The entrance to the Asian Development Bank’s Knowledge Management Center (library) at the ADB Headquarters in Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila, Philippines, in 2016. Credit – Mark Floro –ADB via Flickr
IIsrael is about to become the newest member of the Asian Development Bank, which finances social and economic development projects across Asia – a region where many countries (and members of the ADB) have been outspoken in their criticism of the ongoing military campaign of Israel in Gaza. and some do not even recognize Israel’s sovereignty.
There have been whispers in the halls of the ADB’s Manila headquarters for months about the plan to welcome the multilateral institution’s 69th member, which multiple sources said could be formalized as early as the coming days.
Israel’s application process is “ongoing,” an ADB spokesperson tells TIME, and “a decision will be announced when the process is complete.”
“Israel completed the requirements for membership in the ADB in early September and looks forward to officially joining the Bank,” Ohad Niepris, a spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Finance, told TIME on Thursday.
Four ADB employees who spoke to TIME on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals say concerns have been circulating among staff in recent months about Israel’s impending entry into the ADB, which was first approved in April 2022.
Since then, the ADB has granted at least two extensions to Israel to meet the requirements needed to become a member, according to interviews and public documents reviewed by TIME, including one extension that came after October 7, 2023, despite growing international concern about the situation of Israel. military campaign in Gaza, which has been repeatedly convicted by the United Nations and others due to the high number of civilian casualties and alleged human rights violations.
These deadline extensions were “requested and approved for technical reasons,” said Niepris, the Israeli spokesman, adding: “Such deadline extensions are a common practice in international organizations, especially given that these processes are legislative and require internal government procedures that rely on multiple stakeholders.”
“Many of us knew nothing about Israel’s latest expansion,” an ADB official told TIME. “So it came as a bit of a shock to us to think that Israel, while carrying out this unwarranted aggression against the Palestinians, is accepted as a member of the Asian Development Bank. I think it seems a bit tactless, both because of the timing and the occasion on which it happens.”
Israel has been trying to join the ADB in recent years as part of its plan expanding its footprint in Asia. It brings in expertise water managementwhich it has shared over the years with institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bankamong other resources for the institution.
“It didn’t surprise me that much from a development perspective,” Jianzhi Zhao, associate professor of international development and public policy at the University of Exeter, tells TIME about Israel’s future ADB membership, describing it as a “win-win situation.” for both Israel and the ADB.
Since 2017Representatives of the Israeli Ministry of Finance have regularly attended the annual meeting of the ADB Board of Directors – the bank’s board of directors. highest policy body-as observers; in 2019, then Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon met his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire in Bercy and returned with what he said was a pledge of support from France for Israel to join the ADB.
These efforts came to fruition in 2022, when Israel was approved to join the ADB solution by the Governing Council, consisting of one representative of each Member State.
The ADB did not respond to specific questions from TIME about this story, but said in a statement that “new membership of the bank will be decided in accordance with Article 3 of the Agreement Establishing the Asian Development Bank.” Referring the same charterNiepris, the Israeli spokesperson, said: “The ADB – like all MDBs (multilateral development banks) – is an apolitical institution as defined by its charter and as such, banking activities are guided solely by economic considerations.”
To complete their entry into the ADB, potential members must meet requirements including implementing specific administrative steps and paying a subscription for shares of ADB’s capital.
For undisclosed reasons, Israel missed the original deadline of December 31, 2022. According to publicly available minutes of the meetingIn December 2022, Israel received a deadline extension from the ADB’s Board of Directors, twelve directors chosen by the governors, each representing different member states.
In May 2023, the Israeli Ministry of Finance announced announced that the country was “on its way to joining” the ADB. But Israel has apparently missed the deadline again: according to minutes of the meetingthe Governing Council approved Israel’s second extension of its membership deadline in December 2023 – two months after Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7 Hamas attack.
It is unclear to what extent the directors consult the governments of the members they represent – including several countries that do not recognize Israel, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Brunei.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim meeting with Hamas leaders in May and criticized the ‘brutality of the Zionist regime’. The Pakistani government has labeled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “terrorist.” And Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world and a long-time supporter of Palestinian rights, has done just that Also consistently convicted Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 7. In these three countries alone, according to the ADB website, the bank has hundreds of projects that are active or approved.
Sources tell TIME it is not unusual for potential members of multilateral banks to miss such deadlines. But while Israel’s first extension of the deadline may have been due to more administrative considerations, Zhao says, the second extension – granted after the outbreak of the war in Gaza – cannot be interpreted without taking into account “international reputation or international politics in decision-making. ”
“Because,” says Zhao, “multilateral development banks are, after all, a platform for multilateral diplomacy.”
ADB, for its part, has maintained that it “openly apolitical‘as an institution. His employee code of conduct states that while “personnel may exercise their political rights,” they “shall refrain from participating in political activities that could interfere with their duties or their status as staff of ADB.” They are also prohibited from being involved in the publication of documents related to “any national political issues.”
The bank has previously faced some criticism for not paying sufficient attention to human rights issues in its activities. In May, the ADB, a network of NGOs, held its 57th annual meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia accused the bank of inadequate safeguards for the environmental and social impact of its projects, which activists have argued are in line with shrinking public spaces and the oppression of communities in member states from Georgia to Vietnam and Bangladesh.
However, the ADB has cited human rights concerns in the past for imposing sanctions on countries. In 2021 it is suspended disbursements from sovereign projects and new contracts in Myanmar after the country’s military seized power in a coup; that same year, it put on hold its regular assistance in Afghanistan when the Taliban took over the country; it too paused his work on a cross-border gas pipeline project that would have passed through Afghanistan, saying it would wait until Taliban-led authorities gain international recognition.
It is unclear to some of the bank’s staff why Israeli actions over the past year have not led to similar sanctions. Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas have been found declared by the International Court of Justice to be contrary to international law, while Netanyahu faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
“There are clearly some inherent contradictions and hypocrisy in this move, as ADB has a strict policy towards the countries it works with,” said an ADB employee from Israel who was allowed to join. “Accepting a member who openly violates international law seems a bit hypocritical of the institution.”
Niepris, the Israeli spokesman, said Israel “strongly believes in the power of institutions to bring countries and people together to achieve shared goals,” and that it “looks forward to working with all ADB members and staff to make progress to book.” the Bank’s mandate to promote sustainable development and the eradication of extreme poverty in Asia and the Pacific.”
But while the impact of the Israeli addition to the ADB remains to be seen, some employees are already concerned about what it will mean for their work at the bank and the bank’s broader reputation.
Israeli membership would “have an impact on the way the ADB is perceived in some of the countries where we operate,” the ADB official said. “The idea that ADB is more of an Asian institution tailored to the needs of Asia-Pacific countries is somewhat eroded by this decision.”
Contact us at letters@time.com.
