New York State places Dutch firms on blacklist for alleged Israel boycott

Israel NetherlandsFour Dutch companies have been placed on a blacklist by Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York state, for their alleged boycott of Israel, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Wednesday.

The four are: ASN and Triodos banks, engineering group HaskoningDHV and water company Vitens. The list, published on Tuesday, comprises 13 companies and institutions. New York state government agencies have been prevented from doing business with these firms since June because of their alleged boycott of Israel.

Haskoning, which has an office in the Israeli city of Nethanya, claims it has placed no boycott on dealing with Israel. A Haskoning spokesman told Dutch broadcaster RTL Z that it has been working on Israeli water, environment and infratructure projects for years.

However, Haskoning did pull out of a project in Jerusalem in 2013 on the advice of the Dutch foreign affairs ministry.

Vitens ended a joint venture with the Israeli water company Mekorot at the end of 2013. In a letter to its shareholders at the time, Vitens enclosed a United Nations report in which Mekorot was accused of pumping ground water out of Palestinian territory. Vitens said it had stopped working with Mekorot because circumstances had changed drastically.

Companies on Cuomo’s list have 90 days to prove they have not boycotted Israel.

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