Barclays bank ploughs more investments into Israel
A new report from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Campaign Against Arms Trade and War on Want has exposed its complicity in genocide
Boycotting Barclays bank in Hitchin (Twitter/ @PSCupdates)
By Charlie Kimber
Wednesday 08 May 2024
Wednesday 08 May 2024
SOCIALIST WORKER Issue 2904
Tens of thousands killed and the destruction of Gaza have not persuaded Barclays bank to reduce its financial ties with apartheid Israel—instead it has increased its support.
A new report from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Campaign Against Arms Trade and War on Want says the bank has extended its support for those who carry out slaughter.
It says Barclays “now invests over £2 billion in, and provides loans and underwriting worth £6.1 billion, to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology are used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians”.
PCS director Ben Jamal said, “Barclays is bankrolling Israel’s assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It is shamefully profiting from and complicit in a genocide.
“We will not stand by and allow this grotesque, immoral business to go on as usual. We call on everyone to join our campaign—to close their accounts with Barclays, pledge never to bank there until they end their complicity, and picket branches across Britain.”
Barclays now invests over £100 million in General Dynamics, which provides gun systems for the fighter jets used by Israel to bomb the Gaza Strip.
It also invests £2.7 million in Elbit Systems, more than doubling its holding since PSC’s previous research.
Elbit Systems supplies the Israeli military with armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons used in its attacks on Palestinians.
PSC says, “By providing investment and financial services to these arms companies, Barclays is facilitating Israel’s militarised attacks on Palestinians across their homeland, including Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“It is also lending legitimacy to those providing equipment for this purpose. Moreover, the provision of loans and other forms of credit enables these arms companies to grow, acquire new companies, gain more market share and increase their profits.
“Banks such as Barclays may buy shares using their own money, or on behalf of their clients. Either way, Barclays is profiting from the production of weaponry which is then used in Israel’s militarised repression of Palestinians”
This support for Israel underlines the hypocrisy of the bank’s “mission statements” and similar froth.
In its statement on human rights, Barclays states it is “committed to respecting human rights” and is “guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
In its defence sector statement, Barclays says it will assess the “risks of the exports being used to support intrastate oppression or unjustified external aggression.”
But all of this has been bulldozed aside in search of a quick profit and services to Western imperialism. PSC has led a campaign against Barclays as part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions agitation since the assault on Gaza.
In many parts of Britain, campaigners have protested outside Barclays branches and shut them down temporarily through occupations or pickets.
PSC says that “in an historical echo of the boycott which forced it to withdraw from apartheid South Africa in 1986 more than 2, 500 people have closed their accounts on two separate days of collective, public action”. It adds that thousands more have pledged never to bank with Barclays.
On Thursday this week, the day of Barclays’ Annual General Meeting in Glasgow, a further 500 have pledged to close their accounts. We need more action against the enablers of mass murder.
For the full report go to tinyurl.com/PSCbank0524
Tens of thousands killed and the destruction of Gaza have not persuaded Barclays bank to reduce its financial ties with apartheid Israel—instead it has increased its support.
A new report from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Campaign Against Arms Trade and War on Want says the bank has extended its support for those who carry out slaughter.
It says Barclays “now invests over £2 billion in, and provides loans and underwriting worth £6.1 billion, to nine companies whose weapons, components and military technology are used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians”.
PCS director Ben Jamal said, “Barclays is bankrolling Israel’s assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It is shamefully profiting from and complicit in a genocide.
“We will not stand by and allow this grotesque, immoral business to go on as usual. We call on everyone to join our campaign—to close their accounts with Barclays, pledge never to bank there until they end their complicity, and picket branches across Britain.”
Barclays now invests over £100 million in General Dynamics, which provides gun systems for the fighter jets used by Israel to bomb the Gaza Strip.
It also invests £2.7 million in Elbit Systems, more than doubling its holding since PSC’s previous research.
Elbit Systems supplies the Israeli military with armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons used in its attacks on Palestinians.
PSC says, “By providing investment and financial services to these arms companies, Barclays is facilitating Israel’s militarised attacks on Palestinians across their homeland, including Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“It is also lending legitimacy to those providing equipment for this purpose. Moreover, the provision of loans and other forms of credit enables these arms companies to grow, acquire new companies, gain more market share and increase their profits.
“Banks such as Barclays may buy shares using their own money, or on behalf of their clients. Either way, Barclays is profiting from the production of weaponry which is then used in Israel’s militarised repression of Palestinians”
This support for Israel underlines the hypocrisy of the bank’s “mission statements” and similar froth.
In its statement on human rights, Barclays states it is “committed to respecting human rights” and is “guided by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.”
In its defence sector statement, Barclays says it will assess the “risks of the exports being used to support intrastate oppression or unjustified external aggression.”
But all of this has been bulldozed aside in search of a quick profit and services to Western imperialism. PSC has led a campaign against Barclays as part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions agitation since the assault on Gaza.
In many parts of Britain, campaigners have protested outside Barclays branches and shut them down temporarily through occupations or pickets.
PSC says that “in an historical echo of the boycott which forced it to withdraw from apartheid South Africa in 1986 more than 2, 500 people have closed their accounts on two separate days of collective, public action”. It adds that thousands more have pledged never to bank with Barclays.
On Thursday this week, the day of Barclays’ Annual General Meeting in Glasgow, a further 500 have pledged to close their accounts. We need more action against the enablers of mass murder.
For the full report go to tinyurl.com/PSCbank0524
No comments:
Post a Comment