New Zealands $33 billion national pension fund has excluded fiveIsraeli banksfrom its portfolio because of their role in financing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Anassessmentby the NZ Super Fund concludes that holding shares in Israels biggest banks would violate its responsible investment policy.

The document cites New Zealands 2016 vote forUN Security Council resolution 2334which reaffirms the illegality of the settlements, as well as statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he intends to proceed with large-scale annexations of occupied Palestinian land.

Israels construction of settlements is awar crime.

It is one of the matters currently before the International Criminal Court, whose judges last monthcleared the wayfor a formal investigation of Israels actions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In a 2018 report, Human Rights Watchdocumentedthe essential role Israeli banks play in building the colonies and perpetrating large-scale abuses of Palestinian human rights.

The excluded financial institutions are First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi and Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot.

All five now appear on the NZ Super Fundexclusion list.

They join other Israeli companies involved in violating Palestinian rights that werealready excludedby the fund: arms makersElbit Systemsand Ashot and settlement construction firmsAfrica-IsraelandShikun & Binui.

The decision by the New Zealand fund indicates growing international momentum to hold Israeli corporations accountable for their role in Israeli war crimes.

Last summer ABP, the biggest Dutch pension fund and one of the worlds largest stopped investingin two Israeli banks because of their role in settlement construction.

Activists in New Zealand are welcoming the decision by the independently managed national pension fund, but say both the fund and the countrys government must do more.

The ethical decision by the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to disinvest in Israeli banks should be followed by our government, the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoastatedon Tuesday.

The fund still has investments in other Israeli companies, and the fund says it will be paying close attention to any future reports from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights about the culpability of other Israeli companies in illegal settlement construction, PSNA spokesperson Janfrie Wakim noted.

Wakim observed that the NZ Super Fund excluded Israeli weapons maker Elbit in 2012, Yet, the New Zealand government has admitted to buying military equipment, ground tested on Palestinians, from Elbit Systems.

This article, written by Ali Abunimah, was republished from The Electronic Intifada3 March 2021.