Warren Buffett signs $2 billion check in support of Israeli apartheid

Buffett has just spent a cool $2 billion to take full control of the Israeli company Iscar Metalworking (he had already bought most of the firm in 2006). Eitan Wertheimer, Iscar’s president, described the transaction as a "message of faith" in the Israeli economy and "a type of Balfour declaration."

At first glance, Wertheimer seems to be resorting to hyperbole. But Buffett’s act is arguably more significant than the letter of support to the Zionist movement that Arthur James Balfour, then Britain’s foreign secretary, signed in 1917. The Balfour declaration was aspirational; Buffett, on the other hand, has signed an enormous check in support of Israeli apartheid.

Buffett’s investment is an insult to the Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. I’m a supporter of the BDS movement, not a strategist for it. Yet I think there is a clear case now for Palestine solidarity activists to urge a boycott of products made by firms in which Buffett has a major stake. They include Coca-Cola and Heinz .... http://electronicintifada.net