To a generation that grew up in the 1980s and especially in the UK, the name “Barclays” is associated with stubborn support for Apartheid South Africa. The British bank, whose AGM is held today, was forced to pull out of the country in 1986 after protests and a long-running student boycott against it. Now, some 35 years later, Barclays is deepening its connection with Israel at a time when use of the word “apartheid” to describe its treatment of the Palestinians is losing its taboo and becoming mainstream. Late last month, Human Rights Watch declared for the first time that Israeli authorities are guilty of the crime of apartheid, as set out in international law in the 1998 Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court (ICC), and called on the ICC to investigate. This follows moves by the ICC earlier this year to open a formal investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2014, with which Israel has said it will not cooperate. Last year, Barclays became the leading underwriter in Israel, much of it in government bonds, leading a process to raise the state US$ 5 billion. In an interview with the CEO of Barclays Israel, Len Rosen, an Israeli business website states that Barclays has underwritten 15 deals for the State of Israel for a total of over US$ 13 billion in recent years. This underwriting of Israeli government bonds includes no restrictions on the use of funds, meaning that Barclays is likely exposed to all actions now associated with ICC’s…