PRESS RELEASE

Letter to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB)

About the policy of PGGM/PFZW

Nijkerk (Netherlands) — 8 May 2014

On April 30, Christians for Israel Netherlands wrote a letter to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) –one of the supervisors of pension funds– about the structural disregard of complaints from participants and pensioners by PFZW and PGGM regarding its investment policy in Israel. We deemed it appropriate to notify DNB –being the supervisor of pension funds– about the many complaints that have been sent to PGGM/PFZW in order for them to take action.

Christians for Israel Netherlands makes the following points clear in its letter to De Nederlandsche Bank:

• At PGGM/PFZW the pension interests of its participants and pensioners do not govern its investment policy as prescribed by the European pension guidelines.

• Hundreds of complaints, and perhaps a multiple of that, from pensioners and participants regarding the investment policy of PGGM/PFZW concerning Israel are being ignored.

• With the decision of PGGM/PFZW to exclude Israeli banks unilaterally, it is applying a double standard. Only five non-Israeli companies, except for weapon manufacturers and tobacco producers, are on its exclusion list.

• PGGM/PFZW chooses to to point its arrows especially at Israeli companies. Not at companies from neighboring countries where even the most elementary women’s rights are violated; not at companies from countries where every form of religious freedom is oppressed; and not at banks that settled with their supervisors for billions because of their role in a mortgage crash which resulted in the eviction of millions of families.

• PGGM/PFZW is playing politics by spending time, money and energy on its activities to boycott Israeli companies unilaterally.

• PGGM/PFZW informed us that it will not change its policy regarding the exclusion of companies and banks, regardless of the many reactions and complaints. Christians for Israel considers this reaction very alarming, given the fact that both institutions exist by the grace of solidarity and compulsory participation and with that the quality of internal governance inside PGGM/PFZW in general.

Christians for Israel requests the management of De Nederlandsche Bank to start an investigation and to research the complaints of participants and pensioners of the pension fund PFZW and its service provider PGGM.

You can find the full letter to De Nederlandsche Bank here.

About Christians for Israel

The mission of Christians for Israel is to bring Biblical understanding in the Church and among the nations concerning God’s purposes for Israel and to promote comfort of Israel through prayer and action. Its message to the Church is that the Church has not terminated or replaced God’s covenants with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All God’s promises towards Israel will be fulfilled towards Israel, and all His promises towards the Church will be fulfilled towards the Church. 

Christians for Israel is a non-denominational movement. Christians of all denominations and backgrounds should be united in their love for the Jewish people, in their support for the nation of Israel and in their collective repentance, because of Jewish suffering throughout Church history. We give reliable information about the land, the people and the nation of Israel, and we ask christians to stand in solidarity with Israel and reject every form of anti-Semitism.

Contact
sara@c4israel.org
Tel. +31-(0)33 245 8824