A coalition of leading pro-Israel and Jewish organizations—JLens, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Jewish Federations of North America (the Coalition)—today announced its support for important steps taken by MSCI to ensure neutrality and mitigate the risk of bias in its ESG Controversies products and expressed its appreciation for the productive dialogue with MSCI.
The engagement was initiated by JLens, which utilizes MSCI data in the construction and management of the JLens 500 Jewish Advocacy US Index. While the Coalition does not endorse all aspects of MSCI’s methodologies or results, the Coalition is satisfied that MSCI does not support or endorse the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and it appreciates the concrete steps the company has taken as detailed below. Throughout the dialogue, the Coalition emphasized its core objective: ensuring that Israel-related companies are treated no differently than companies in any other region, and it welcomed MSCI’s stated commitment to consistently and neutrally apply its methodology.
During the engagement, MSCI demonstrated its commitment to neutrality and reinforced its safeguards against bias, by:
- Archiving and removing several Israel-related controversies from its reports following a period of no new allegations, in accordance with MSCI’s methodology.
- Applying a source vetting framework to identify and exclude biased media sources and reaffirming that sources linked to the BDS movement are ineligible to establish controversies related to Israel.
- Allowing companies to include their own rebuttals to alleged controversies directly in MSCI’s Controversy reports.
- Including a notice in Controversy reports to remind users that controversies reflect publicly reported allegations, not findings endorsed or investigated by MSCI.
- Utilizing internal editorial guidelines that require the use of neutral language to describe controversies.
With the support of the Coalition, JLens will continue to assess and engage with ratings providers and the investment industry as part of its ongoing shareholder advocacy on behalf of the Jewish Investor Network, which represents more than 30 Jewish institutions—including Jewish Federations, foundations, and nonprofits—with approximately $11 billion in assets under management.
“We appreciate MSCI’s willingness to engage constructively and we recognize the steps it has taken to strengthen neutrality safeguards in its ESG research,” said a spokesperson for the Coalition. “Investors deserve research that is objective and free from anti-Israel bias. We will continue to monitor the financial sector to ensure it remains grounded in responsible, evidence-based standards—especially when analyzing the activities of companies that do business in Israel.”
This statement was first posted by JFNA on jewishfederations.org on 9/10/25.
