Update 17th April 2019 : A first victory! SumOfUs welcomes AXA's decision to stop its direct investments in Elbit Systems. We ask AXA to go further by putting an end to all its investments in companies complicit in the Israeli occupation.
AXA crushes the lives of defenseless families in Palestine, while providing life insurance around the world. What a sickening paradox.
The French insurance giant is accused of complicity in international law violations by financing Elbit Systems -- Israel’s leading arms company -- infamous for supplying weapons that have already killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians, many of them children.
What’s more, a new report reveals that AXA also invests in five major Israeli banks that all finance Israel’s illegal settlement expansion and violent military occupation.
The job of an insurer is to guard families against risks, to their lives and homes. But AXA is endangering Palestinian families both by supporting the manufacture of weapons used against them, and the infrastructure of an illegal and deadly military occupation.
Tell Axa to stop investing in Elbit Systems and banks financing illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine!
These shocking revelations are an embarrassment for AXA which is proud of its commitment to responsible investment, and is already breaking ties with manufacturers of certain weapons. Let’s push it to drop Elbit Systems and the five rogue banks, too.
We know people power works -- the peaceful mobilization of the global BDS movement has already forced multinationals, including Veolia, Orange and recently Airbnb, to drop investments in illegal Israeli settlements. Now it’s AXA's turn!
Elbit Systems is accused of providing weapons, including chemical weapons like white phosphorus, used during the deadly offensive against civilians in Gaza in 2009. A use totally banned by international conventions.
Elbit Systems also participated in building the massive “security wall” project -- which the International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 is illegal -- and providing electronic support to the military occupation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Financial institutions and insurance companies cannot ignore the illegality of Israeli settlements and the daily suffering they cause. Arbitrary confiscation of property, the separation of families, imprisonment of children, and the humiliating and endless checkpoint controls are the daily dehumanizing experiences of Palestinians living under an apartheid regime.
Ask AXA's directors to submit to their own ethical charter -- and drop investments in Elbit Systems and settlement-supporting Israeli banks!
According to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), ‘large French financial groups, including AXA, are directly or indirectly involved in the colonial project in Palestine’. Banks and insurers are seeking profit at any cost, including getting involved in illegal activity. Let’s make them put an end to it.
Taking advantage of the suffering of the Palestinians is unspeakable. During our campaign against Airbnb, more than 151,000 members like you expressed their outrage and asked the company to stop doing business from colonisation -- and we won ! The tide is turning. And the United Nations has started to take measures against these outlaw companies. But as AXA continues to bury its head in the sand, let’s push it to stop their illegal and immoral investments.
More information
Human Rights Watch. 30 June 2009.
Human Rights Watch. 25 March 2009.
UN News. 9 July 2004.
RFI. 29 March 2017.
FIDH Report. 29 March 2017.
Le Monde. 29 March 2017.
