Israel Pushes for Harder Iran Sanctions, but She Herself has not yet Divested from Teheran
Posted By Mike Rosenthal on June 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment
In the background of Israel pushing for harder paralyzing sanctions against Iran, the Jerusalem Post revealed Sunday that a law passed in 2008 forbidding Israelis from investing in companies that do direct business with Teheran, sponsored by then opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has never actually been implemented. When the law was passed, Kadima MK Ronnie Bar-On was acting finance minister, but did nothing to actually implement the bill into practice. Neither did current finance minister Yuval Steinitz, though he has recently begun taking measures to activate it.The bill, in theory, prevents Israeli financial institutions and insurance firms from investing in companies that work with Iran, thereby making Israeli divestment from Iran complete up to the second degree of separation.Bar-On was then authorized to name a committee chairman who would take measures to implement the bill, but that never actually happened. The committee was supposed to be made up of two appointees from the PMO, one from the Foreign, Defense, and Industry Trade and Labor Ministries, one from the Securities Authority, and one from the Authority against Money Laundering.
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