Clark Charges New York Banks Are ‘enforcers’ of Arab Boycott

Ramsey Clark, a contender for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Congress and a former U.S. Attorney General, charged here that New York banks are acting as “enforcers” of the Arab boycott against Jewish-owned businesses favoring Israel, and called for passage of federal legislation to outlaw such practices.

In an address yesterday to the National Council of Young Israel, Clark said that the state’s anti-boycott law, in effect since Jan. 1, has been circumvented and made ineffective by the failure of banks to observe the law and by companies avoiding the use of New York ports for export.

“The role of New York banks in perpetuating this immoral and illegal boycott is central,” said Clark, “since the banks accept Arab letters of credit with restrictive clauses, and refuse to pay firms that do not comply with boycott restrictions.”

He asserted that major New York banks admitted, in hearings before the Subcommittee on Human Rights of the New York State Assembly Government Operations Committee last February, that they interpret the Arab boycott as a “political” one, not covered by laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” Clark charged that “this interpretation clearly violates the intent, and probably the letter, of the state law.”

He noted that a report of the New York State Assembly Office of Legislative Oversight and Analysis found numerous instances of individuals and companies on the list who do not do business with Israel, but who have Jewish or pro-Israeli executives. Among those so listed were: Ajax Electric Motor of Rochester; Maurice L. Rothschild; Beaunit Mills; Apparel Industries; and Gotham Knitting Mills.