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Anti-Israel protests target UK bank

London, Jan 17, IRNA — One of Britain’s leading banks is being targeted in the latest wave of anti-Israel demonstrations across the country, protesting against the ongoing slaughter of more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Protests were being held by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) Saturday at Lloyds TSB in Edinburgh and Glasgow after the bank stopped clearing the cheques of Britain’s largest Palestinian charity, Interpal.

Lloyds’ refusal to handle cheques from the humanitarian agency is “damaging Interpal’s ability to send desperately-needed medicines and other aid to Gaza,” SPSC warned.
It also revealed that the chairman of the bank, being partly nationalised by the UK government, is Sir Victor Blank, who is a governor of Tel Aviv University.

Following previous protests last month, Lloyds wrote to the SPSC blaming the British government and US sanctions for the bank’s refusal.

“People should take up the matter with the UK government if they are Unhappy with US law and regulation impacting on UK activities,” said the bank’s head of public policy and regulation, Jo Lewis.

“Like other international banks operating in a global market we seek to comply with appropriate laws and regulations of the many jurisdictions which we operate in, including UN, EU and US sanctions regimes,” Lewis said.

The protest was among numerous anti-Israel rallies being held across the UK in the latest wave of protests, under the banner of ‘1,000 dead, nothing said – end the slaughter in Gaza.’