The Executive Council has placed three companies — Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and the Israel Discount Bank — on a no-buy list because of the nature of their business operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The council also adopted an investment screen, already in use by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, to avoid investing in companies that benefit from human rights violations.
The moves were in response to General Convention Resolution B016, which directed the church to follow the lead of the Lutherans.
In a news release, the Church quoted Bishop Doug Fisher, chair of the committee on corporate social responsibility: “The Church does not support the global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign, but we do take seriously the rights of human beings to live free of human rights violations. We have engaged companies about the occupation since we first filed a shareholder resolution with Motorola in 1994.”
