Israel's occupation of Palestinian land is illegal, the International
Court of Justice has confirmed.
The Advisory Opinion of the UN's highest court makes clear that
helping to maintain the occupation now would be illegal too. But
that's exactly what our banks and pension funds are doing when they
help finance Israel's arms supplies.
Even with lavish government support, Western arms manufacturers
couldn’t last a day without help from financial institutions.
We know that some financiers are seriously considering their
options. Norway’s biggest private pension fund cut ties to
Caterpillar for its role with Israel’s army, even before the court's
opinion was announced. It's time that they all took action to cut
Netanyahu’s weapons supply and stop aiding and abetting
Israel's illegal occupation :
Banks, insurers and pension funds: stop doing business with
companies supplying arms to Israel
In Europe alone, 20 banks have provided 36.1 billion EUR in loans
and underwritings to Israel’s biggest international arms suppliers in
2019-2023. A study published in June identified France’s BNP
Paribas as the biggest lender to Israel’s top arms suppliers (4.7
billion EUR), followed by Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, and
Barclays.
Pension funds and insurers are also named in the NGO report
and by UN experts who warned that if they fail to respond now,
financial institutions linked to Israel’s arms suppliers risk becoming
complicit in war crimes.
Big US and Canadian banks are just as bad. New York’s Citigroup,
for example, led a consortium of banks that helped the Israeli
government buy its F35 jets. The bank has also invested billions
more in Israel’s arms suppliers since October 2023. But they can also
divest, and help end this horror.
Some may say that governments should decide this sort of thing, and
bankers should just stick to their jobs and make money. Indeed, our
politicians have a lot to answer for, and some of them may end up
behind bars some day for their part. But bankers are people too, and
with enough public pressure, they can be moved to use their
power for good.
Tell the bankers: don’t do business with companies supplying
arms to Israel
More than 1,000 Palestinian children underwent leg amputations
between October and November 2023 alone, according to UNICEF.
The numbers today would be higher still, only Israeli bombs have
decimated what’s left of Gaza’s hospitals and roads.
It looks like the nightmare will never end, and cutting Israel’s arms
supplies will take forever. But as Nelson Mandela said : It always
seems impossible until it's done.
Let’s help bring more pressure to bear on the banks, insurers and
pension funds today – whatever it takes to stop the bombs.
Session publique du Diwan, le salon politique d’Urgence Palestine. La discussion en ligne aura lieu ce jeudi 1er août à 21:00 !
Consacrée aux prisonnier·es palestinien·nes, elle s’inscrit dans une campagne autour de la Journée internationale d’action pour Gaza et les prisonnier·es.
Rassemblement pour le boycott d'Israël aux JOP
Retrouvons nous samedi 3 août pour une opération de tractage et sensibliser les personnes au rôle joué par la BNP dans le financement du génocide en cours à Gaza. 
Je rejoins l'action Urgence Palestine
Je soutiens l'indépendance financière
