BDS victory: AXA divests $20m from three Israeli banks

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- The French insurance giant Axa has reportedly withdrawn $20m worth of investments in three Israeli banks after a sustained campaign by pro-Palestine activists, a global advocacy organization said.

In a report released on Wednesday, campaign group Eko said that Axa had engaged in a “clear, fast, and intentional divestment” from Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, and Israel Discount Bank; selling off 2.5 million shares, worth $20.4m, between 30 September 2023 and 24 June 2024, “in a big win for human rights activists working to end corporate complicity in Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians.”

Huge BDS victory! Palestine activists force AXA to divest from all Israeli banks and Elbit Systems!
Well done to all who have demonstrated ceaselessly at AXA offices, campaigned, cancelled policies, demanded #AXADivest from Israeli apartheid and genocide. #BDS is UNSTOPPABLE! pic.twitter.com/6FpAYvNTOf

— IPSC (@ipsc48) August 21, 2024

The report, based on data and analysis by the independent research organization Profundo, also said that Axa had not reinvested in the First International Bank of Israel or Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank since at least 31 December 2022.

These two banks were previously targeted by Eko in a 2019 report on Axa’s financial complicity in Israeli war crimes.

Eko said that while Axa still had “trace amounts” of investments in Bank Leumi, it attributed this “residual amount to reporting and internal accounting still to be done and considers this a full divestment”.

In 2016, the United Nations established a database of companies involved in activities that “directly and indirectly, enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the Israeli settlements” and “raise particular human rights violations concerns”.

It listed all five banks as providing services to Israelis that help support and maintain unlawful settlements in the occupied West Bank.

In its report, Eko noted that Axa had fully divested from the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest arms maker, in 2019.

Daphne Cronin, a senior campaigner at corporate accountability group Eko, praised the divestments but said Axa was still “not off the hook.”

Fiona Ben Chekroun, the Europe Coordinator for the Palestinian-led BDS movement, said in a statement that “the confirmation of Axa’s divestment from all Israeli banks and Elbit Systems is a major milestone for the BDS movement and our allies, and follows years of strategic campaigning to secure and protect Palestinian human rights.

“Corporations try to make us believe that it is impossible to prevail over them, but BDS pressure works, and we will build on this win to advance our pursuit of freedom, justice and equality,” she added.

Leili Kashani, a senior campaigner with the corporate accountability group Eko, said, “This is a big win for the growing movement for Palestinian rights, and proves that pressuring corporations to put people over profits is not only ethical, but effective.”

During an AGM meeting in April 2024, the insurance giant’s CEO Thomas Buberl told an activist from Eko that Axa “does not have any investments in Israeli banks…targeted by boycott calls currently led by some activist groups against several companies.”

“I would like to strongly condemn the physical attacks suffered by our agents and employees in some countries by the group supporting the boycott of Israel.

“These acts of vandalism are unjustifiable and unjustified…Axa does not take a position on this serious geopolitical crisis. Our thoughts are with the civilian victims.”