Morningstar chief executive officer Kunal Kapoor says the investment firm does not support the BDS movement and never will. Kapoor made the statement in a Jerusalem Post op-ed in which he defended his company’s Environmental and Social Governance (ESG) rating system against alleged “anti-Israel” bias.
In 2020 Morningstar Inc. acquired Sustainalytics, an Amsterdam-based company that rates the sustainability of businesses. Sustainalytics has been dogged by accusations that it singles out Israel for years, but Morningstar’s acquisition helped embolden those claims as anti-BDS laws exist in dozens of U.S. states.
In June 2022 the Committee on Israel Boycott Restrictions subdivision of the Illinois Investment Policy Board (IIPB) agreed to refrain from putting Morningstar on their “prohibited investment” list if the company adopted a series of recommendations. One of those recommendations was to ditch the Human Rights Radar (HRR), a research product that provides information on issuers in areas where human rights violations occur. The product naturally identified businesses in the West Bank.
In addition to severing its connection to HRR, Morningstar also hired an outside law firm, White & Case, to carry out an exhaustive investigation into its practices to detect any potential bias. White & Case produced a 117-page report detailing its findings, which Morningstar made public. “The investigation found neither pervasive nor systemic bias against Israel in Sustainalytics products and services,” it concludes.
These moves haven’t halted the political pressure on Morningstar. On August 17 Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that eighteen other state attorney generals had joined his investigation into the Morningstar’ rating system, which Schmitt called “woke ESG investing.”
This month Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee informed Morningstar that its ESG system violated the state’s anti-BDS law. While the White & Case report found no evidence of systemic bias, Yee said that it still revealed an anti-Israel agenda and suggested that the very idea of reviewing Israeli companies at all was a violation of the state law.
“Morningstar’s ESG rating subsidiary, Sustainalytics, appears to violate Arizona law by negatively impacting ratings of companies doing business in Israel,” said Yee in a statement. “I will not allow companies to promote policies that are antisemitic and discriminatory efforts against Israel, which is America’s longtime friend and ally, and a significant trade partner with Arizona.”
Just a few days after Yee released her statement, the State Financial Officers Foundation organized a letter, signed by eighteen state treasurers who expressed concern about the company’s ESG system. “Many of our states have investments in Israel, and we view Sustainalytics’ practices [as] a direct attack on those investments,” it reads. “As Americans who strongly support Israel — a close democratic ally of the United States — we are also deeply disturbed by a corporate culture at Morningstar that would allow researchers to rely on sources aligned with the anti-Semitic BDS movement.”
In his op-ed Kapoor acknowledges that bias can occasionally occur in “less-than-obvious ways,” but says Morningstar is committed to transparency. He also says that the company has begun working with the the Jewish Federations of North America and other major Jewish groups “to reexamine our methodologies and processes to ensure that any possibility of anti-Israel bias is removed.”
Morningstar isn’t the only company to face political pressure over Israel in recent months. After the ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerry’s announced that it would stop selling its product in illegally-occupied West Bank settlements last summer, U.S. and Israeli lawmakers targeted its parent company, Unilever. Unilever ultimately sold Ben & Jerry’s Israeli business to local licensee Avi Zinger, who hailed his purchase as a victory against BDS. “There is no place for discrimination in the commercial sale of ice cream,” said Zinger. “BDS lost. I now have the right to sell Ben & Jerry’s using its Hebrew and Arabic name… forever.” In court filings Unilever admitted that the move was aimed to alleviate pro-Israel pressure. Ben & Jerry’s is currently suing Unilever over the sale.
“‘I will not allow companies to promote policies that are antisemitic and discriminatory efforts against Israel, which is America’s longtime friend and ally, and a significant trade partner with Arizona.’”
“I will not allow….”
Such passion. Wow.
It sounds like it’s a very personal topic. I wonder why. Hmmmm
Is it an elected position?
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https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/musicians-boycott-berlin-festival-backed-israel
“Musicians boycott Berlin festival backed by Israel”
Tamara Nassar Activism and BDS Beat 30 August 2022. Electronic Intifada.
“Several artists have withdrawn from Berlin’s Pop-Kultur festival this month to protest its renewed sponsorship by the Israeli government.
“Their actions came in response to a call from Palestinians ‘to distance themselves from the festival’s intentional whitewashing of its partner Israel’s apartheid regime & massacres in besieged Gaza,’ PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel, said.
“Israel has funded Pop-Kultur in previous years, but not since 2019. At least 15 performers have pulled out of the annual festival since 2017, heeding Palestinian calls for solidarity.
“’The festival shamefully concealed the resumption of its years-long partnership with apartheid Israel, only announcing it days before artists were due to arrive,’ PACBI said.
“This was ‘a futile attempt to prevent such principled actions of solidarity from festival artists.’
“French musician Lafawndah was the first to withdraw last week, citing Israel’s latest killing spree in Gaza earlier this month.
“’By continuing its partnership with Israel, Pop-Kultur knowingly whitewashes these crimes,’ Lafawndah said on Instagram.
“’The festival’s stance is an effective show of support for racism, colonial brutality & murder, despite its savvy marketing language touting inclusion, diversity & tolerance.’ “Trustfall, a musician performing with Lafawandah, also withdrew.” Trustfall called Pop-Kultur’s decision to partner with the Israeli embassy in Germany as ‘tantamount to entrapment’ as it compromises ‘the ethics & livelihoods of many artists.’
“British artist Alewya followed suit, as did musicians Franky Gogo, Gista & Xenia Rubinos. Trustfall warned others ‘to be on the watch for anything Klaus Lederer is involved in.’
“Lederer is the Berlin deputy mayor & heads the committee that organizes the festival.
“He called the boycott call by Palestinian civil society ‘disgusting,’ adding that he was all the happier that the Israeli embassy in Germany was supporting the event. Lederer smeared the boycott, divestment & sanctions movement as anti-Semitic.” (cont’d)
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“—- and suggested that the very idea of reviewing Israeli companies at all was a violation of the state law.”
So, the lobby, like Donald Trump, feels as though it is above the law, and is making sure that state governments legislate that way too!
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“’Under the very thin cloak of criticism of the policies of the State of Israel, BDS caters to massively anti-Semitic patterns of thought & interpretation,’ he wrote on Twitter.
“In her opening night speech, German culture minister Claudia Roth attacked the artists who took the principled decision to withdraw.
“’This festival is not a parade ground for guerrilla fighters,’ she reportedly said.
“’Anyone who boycotts ends every dialogue & every argument,’ Roth said, according to the culture ministry. ‘We will not tolerate the kind of authoritarian pressure that BDS activists consistently direct against anyone who doesn’t share their views.’
“This is an Orwellian reversal of reality. Palestinians have absolutely no means to pressure or force artists not to participate. Palestinians make a call for solidarity & artists decide whether to answer it based on whether they are convinced by the arguments.
“It is the German government & its institutions that relentlessly bully, smear & punish anyone who supports Palestinian rights.
“It is Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, which in 2019 passed a resolution equating BDS with anti-Semitism & calling on all public bodies to deny supporters of the campaign public funding & space.
“Roth, notably, is a member of the same government that immediately ordered German universities to halt all research & academic ties with their Russian counterparts, following the invasion of Ukraine in February.
“The Palestinian-led boycott campaign of Israel is modeled on the economic, cultural, academic & sporting boycott that helped end apartheid in South Africa.
“The BDS movement explicitly opposes all forms of bigotry, including anti-Semitism & Islamophobia.”
When BDS articulates conditions on which the boycott would end, this game will change. If the basis is equality under the law, BDS support will multiply.
When a vision for a peaceful future emerges and becomes a consensus, the established narratives will crumble and Jews can/will shape up greater Israel.