Thursday, May 9, 2024

Disinvesting From Israel

 It's been pointed out by some that a key demand of pro-Palestinian student protestors, Disinvesting From Israel, is not all that easy to do.

A Complete Disinvestment is basically impossible in the absence of government sanctions.  Every corporation tries to trade wherever it can make a profit, and most colleges invest in funds which include a lot of corporations.

But various kinds of partial disinvestments may be possible.  Such as disinvesting from large weapons manufacturers.

Disinvestors can also find more opportunities to disinvest over time.

I think colleges can commit to doing it in principle and as opportunities arise.  They could state limits such as we will not allow our investment income fall more than 15% in order to achieve disinvestment.  (There's a fundamental principle that if you invest for other reasons than maximum profit, you will not likely get maximum profit.)  They could assign a Disinvestment Officer to find disinvestment opportunities.

A creative way to achieve similar effects would be to short Israeli funds.  That has costs and risks.

A discussion at Reddit.

Another approach might be to invest in Palestinian operations or simply spend on charities, etc.

Trinity College in Dublin has agreed to divest from Israel.

Also University of Barcelona.




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