A new investigative report shows that as of 30 June 2024, French multinational insurance giant AXA holds $150.43 million – US$78.87 million in shares and US$71.56 million in bonds – in eleven companies that are arming Israel during its #GazaGenocide. These are: Rolls-Royce, GE Aerospace (formerly General Electric), Honeywell Technologies, Textron, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), L3Harris Technologies and BAE Systems.
The report is based on research by the corporate accountability group Ekō and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), as well as on data commissioned from the independent research organization, Profundo, by the “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid” coalition.
AXA holds investments, amounting to $173.62 million, in at least 14 weapons manufacturers, with $134.91 million allocated to 13 companies that produce controversial weapons such as depleted uranium, nuclear arms, and white phosphorus, according to the report.
The report highlights AXA’s investments in Boeing and General Dynamics, the world’s fourth and fifth-largest weapons manufacturers. Both companies have supplied arms to Israel since the beginning of the genocide in October 2023, and their weapons have been directly linked to Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, including mass killings, such as the bombing of the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp in Rafah on 26 May, and the recent 10 September bombing of Palestinians sheltering in al-Mawasi, which Israel had designated as a “safe zone.”
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner and Amnesty International have concluded that these attacks constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
AXA could face legal liabilities under international law, including exposure to prosecution for facilitating war crimes, genocide, and violations of human rights principles outlined by the UN Global Compact and OECD Guidelines. According to a recently-published expert legal opinion commissioned by Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq and the Centre for Research on Multinational CorporationsSOMO, not only AXA as a company could be held criminally liable for violating international law, but its board members, managers, and senior employees could also be held liable.
The call to #BoycottAXA continues.
After years of campaigning, on 21 August 2024, the global Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid coalition announced a major milestone for accountability: popular pressure forced AXA to sell its investments in all major Israeli banks and Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military company.
The coalition was clear, though: amidst Israel’s live streamed genocide in Gaza, AXA was not off the hook.
AXA can’t hide; it finances genocide, we now know.
With this new revelation about AXA’s shameless role in enabling Israel’s atrocity crimes against Palestinians, the BDS movement continues to call to boycott AXA until it fully divests from companies involved in Israel’s ongoing genocide.