Sen. Mark Kirk (R – Ill.) called for an investigation into Germany’s second largest bank over reports that it is hosting the account of an organization that promotes boycotts of Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.
“I am alarmed by reports that Commerzbank, a German bank headquartered in Frankfurt with branches in Illinois and New York, may be one of several German banks facilitating accounts used by anti-Israel and anti-Semitic BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions] groups, and I urge the Illinois Investment Policy Board to investigate these reports under our state’s first-in-the-nation anti-BDS law,” Kirk said in a statement given to the Post.
The senator was referring to the anti-BDS bill that was passed by Illinois last year. At the time, legal expert Eugene Kontrovich said that the impact of the measure “cannot be underestimated.”
In his statement, Kirk also referred to national legislation he introduced earlier this year with Sen. Joe Manchin (D – W.Va.). “Recent reports of pro-BDS German banks further underscore the need for Congress to pass the Combating BDS Act of 2016, a bipartisan bill to authorize state and local governments to follow Illinois’ lead and divest public taxpayer money from companies engaged in anti-Semitic BDS conduct,” the senator observed.
The Post reported that a website and related magazine that seek “the abolition of the Jewish state” maintain an account at Commerzbank. The website also defends the anti-Semitic ideology of Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by both the European Union and United States. The paper added that Commerzbank violated American laws against “transactions with regimes that sponsor terrorism and engage in widespread human rights violations.” The bank paid the U.S. a $1.45 billion fine last year for violating sanctions imposed on business dealings with the likes of Iran, Sudan, and Cuba.
The revelations about Commerzbank are the latest in a series of Post investigations exposing ties between European banks and anti-Israel and anti-Semitic groups.
The Post reported last month that Austrian giant Erste Group bank was embroiled in controversy after it was revealed to be hosting the account of a BDS-supporting organization. In February, the Post reported that a German bank — a subsidiary of the French giant BNP Paribas — came under legal pressure to close the account of Germany’s BDS campaign since it put the bank in violation of French law. A few weeks later, the BDS group confirmed that its account had been closed. France’s high court last year ruled that BDS was an illegal form of hate speech.
[Photo: SenatorKirk / YouTube ]