October 17, 2024
New report shows AXA invests $150 million in eleven arms companies supplying Israel, including two which supplied bombs used in recent massacre in Al-Mawasi “safe zone”
Link to full report here.
17 October 2024 – A new report reveals that AXA, the French insurance giant, is financing the weapons manufacturers directly facilitating Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and escalating assault on Lebanon. The report reveals that AXA invests over $150 million in 11 arms companies supplying Israel, including two that provided the bombs used in the recent massacre of civilians sheltering in the Al-Mawasi “safe zone.”
The report further uncovers that AXA’s holds investments in at least 14 weapons manufacturers amounting to $173.62 million, with $134.91 million allocated to 13 companies that produce controversial weapons such as nuclear arms, white phosphorus, and depleted uranium — the latter directly breaching AXA's own controversial weapons policy.
This report was co-authored by the corporate accountability group Ekō and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), based on research by both organisations, and data commissioned from the independent research organisation Profundo by the “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid” coalition.
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 7 October 2023, and their weapons have been directly linked to Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, including mass civilian 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 (ICC), United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner and Amnesty International have concluded that these attacks constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The report also provides a detailed analysis of the company’s potential 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 organisation Al Haq and the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), AXA could not only be held criminally liable for violating international law, but its board members, managers, and employees could also be held liable.
Leyla Larbi, Campaigner Director at Ekō, said:
"AXA previously divested from Israeli banks under public pressure, admitting it violated its own responsible investment policies. Now, it’s come to light that AXA is funding weapons used to slaughter over 40,000 identified Palestinians in Gaza, including thousands of children, maiming many more, and wiping out entire neighbourhoods and families.
By investing in weapons manufacturers that are facilitating war crimes and genocide, AXA is once again breaching its own policies, including those on controversial weapons, which it claims to uphold as part of its ethical standards. This raises serious concerns for AXA’s shareholders and clients.
As an insurer whose mission is to 'protect what matters,' and one of the world’s top insurers and asset managers, AXA must lead by example and divest from these companies."
The report shows AXA currently holds a total of US$150.43 million, US$78.87 million in shares and US$71.56 million in bonds, in eleven companies supplying Israel weapons used in its current war crimes in Gaza. 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.
Noam Perry, Strategic Research Coordinator at AFSC's Action Center for Corporate Accountability, said:
“Major weapons manufacturers like Boeing and General Dynamics have supplied the bombs used to commit horrific war crimes in Gaza, like the recent massacre in the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone and the appalling attack on the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp. When investors like AXA hold shares of these companies, they literally have a stake in everything these companies do. Divesting and avoiding profiting from war crimes and crimes against humanity is the least that AXA and all investors can do.”
This new report follows an earlier August 2024 report by Ekō, which uncovered that, in response to growing public pressure, AXA recently divested from all Israeli banks financing illegal settlements on Palestinian land.
Ekō has been part of a global coalition called “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid” that successfully forced AXA to divest from the five largest Israeli banks complicit in war crimes against Palestinians, and from Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, following a multi-year campaign involving over 175,000 Ekō members who signed a petition, made phone calls, sent thousands of messages and called out the CEO at AGMs demanding that the company acts.
Fiona Ben Chekroun, BDS Movement’s Europe coordinator, coordinating the “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid” coalition:
“On 21 August 2024, the global Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid campaign announced that popular pressure forced AXA to sell its investments in all major Israeli banks, as confirmed by research.
With this new investigation, we have now proof that AXA is facilitating Israel’s ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.
We’ve already shown that BDS pressure works and the call to boycott AXA won’t stop until every last dollar is divested from companies involved in this ongoing genocide.”
Campaigners are urging companies to “apply human rights due diligence” to ensure their activities do not contribute to potential violations of international law by Israel. In light of the growing pressure on financial institutions to adopt ethical investment policies and pull away from any support of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, AXA’s continued role as a financier of these arms companies raises serious concerns for shareholders and clients.
Ekō is a corporate accountability and campaigning organisation powered by 23 million members across the globe, taking action to forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organisation that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action. It has worked for decades on a range of human rights issues, including for the rights of people under military occupation around the world. It has been working in Gaza, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territory since 1948.
The “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid” coalition, coordinated by the BDS movement, brings together Palestinian and international civil society organisations and grassroots groups. It ran a multi-year global campaign targeting AXA’s investments in Israeli banks and in Elbit Systems for their grave violations of Palestinian human rights, including their complicity in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, which constitute war crimes under international law. . As a result, AXA faced pressure to divest, reputational damage, and a consumer boycott campaign.
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