P.M. BRIEFING : Baxter Off Arab League Blacklist
Baxter International Inc., a hospital supply company that was on the Arab League’s blacklist, was taken off the list after selling a plant in Israel and opening another in Syria, a newspaper reported today.
Baxter executives have denied that the company sought to curry favor from the League by selling the plant in Israel, a move that would violate a U.S. law forbidding American companies to participate in a foreign boycott, the Wall Street Journal said.
The plants in Israel and Syria both synthesize intravenous body fluids.
Jewish leaders are demanding an explanation from Baxter.
A memorandum on file in the Arab League’s boycott office in the Syrian capital of Damascus suggests that the sale and the delisting were linked, the newspaper said.
A Washington businessman and former Baxter official, Dr. Richard Fuisz, gave the Journal a copy of the memo and documents about Baxter’s Middle East operations.
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