten to old age, that every stranger is an enemy.

Ilana Hammerman Nov 20, 2015 9:19 PM

Demonised by Zionism - left and right

November 9 marked the 77th anniversary of Kristallnacht – the Night of Broken Glass. This was the radiant name the Nazis gave their pogrom against Germany’s Jews on the night of November 9, 1938. The rioters carried out the destruction, abuse and killing in the heart of cities and towns, in streets and homes, in full view of ordinary people.

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Many Germans were appalled by the scale of the madness, cruelty and barbarism, but they didn’t lift a finger. Apart from a few who hid Jewish neighbors in their homes, or had the courage to help the wounded, most saw what was happening, heard the cries and turned away. They were frightened. They shut themselves up at home. They closed their windows.

The Zionist conclusion from the holocaust

A German woman, Erna Stanger, testified that she looked out her window and saw three cars standing outside the apartment of her Jewish neighbor, one Mr. Zeligman. “A man walked up and down the street and ordered people to close their windows,” she said. “I moved away from the window, shut it, and after that I couldn’t see anything. But I heard shouting, apparently from Zeligman.”

Zionists learn the lesson of Kristallnacht - Mavet La'aravim (Death to the Arabs)

This testimony was one of many collected by Manfred Franke, a German who was just 8 at the time. As an adult, based on his memories and investigations, Franke reconstructed the events of that night in his hometown. He presented his results in a book “Mordverläufe," later dramatized as “Cases of Murder – November 9, 1938: A Protocol of Fear, Brutality and Death.”

Hebron settlers draw the appropriate conclusions from the Holocaust

That small town remains a town of ordinary, generally fair-minded people. That too is documented in the book. The day after the pogrom, for example, Manfred’s parents forbade him to pick up marbles from the floor of a destroyed shop on their street. “Don’t take anything,” his mother told him. “We’ll get you other ones. These belong to the Jew.”

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Haneen Zoabi, an Arab Knesset member, was invited to speak at a ceremony in Amsterdam marking the 77th anniversary of that pogrom of civilians against civilians. Zoabi compared the silent majority in Germany of that era to the silent majority in Israel today, in light of what Palestinian civilians and institutions face.

Israel Jewish neo-Nazis

The majority says nothing

“Most Germans apparently didn’t support it, but they said nothing. When two churches and dozens of mosques are set on fire in Israel, and hundreds of Beitar fans shout ‘death to the Arabs’ at every soccer match, when a family is burned to death, the majority still keep silent …. Kristallnacht didn’t happen out of the blue. It was a consequence of what had gone on before,” she said.

“We see a similar development in Israel in recent years. Statements that justify violence against Palestinians, and the majority says nothing. And gradually, one step at a time, the public comes to accept what it hears day after day.”

Kristallnacht - Burning Synagoge

The news website Ynet reported Zoabi’s speech under the headline “The speech of incitement.”

That night I received a phone call from the television program “Talk of the Day.” They told me Zoabi’s speech would be an item for discussion on the show the next morning, and I would be interviewed at the beginning to express my views. In the four minutes I was awarded to “express my views,” I was asked if I agreed with Zoabi’s Holocaust comparison.

I said the comparison wasn’t to the Holocaust, and Zoabi wasn’t the issue. I said people standing by silently while fellow citizens suffered was an appropriate topic for discussion.

Damage to Jewish shops in Kristallnact

I tried to explain why, but when my four minutes were up, the floor was given to the panel members, who immediately targeted Zoabi. All she looks for are provocations, that woman from the Marmara protest ship! This time she’s crossed a red line! Why do they even give her a stage for such slanderous remarks?! That was just some of it.

Haneen Zoabi after an attack at an election hustings

I realized I had failed to explain anything. Four minutes weren’t even enough to explain a simple historical fact: Kristallnacht took place in the midst of the German civilian population, more than two years before the start of the mass murder of Europe’s Jews in extermination camps outside the population centers.

And it goes without saying that I didn’t have time to describe the social and political processes in the years leading up to that pogrom, to which Zoabi was undoubtedly referring when she said Kristallnacht didn’t happen out of the blue. She was right.

Visiting Dachau

In those years, communist, liberal and democratic institutions and newspapers were shut down, and tens of thousands of opponents of the Nazi regime, not necessarily Jews, were arrested, imprisoned and tortured.

There was opposition to the Nazis in Germany at the time – and we should remember and learn from the fact that the Nazis came to power after the democratic November 1932 election in a democratic country. But once in power they put down the opposition mercilessly. Opponents of the regime, for example, were sent to Dachau, the first concentration camp, which was built less than two months after the Nazi-led government was formed.

Just a few days before my four-minute interview, I visited the memorial at Dachau. It documents the fate of the political prisoners, and I hoped for an opportunity to describe their courage and the price they paid for it. But go speak four minutes about the dissidents and others who had forsaken their ideals.

Go describe the photographs etched in your memory of “innocent” people who walked the streets of German cities past signs that proclaimed “Don’t buy from Jews!” Try telling anyone that those photos swim back into view when you see slogans in your own city, Jerusalem, like “Jewish workmanship,” “Don’t buy from Arabs” or “Death to the Arabs.”

Try saying that there is no real civil resistance to statements and actions that keep getting more and more extreme, even though many people feel the pain, and that no objector in Israel is endangered by the kind of risks that threatened political dissidents in Germany.

And especially, go try saying deep things about what you can compare and what you can’t compare. Only then can you express your painful and disturbing opinion that the silence in Israeli society about what has been done for decades to the Arab population in our midst and in our neighborhood, on both sides of the Green Line, can and should be compared to the silence of the silent majority in Germany between 1933 and 1938.

We are overdue in remembering the sentence engraved on a sign at the entrance to Yad Vashem’s permanent exhibit: “A country is not only what it does but also what it tolerates.”

Those words were written by Kurt Tucholsky, the German-Jewish satirical poet and publicist. Most visitors who pass the sign on their way to the pictures of horror and death in the ghettos and camps don’t know that the writer left Germany in 1929, was stripped of his citizenship in 1933 and took his life at the end of 1935.

That is, his words could only have been spoken in the early years of the Nazi regime, when Germany’s laws and actions were still a long way away from the imprisonment of Jews in ghettos and their transportation to death camps. Kurt Tucholsky was a leftist and dyed-in-the-wool pacifist. If he were living in Israel today, he almost certainly would want to apply that sentence here. He’d want it to be the lesson learned from the National-Socialist chapter of modern history in general, and of German and Jewish history in particular.

Try saying all this in four minutes. Then go one step further. Quote Primo Levi, an Auschwitz survivor: “Many people — many nations — can find themselves holding, more or less wittingly, that ‘every stranger is an enemy.’”

As Levi put it, “For the most part this conviction lies deep down like some latent infection; it betrays itself only in random, disconnected acts, and does not lie at the base of a system of reason. But when this does come about, when the unspoken dogma becomes the major premise in a syllogism, then, at the end of the chain, there is the Lager. Here is the product of a conception of the world carried rigorously to its logical conclusion; so long as the conception subsists, the conclusion remains to threaten us. The story of the death camps should be understood by everyone as a sinister alarm-signal.”

“Everyone,” he wrote. And who of us can be included among them, we who grew up and live in a society that cultivates the feeling, from kindergarten to old age, that every stranger is an enemy? And the greatest enemies are the Arabs who live alongside us.

If they had let me say all this, I would have said yes, there is room for comparison. Some people, rightly, protest that ours is a political-national conflict that did not exist in Germany.

But to them it must be said that no conflict has ever justified one nation’s permanent military and civilian control over millions of people of another nation, the denial of their human and civil rights, the expropriation of their land, the demolition of their houses, the trying of hundreds of thousands of them in military courts and the incarceration of them in detention camps and prisons.

This control, which was a covert ideology for many years, is now the product of an overt, official, nationalist and racist ideology. Yes, there is a basis of comparison between a society that allows all these things to happen, by deed or indifference, and a society that could allow the pogrom 77 years ago to happen. Though we may hope that no concentration camps await in the end.

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ISIS main pastime

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Like most of you, I have always treated Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu as a model of truth and accuracy.  When he brought that picture of a ticking bomb, Guy Fawkes style, to the UN showing how close Iran was to getting a nuclear bomb I was naturally overwhelmed by the case he presented. The fact that he’d been saying the same thing for 20 years was neither here nor there.

Hamas fighters

When he told us that Hitler didn't want to kill the Jews, he only wanted  to deport them and it was only that wicked Palestinian, the Grand Mufti who had forced his hand, I found myself nodding in agreement.  After all it's the Arabs who are the enemy not the Nazis.  Makes sense.

Likewise when Netanyahu said that ISIS and Hamas were one and the same thing it seemed obvious.  After all they were both Sunni Islamic groups.  What more proof did one need? 

Wanted Poster for Israeli Criminal-at-large

Just as all Christians and Jews think and act the same, so do Muslims.  Easy isn’t it.  Islam = Terrorism therefore ISIS = Hamas.  The fact that they may hate each other is just an irrelevant. complication thought up by commies and other troublemakers who want to be difficult.

Still I just can’t get my head around why it is that Isis hates Hamas.  It must be something Netanyahu said!