GORDON HAAS

GORDON HAAS, president of the NJ State Association of Jewish Federations, described as “most welcome” the recent listing of Danske Bank as a prohibited entity under the state’s law targeting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

The move would require New Jersey to divest pension funds invested in the Copenhagen-based Danske Bank in accordance with the law enacted in May 2016 that prohibits companies from engaging in boycotts of Israel and of other companies doing business in Israel. 

The NJ Division of Investment reported the decision to the State Investment Council at its annual meeting in Trenton Feb. 2.

Haas lauded the ruling, pointing to the State Association’s advocacy efforts, which included making “legal argument and an in-person appeal to the full membership of the State Investment Council. In doing so, we were able to successfully defend the law….” These actions, he said, “fulfilled in part a major goal of our state’s Jewish community, meeting the challenge of the BDS effort to delegitimize the State of Israel.” 

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The Division of Investment’s action, said Mark Levenson, chair of the New Jersey-Israel Commission, “will strengthen an already vibrant trading partnership that has developed over years of friendship between New Jersey and Israel.”