21 August 2024, Occupied Palestine - In a major BDS win for human rights activists against financial institutions complicit in Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler colonialism, apartheid and now genocide, French multinational insurer AXA was forced to sell its investments in all major Israeli banks as confirmed by this new report. These banks are considered the backbone of Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise on occupied Palestinian stolen lands.
The global Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid campaign targeted AXA’s investment in Israeli banks and Elbit Systems for their complicity in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, which constitute war crimes under international law, and for other grave violations of Palestinian human rights. The company faced divestment pressure, reputational damage and a consumer boycott campaign.
The campaign forced AXA to divest from Elbit Systems, partially in December 2018 and in March 2019, and fully by the end of 2019. It also successfully pressured AXA to divest from two Israeli banks (Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot and First International Bank of Israel) by the end of 2022.
The corporate accountability group Ekō, which forms part of the Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid campaign, commissioned research from Profundo – an independent research organisation – showing that on September 30, 2023, AXA still had more than $20 million worth of shares invested in three Israeli Banks – Bank Hapoalim, Israel Discount Bank, and Bank Leumi.
By June 24, 2024, amid escalating public pressure, AXA effectively divested from all three of these complicit banks. The report also confirms that AXA has not reinvested in Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot or First International Bank of Israel, the other two banks targeted by campaigners, since at least December 31, 2022.
Fiona Ben Chekroun, Europe Coordinator for the Palestinian-led BDS movement, said:
BDS pressure works. The confirmation of AXA’s divestment from all Israeli banks and Elbit Systems is a major milestone for the movement that follows years of strategic BDS campaigning.
On July 19, the International Court of Justice found Israel guilty of apartheid against Palestinians and its military occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory to be illegal. This means that all states, local governments, corporations and institutions have a legal obligation to immediately end all forms of complicity that directly or indirectly enable Israel to maintain its illegal military occupation. They must also end complicity in Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza and the root cause of all this: Israel’s 76-year-old regime of settler colonialism and apartheid.
Corporate criminals try to sear into our consciousness the impossibility of prevailing over them, but BDS works and we have prevailed over AXA and many other much larger companies. We surely can prevail in many more corporate accountability struggles in pursuit of freedom, justice and equality.
At AXA’s shareholders meeting in April 2024, AXA’s CEO was compelled to announce that AXA has “zero investments in Israeli banks, direct or indirect.”
The report confirms that AXA had sold its investments in Israeli banks, with residual shares remaining in Bank Leumi.
Leili Kashani, a campaigner with the corporate accountability group Ekō, said:
Ekō’s new report shows AXA engaged in clear, fast, and intentional divestment from Israeli banks long targeted by Ekō and other human rights activists for their complicity in war crimes against Palestinians. Our data and the sharp drops in our graphs despite steady or rising share prices show that AXA divested due to external pressure to stop crimes against Palestinians, and not in response to market prices. This is a big win for the growing movement for Palestinian rights, and proves that persistent public pressure can compel corporations to act ethically.
After AXA’s sell-off, others will think twice about investing in companies complicit in war crimes.
AXA is not off the hook, though. Amidst Israel’s live-streamed genocide in Gaza against 2.3 million Palestinians, the coalition will continue to monitor AXA’s investments to make sure it is not complicit in the ongoing genocide.
The BDS movement, with its intersectional partnerships worldwide, calls for intensifying pressure on all financial institutions profiting from oppression and injustice. Investing in apartheid Israel has always been unethical and illegal. With Israel’s economy in steady decline, it’s now also really reckless.