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Stop CPP investments in firms selling military, police, spy or prison-related products
to Israel
Pension
Plan (CPP)
Investment
in 2011
=
$15 million
This is the online version of
"Profiting from
Israeli Apartheid:
Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investments in
Corporations Supporting Israel’s Military-, Police-, Surveillance-, Prison-Industrial Complex (Part 1)"
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Formerly called Cement Roadstone
Holdings, CRH, is Ireland’s largest listed company. With total assets of US$20.9
billion, it is one of the world's largest suppliers of building materials.
The company was declared by the Ethisphere Institute to be one of the "World’s Most Ethical Companies" in 2011. CRH has also excelled in proclaiming its support for the UN Declaration of Human Rights. The company even operates a "hot line" for "raising concerns" or "reporting a genuine suspicion" that some "ethical behaviour" has been breached. For those in Israel wanting to use this free "confidential," "independent" CRH service, the number to call is 180-941-0347. Please note however that only one language is offered, Hebrew.
Not everyone is convinced of CRH’s ethics or sincerity. For instance, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), is trying to stop CRH’s complicity in Israel’s illegal and unethical occupation of Palestinian lands.
CRH’s credibility on ethical issues is compromised by the fact that it controls 25% of Mashav Initiating and Development, an Israeli holding company. Mashav owns 100% of Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises. The other 75% of Mashav is owned by the Israel Discount Bank’s IDB Holding Corp. which controls Discount Investment Corp. (DIC). (See IDB in table "CPP Investments.")
Nesher supplies most of the cement sold in Israel and occupied Palestine. It is therefore deeply complicit in a variety of illegal construction activities. The IPSC sums up CRH’s involvement in Israel with these facts:
l
"Nesher cement is used in the construction of the illegal Separation wall, the Jerusalem Light Railway project, the illegal colonial settlements and the network of apartheid settler-only roads, underpasses, bridges and tunnels in occupied Palestine.l
"Nesher own 50% Taavura Holdings …involved in haulage and transportation of construction materials.l
"Taavura through Tastit Construction Machinery are the sole importers of Liebherr heavy equipment [from Germany].l
"Liebherr heavy machinery is used to demolish the homes of Palestinians and [in] the destruction of olive groves and farms to facilitate the continued ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the expansion of Israel’s colonial project in occupied Palestine."In 2009, Mashav bought Hanson Israel, which is that country’s second largest producer of building materials. Like Nesher, it owns manufacturing facilities in Israeli settlements built illegally on occupied Palestinian land. Hanson has also engaged in illegal mining and quarrying activities in the occupied West Bank.
Teachers for Palestine, which describes itself as a group of "elementary and secondary teachers in Toronto who are working for divestment of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan from corporations that contribute to the system of Israeli apartheid," states that "With the acquisition of Hanson Israel, …CRH is further entrenched in violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories."
To read COAT's research on the first half of
these 68 companies, click the pdf links below
to see the print version of Issue 66. Or, click
each company name for the web version.)
(Articles on the second set of 34 companies
are in Issue #67 of Press for Conversion!):
pdf 3M Co
pdf Amdocs Ltd
pdf Analog Devices Inc
pdf AT&T
pdf BAE Systems
pdf Bank Hapoalim
pdf Bezeq
pdf Bharat Electronics Ltd
pdf CAE Inc
pdf Carlyle Group
pdf Caterpillar Inc
pdf Cellcom Israel
pdf Cemex
pdf Cisco Systems
pdf CRH plc
pdf Daewoo Engineering & Construction
pdf Daimler AG
pdf Delek Group
pdf Dell Inc
pdf Discount Investment Corp
pdf Doosan Corp
pdf Eaton Corp
pdf Elbit Systems
pdf EMC Corp
pdf Evraz Group
pdf Fiat Industrial
pdf Fiat SpA
pdf Finmeccanica
pdf Fujitsu Ltd
pdf Hewlett-Packard Co
pdf Hitachi Ltd
pdf Honeywell International
pdf Hyundai Motor Co
pdf Hyundai Heavy Industries
Additional resources from this issue:
Israeli Spy Companies:
Verint and Narus
State-owned Israeli War
Industries:
IAI,
IMI
and Rafael
Vertex Venture Capital:
Investing in Israeli
High-Tech Companies
Table listing
CPP Investments worth $1.5
billion
in 66 companies supporting Israel's military, police, surveillance, prison-industrial complex.
Table listing additional
investments totalling $4.5 billion by six large Canadian pension funds
(including CPP) in the 66 companies researched by COAT.
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References
Financial Analysis, 10 Year Summary, 2005-2010.
www.crh.ie/investor-relations/financial-analysis/ten-year-summary/2005-2010.aspx
2011 World’s Most Ethical Companies
http://ethisphere.com/past-wme-honorees/wme2011/
CRH Code of Conduct
www.crh.ie/crh-people/crh-code-of-conduct.aspx
CRH
www.whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=614
Code of Business Conduct
www.crh.ie/our-responsibility/~/media/Files/C/CRH/pdf/english_code.pdf
CRH Divest
www.ipsc.ie/campaigns/crh-divest
Nesher
www.whoprofits.org/Company%20Info.php?id=637
Cement Roadstone Holdings
www.caiaweb.org/tfp/CRH.html