Israeli tech companies and financial institutions are joining an effort launched by the Israel Discount Bank to publicly voice their opposition to discrimination, fearing that the incoming coalition government will make changes to exploit discrimination.
The Board of Directors of the Israel Discount Bank has accepted the recommendation of the bank’s management to revise its lending policy and announced that the bank will not lend to any business or organization that engages in discrimination. Religion, race, gender or sexual orientation.
Shaul Kobrinsky, chairman of the Israel Discount Bank, said: “We find it appropriate to revise the bank’s lending policy.” “According to the guidelines, Discount Bank does not lend to businesses or entities that discriminate against customers in the Israeli government.”
“This is our commitment and responsibility as a major business entity in the Israeli economy,” Kobrinsky added.
The concession bank statement came in response to an apparent coalition agreement between the religious Zionist and Likud parties, which included a clause stating that the incoming government would seek to reform discrimination laws that refuse to provide services to business owners if it violates their religious beliefs. . The agreement has not yet been officially signed.
Meanwhile, incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied that the coalition would allow such a law to be enacted.
Wiz offices in Tel Aviv. (honour)
The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other similar matters by those who provide public services or products, and anyone who does so is subject to fines.
Michal Braverman-Blumenstick, corporate vice president at tech giant Microsoft Corporation, warned that speech promoting racism and any form of discrimination has no place in a civilized society.
“Microsoft is a diverse home where racism does not belong,” Braverman-Blumenstyk wrote in a statement on her LinkedIn page. “The reason for the company’s success is diversity: every day I walk the corridors of Microsoft and meet wonderful employees – Jews, Arabs, ultra-Orthodox, secular, LGBT, women and men – with a background of fundamental understanding that everyone is equal in fraternity, professionalism and resistance.
“Israel is a democratic and moral country and must remain one,” said Braverman-Blumenstick, general manager of Microsoft Israel’s research and development center.
Israeli cyber security firm Wiz said on Monday that any company that wants to work with the startup must adhere to its non-discrimination policy.
Discrimination against a person on any grounds – race, religion, nationality, country of origin, sex, sexual orientation, opinion, party affiliation, age or personal status – will be a reason for Wiz to terminate any business relationship with the contractor company. The novice said.
“The recent calls for the abolition of basic rights heard in the political arena in Israel are of great concern to our society,” Wise said. We have a duty to do everything we can to prevent any form of discrimination.
Statements by Israel’s business community have sparked protests by religious Zionist MK Orit Strock, who is set to become a cabinet minister in the incoming government, saying that doctors should be allowed to stop practicing medicine against their religion. Faith, as long as another doctor is willing to give the same treatment.
Supporting the strike, fellow religious MK Simcha Rotman made similar comments on Sunday, asserting that if a hotel wanted to refuse service to gays on religious grounds, it had the right to do so.
Last week, more than a hundred of Israel’s top corporate executives and fund managers joined an appeal launched earlier this month, demanding policies that threaten Israel’s image of a stable democracy and hurt industry by driving away vital foreign investment.
The Israel Times staff contributed to this report.
