Largest European Bank to Divest from Israeli Defense Contractor

30 Dec

5:33 AM

Europe’s largest bank confirmed, on Thursday, that it has completely liquidated its holdings in the Israeli firm “Elbit Systems”, due to public pressure orchestrated by the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, according to a statement by Britain’s Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.

The statement said, according to Haaretz Israeli daily, that the British bank, HSBC, agreed to divest from Elbit following a year-long campaign that included regular demonstrations in front of the bank’s 40 branches in Britain and emails from 24,000 people.

It argued that HSBC’s investments in Elbit, “which sells weapons to the Israeli military used in attacks on Palestinians,” violated the bank’s own policies about ties with defense contractors, even if, as HSBC claimed, they were made on behalf of its clients.

(PNN archive image)

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