TIAA CREF - Another BDS Hoax?

TIAA CREF - Another BDS Hoax?


We interrupt regular broadcasting with news of yet another potential BDS-related hoax.


Once more, a hoax tale seems to be centered on TIAA-CREF.  If you recall, the boycotters were caught red-handed several years ago trying to pass off a generic business decision by the retirement giant as a response to their request to get the organization to divest from Israel. 


Rather than simply act as though the whole incident never happened, the BDSers took the unusual step of launching a multi-year campaign to get TIAA-CREF to actually do what they had simply pretended they did the year before. 


The response to date from CREF has been a series of polite “please piss off” messages.  Which is why this recent announcement that their divestment campaign has borne fruit seems mighty suspicious indeed.


To begin with, the story is not accompanied by any statement from TIAA-CREF itself that it has taken any action that could be described as political in nature.  Which makes sense once you realize that CREF is still heavily invested in the company the boycotters are claiming as a divestment win (the long suffering Caterpillar Corporation).


In fact, if you dig a little deeper it looks like CREF did not make any politically related investment or divestment decision at all, but rather that one of its funds (one targeting social investors) was following the lead of an independent research firm (MSCI) which generates an index which many “Social Responsibility” investment funds use to determine what will and will not be included in their portfolios.


Now earlier this year, MSCI downgraded and eventually removed Caterpillar from their index, which means that CREF was just following along with a decision made by an independent researcher, not making a judgment regarding Caterpillar on its own (as reflected by the fact that other funds managed by CREF still hold millions in Caterpillar stock).


Which brings us to the question of why did MSCI (an organization none of us – including the BDSers – ever noticed or mentioned until just this week) made the decision they did regarding Caterpillar? 


BDS press releases do a masterful job of claiming victory while never citing a single quote (or anything specific) that would indicate that this decision was based on their effort – or anything having to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict for that matter.  (As usual, Jewish Voice for Peace goes to the furthest rhetorical extreme, claiming that TIAA CREF not only made a specific decision to divest from Israel, but did so in defiance of a US Congressman - with no evidence supporting either contention/invention, of course.)


Might MSCI have taken into account some of the faux controversy the BDSers themselves have generated in judging whether Caterpillar was in or out?  Or might some of the union issues the company has been facing been a deciding factor? 


We don’t know (but many of us are trying to find out).  But given the total lack of evidence those touting the “BDS victory” narrative have produced, I think it’s safe to say that we’re looking at another situation where a business decision with no specifically known motivation is being sold by the boycotters as a result of their work.  And given the boycotter’s track record for fraudulently trying to pass off similar stories in the past, I think it’s safe to ignore any BDS bombast until they can produce for us a quote from TIAA-CREF itself (the company they are claiming to have done the BDSers’ bidding) confirming the story.


I have a sneaking suspicion that this move may represent a “long bomb” play by the boycotters in the run-up to next week’s PCUSA General Assembly, a hope that one story of BDS success or momentum might help put them over the top when the Presbyterians vote on divestment in the next couple of weeks.  But if this turns out to be yet another BDS hoax, one wonders how that story will play out as the boycotters descend on Pittsburg in order to explain to the Presbyterians that following them is the only moral choice.

http://www.divestthis.com/2012/06/tiaa-cref-another-bds-hoax.html