Israeli businesses vow to fight discriminatory law: "We are obligated to do as much as we can to prevent discrimination"
Israeli businesses vow to fight discriminatory law: "We are obligated to do as much as we can to prevent discrimination"
Israel Discount Bank said it has updated its credit policy and said it would not lend money to groups that discriminate against customers on the basis of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation following calls by far-right members of Israel's incoming government to revise anti-discrimination laws
Israel Discount Bank, the country's fourth largest bank, announced on Monday that it has updated its credit policy and said it would not lend money to groups that discriminate against customers on the basis of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation.
Discount Bank’s announcement came following calls by far-right members of Israel's incoming government to revise anti-discrimination laws. On Sunday, a member of the far-right Religious Zionism party - one of the parties in the new coalition - told public radio that hotels and doctors should be allowed to refuse services to people on religious grounds, provided others are available. These calls prompted some of the country’s leading businesses to announce new policies of their own to combat discrimination.
Discount Bank Chairman Shaul Kobrinsky said the update "officially formalizes the obvious.”
Cybersecurity firm Wiz, which is valued at $6 billion, also said on Monday it would work only with companies committed to prevent such discrimination and said it would terminate its business relationships if this was violated.
“Wiz believes in, and is guided by, values of equality and human dignity. Recent calls for revoking basic rights heard in the political arena in Israel are of grave concern to our society. We are obligated to do as much as we can to prevent discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of race, religion, nationality, country of origin, gender or sexual orientation,” Wiz said.
The head of Microsoft's R&D center in Israel also waded into the debate on Monday.
"Israel is a democratic and moral country and it must remain so if it wants to stay alive," Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk posted on LinkedIn. "A discourse that encourages racism and discrimination of any kind has no place in a proper society."
More Investment House, investment firm Altshuler Shaham, insurance company AIG Israel, and VC's Team8 and Pitango also all joined the call to prevent any form of discrimination.
