COPENHAGEN, (PIC)
The Copenhagen municipality has announced its decision to divest from companies with links to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to the Danish news agency Ritzau.
The municipality’s finance department made the decision following a vote of nine to two in favor of the step.
The vote means that the Copenhagen municipality will now sell its investments in companies including Airbnb, Expedia Group and Booking.com. They are among some of the companies on a UN blacklist of businesses with links to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The Social Democrats, Red-Green Alliance and Social Liberals all voted in favor of the vote, while the Conservatives and Liberal Alliance voted against.
The decision comes after Copenhagen mayor Sophie Andersen highlighted that she did not think it was right to have links to such companies.
“As a large investor, we have a responsibility for things like human rights. That’s why I don’t think we should invest in companies that have to do with illegal settlements,” she said last week.
The University of Copenhagen in Denmark also said it would be withdrawing investments from three companies that operate in occupied Palestinian territories after weeks of student campus protests.
Hundreds of students started protesting in early May to call for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and for the university to cut all academic ties with Israel, as well as the divestment from companies in occupied Palestinian areas.
