The Board of Directors of I.E. DuPont de Nemours Companies is urging stockholders to reject a five-part proposal calling on the Board to report the company’s current policy “with respect to compliance” with the Arab boycott of Israel. Among the points in the proposal, to be considered at the company’s annual meeting in Wilmington, Del. April 11, is whether DuPont has agreed or will agree not to establish a plant in Israel or to enter into licensing agreements with Israeli companies.
The proposal also asked what steps the company has taken to assure that it will not tacitly refuse to do business with blacklisted firms or do business with Israel.
The stockholders who joined in the proposal are Alexander Annes, of Chicago; Boris Feinberg of Charleston, S.C.; Annabel W. Kaye, of Berkeley, Calif.; and Frances F. Buchsbaum, of Brooklyn, N.Y. Together they own 305 shares of DuPont stock.
They said they do not “oppose expansion of legitimate Arab-American trade” but “the effort of certain Arab governments to involve Americans in their boycott of Israel and to impose their anti-Jewish prejudices on the business community of the U.S. must be resisted.” The proposal is part of an on-going effort by the American Jewish Congress to persuade companies to reject Arab boycott pressures.
WILL NOT STOP DEALING WITH ISRAEL
In its recommendation to stockholders, the Board said: “Under no circumstances does
It added that “The fundamental purpose of this proposal (by the four stockholders) is not related to the advancement of DuPont’s business but is an attempt to politicize our annual meeting and is not in the interests of our stockholders. Our annual meeting is not an appropriate forum for resolution of issues of this kind.” The proposals and the Board’s response are contained in the notice of the annual meeting.
Irving S. Shapiro, chairman of the DuPont Board of Directors and chief executive officer of the company, is chairman of the Business Round-table which has been conferring with the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith for the establishment of a set of principals on which federal legislation to combat the Arab boycott may be based. It is understood, however, that friction has developed between the Roundtable and the ADL over the interpretation of principles.
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