Soros Money Used To Promote BDS Movement Against Israel

George Soros-Linked Money Used To Promote BDS Movement Against Israel

• The Open Society Foundations, an international grant-making organization bankrolled by George Soros, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the EIRIS Foundation. 

• The EIRIS Foundation used the Soros-linked funds to create a “Business in Occupied Lands” database that frames Israel as an occupying government force. 

Money tied to George Soros, a liberal billionaire who uses his wealth to support a number of Democratic and progressive causes, funded the creation of a database that singles out business investment in Israel.

The EIRIS Foundation, a charity organization that focuses on investment research, received donations totaling nearly $300,000 from Soros’ Open Society Foundations to build a “Business in Occupied Lands” database, according to financial reports from the U.K. Charity Commission between 2015 to 2017.

The database is advertised as a way to help companies practice better corporate social responsibility, i.e., ethical business investing. However, the information from the database only focuses on two areas: Crimea and Israel, which the EIRIS Foundation simply refers to as “Palestine.” Despite claiming the Business in Occupied Lands project to be an “objective” collection of information on corporate operations in Israel, the EIRIS Foundation frames the region as “illegally administered.”

While a growing number of companies across the world are implementing corporate social responsibility into their business practices in an effort to promote justice, experts point out that more partisan-driven actors have weaponized corporate social responsibility to reach political goals. Namely, it has been used to boost the BDS movement, a global campaign that seeks the “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” of Israel and Israeli-linked businesses.