Holy Land Principles Subverted at Alphabet/Google Meeting

Posted By: June 08, 2017

Sabotage attempt deplored: Shades of Mac Bride campaign

 

CAPITOL HILL. Thursday, June 8, 2017—— The Holy Land Principles, Inc. has filed 20 Shareholder Resolutions/Proposals so far this year.

 

The Holy Land Principles is an 8-point corporate code of conduct for American companies doing business in Israel/Palestine-Palestine/Israel.
The Holy Land Principles are pro-Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company. The Principles do not call for quotas, reverse discrimination, disinvestment/divestment or boycotts—only for fair employment by American companies doing business in the Holy Land. The Principles do not try to tell the Palestinians or the Israelis what to do.

The Holy Land Principles only call for fair employment by American companies in Palestine/Israel.

 

Up until June 7— the date of the Alphabet, Inc. Annual Meeting— all the other Holy Land Principles resolutions, as far as we are aware, were appropriately and seamlessly “moved”/presented at the respective Annual Shareholders Meetings according to an authorized script and delivered verbatim according to the rules. But there was a blatant attempt to sabotage the Holy Land Principles by the “designated” presenter at the Alphabet Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 7.

 

When the two leaders of the Holy Land Principles, Inc. — Fr. Sean Mc Manus, President and Barbara Flaherty, Executive Vice President—were logistically unable to present the Resolution at a particular Annual Shareholder Meeting, they designated in writing to the particular company an authorized person to present the Resolution on their behalf. They provided that person with a meticulously worded script, which the person formally agreed to read verbatim.

Without such agreement, the person would not be authorized to present the Holy Land Principles.

 

Fr. Sean Mc Manus — who is also President of the Irish National Caucus and who also launched the Mac Bride Principles on which the Holy Land Principles are based — explained: “Up until yesterday (June 7), all the presenters kept their word and performed honorably, honestly and truthfully—delivering the script verbatim, per solemn agreement and their word of honor. However, sadly and very disappointingly, the person we designated and authorized to present our Alphabet resolution betrayed us. In what can only be described as an attempt to sabotage the Holy Land Principles, the designated presenter went rogue, went off script, and delivered a rant that

misrepresented   our submitted Resolution and which deliberately distorted the entire meaning and mission of the Holy Land Principles. The SEC rules demand that the presenter presents the Resolution as filed and not some other issue.” (Please see below the official, authorized script the presenter had agreed to read and, also, the unauthorized script he fraudulently read. The unauthorized, fraudulent script was transcribed as accurately as possible on Thursday, June 8 by Holy Land Principles, Inc. from the Webcast of the Alphabet Annual Meeting. Holy Land Principles, Inc. only learned of the presenter’s deception on Thursday, June 8).

Fr. Mc Manus continued: “I use the word fraudulently because the presenter is not an Alphabet shareholder, so he fraudulently used our Alphabet shares, our funds, not to promote the Holy Land Principles resolution, but to sabotage it and to promote his own agenda and that of whomever was directing him. That takes some brass-neck hubris.

Although I was deeply disappointed by this betrayal, I am not totally shocked because of my long experience with our Mac Bride Principles campaign. In that campaign — as I’ve documented in my Memoirs, My American Struggle for Justice in Northern Ireland— the British Government manipulated Church and State, and some so-called Irish-American activists to try to sabotage the Mac Bride Principles. For example, two such Irish-American ‘activists’ — long known to have worked in tandem— did the following: One traveled to Ireland to get Sean MacBride to water down the Principles. Needless to say, the great Sean MacBride dismissed him. The other ‘activist’ showed up at a Baltimore City Council Hearing on our Mac Bride Bill and ranted that the only solution was to get the American companies out of Northern Ireland. It was the classic ‘pincer movement’—attacking from the ‘Right’ and the ‘Left.’ It would be absurdly ridiculous to think those two individuals acted on their own account. They were sent on a mission to sabotage and subvert our MacBride Principles campaign. And that, as history teaches us, is how the ‘Great Game’ is played.”

Fr. Mc Manus concluded: “This shows the danger of our handing the Holy Land Principles off to others. We must maintain vigilance. I apologize to the Alphabet/Google company, to all investors—especially those who voted for our Holy Land Principles resolution— and to

Azzad Asset Management, which, after we had filed our Resolution, co-filed in support of our Resolution. I am deeply sorry that —even though our Resolution itself was not altered— our designated presenter proceeded to shamelessly misrepresent our Resolution.

END

 

AUTHORIZED SCRIPT

 

MOVING THE ALPHABET RESOLUTION

June 7, 2017. Mountain View. CA.

Good morning Mr. Chairman and everyone here. I rise to move the Resolution on the Holy Land Principles. My name is Declan Keogh

The Holy Land Principles are pro-Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company. The Principles do not call for quotas, reverse discrimination, divestment, disinvestment or boycotts. The Principles do not take any position on solutions to the Israeli-Palestine issue. The Principles do not try to tell the Palestinians or the Israelis what to do.

The Holy Land Principles only call for fair employment by American companies in Palestine/Israel. LET ME REPEAT THAT: THE HOLY LAND PRINCIPLES ONLY CALL FOR FAIR EMPLOYMENT BY ALPHABETAND THE OTHER AMERICAN COMPANIES DOING BUSINESS IN THE HOLY LAND.

Irrespective of what Americans think about the Palestine-Israeli issue, one thing is certain: Americans expect American companies in the Holy Land to practice fair employment. Yet—incredibly—  before the Holy Land Principles were launched in 2012, this issue had never been brought before Alphabet or any other any of the 542 American companies doing business in Israel/Palestine

Our Resolution calls on Alphabet to set the standard by signing and implementing the Holy Land Principles, which are based on the very effective Mac Bride Principles for Northern Ireland.

Initially, American companies resisted the Mac Bride Principles, but now 116 companies—have signed the Mac Bride Principles. So why would Alphabet or any American company refuse to sign the Holy Land Principles?

In 2015, GE, Corning, and Intel tried to get the SEC to exclude the Holy Land Principles resolutions from their 2015 Proxy Materials. However, the SEC ruled in favor of the Holy Land Principles. Therefore, you know the Holy Land Principles are intrinsically valid, inherently fair and reasonable, and in the best American tradition. Furthermore, the Holy Land Principles are fully consistent with ESG issues and are a practical and particularized application of the Ruggie Principles.

Fair employment by the company is not only morally right but makes good economic sense—good for the company, enhancing its reputation and making it more profitable for its investors. Signing the Holy Land Principles will send out the very strong message that Alphabet is—in principle and practice— committed to American fairness in its operations in the Holy Land. Who could be opposed to that?

Please vote for the Holy Land Principles— it’s the American way.

Thank you.

END

 

FRAUDULENT SCRIPT THAT WAS READ AT ANNUAL MEETING

“Good Morning, Mr. Chairman and fellow Google shareholders.  My name is Declan Keogh. I am here to request that Google adopts the Holy Land Principles Resolution.

These Principles require that companies that do business in Israel and in Palestine have fair employment policies and procedures.

Google must have a workforce in Israel that reflects the ethnic diversity in Israel.  In Israel, diversity means diversity of religious affiliation.  It does not mean skin color.

Having a diverse workforce means a workforce that includes Christians and Muslims who make up more than 20% of the Israeli population.

The government of Israel requires that everyone carry an identity card that is color coded to their religion.  It is very easy for anyone to see which religion a person has.

American people expect American companies that do business overseas to have employee policies that reflect American values.  This includes equal opportunity, equal pay, and no favored group.

Google’s Board has recommended that we stockholders vote against this resolution because they say Google already has an equal opportunity policy in place in Israel.  If that is true, then we would like to see the numbers.  In Israel, it is very easy for Google to count how many of its employees are Jewish, how many are Christian and how many are Muslim.

I grew up in Ireland during the Irish Troubles which were caused by the discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland.

The Holy Land Principles are based on the Mac Bride Principles which require companies that did business in Northern Ireland to be fair in their hiring policies.

I know first-hand what discrimination can do to a nation.  By definition, Israel is an apartheid state where Christians and Muslims are subjected institutionalized discrimination.

Google must oppose Israel’s apartheid laws and take whatever steps it can to provide a safe and fair work environment for all its employees.

Apartheid is glaringly obvious in Israeli’s illegal settlements in Palestine. To employ Jewish Israelis that live in illegal settlements and not to employ Christians and Muslim Palestinians that live in Palestine is a flagrantly discriminatory practice.

Google’s credibility in the Arab world is at risk. Without a verifiable policy that provides proof of their fair employment, Google will be seen to have its own unofficial version of Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban.  In the words of Archbishop Tutu, ‘Apartheid is both intrinsically evil and morally reprehensible.’

Please remember, Google’s motto is ‘Don’t be evil.’

Thank you.”

 

END