The decisions by TIAA-CREF, the pension fund managers, to divest $73 million in Caterpillar stock from a socially-responsible investment fund and by MSCI, a Wall Street investment service firm, to delist Caterpillar from its index of "socially responsible" companies, have hit a giant political nerve. Palestinian solidarity groups are claiming the divestment as a victory-- because Caterpillar has long been a target of divestment initiatives. Meantime, pro-Israel groups are spinning the decision their way, saying that Caterpillar got axed for reasons unrelated to the occupation.

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has removed Caterpillar, Inc. from its Social Choice Funds portfolio. As of May 1, 2012, financial data posted on TIAA-CREF’s website valued Social Choice Funds shares in Caterpillar at $72,943,861. Today it is zero.

Now and then, Ohad Naharin tells a journalist what he thinks about his country’s politics. “There is so much hatred,” he said to Anna Kisselgoff of the Times some years ago, “and I’m not talking about any particular group.” I think he is talking about a particular group, but that doesn’t mean that the other group likes him. Outside BAM last night was a group of pro-Palestinians, chanting and waving placards to the effect that BAM should not have invited a company from Israel.

The Israeli contemporary dance company Batsheva has enthralled audiences internationally with its visceral choreography and raw style of movement. But the company is facing a less-than-warm welcome in many of the stops on its current five-week North American tour on account of the fact that it's partially backed by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which funds a "Brand Israel" campaign to send artists overseas in order to "show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war."