French-based bank reportedly drops account of BDS organization

BNP Paribas has avoided commenting on a report it may have shut an account belonging to a pro-BDS organization.

One of the world’s largest banks based out of Paris might have closed an account last year belonging to a French organization that endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel (BDS), according to a report in The Jerusalem Post.

The bank, BNP Paribas, made the move on the organization, CAPJPO-EuroPalestine, (acronym for Coordinated Calls for a Just Peace in the Middle East) apparently after the former president of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) sent a letter to BNP in May 2016.

“It’s possible that BNP quietly closed the CAPJPO bank account after receiving the letter from CRIF,” Israeli journalist Jean Patrick Grumberg, told The Jerusalem Post. “CAPJPO removed the link to the page with their bank information.”

In a conversation with BNP, CRIF president Roger Cukierman reportedly referenced France’s anti-BDS Law known as the Larouche Law. The legislation outlaws the BDS movement, defining it as advocating for discriminatory action against Israelis based on their national origin.

“BNP Paribas called Roger Cukierman for a direct discussion,” explained CRIF’s spokesman Robert Ejnes to The Jerusalem Post. “The CRIF president  restated that, since the boycott is illegal in France, an organization that supports BDS should not be authorized to hold a bank account with BNP.”

“We do not know what BNP Paribas did,” he added. “CRIF’s message was not an instruction but a recommendation.”

BNP officials largely declined to comment on the issue to The Jerusalem Post. 

France is not the only European country to act against the BDS movement. One of Switzerland’s parliamentary bodies last month voted to defund organizations that embrace BDS.

By: World Israel News Staff