Rachel Corrie’s family call for action against Caterpillar ahead of verdict in civil lawsuit

The family of a woman who was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer in 2003 have called for divestment from companies complicit in Israels occupation. The family have asked supporters in the US to pressure investment firm TIAA-CREF to divest from Caterpillar and other companies.

The call can be read here – http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/blog/2012/08/10/call-to-action-mark-the-verdict-in-the-corrie-civil-case-in-israel-august-28th

Focus on divestment campaigns: Palestine solidarity: hitting corporations where it hurts

By Michael Deas, European Coordinator of the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions National Committee

Israeli apartheid is big business. Israeli and international arms companies profit not only from supplying the huge Israeli military machine but also by successfully marketing their products, having been used against Palestinians, as ‘battle-tested’. Meanwhile, massive state and private funding for the Israeli settler movement ensures that there is always money to be made from building and providing infrastructure and services to illegal, Jewish-only settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. International companies continue to expand into the Israeli market, despite its persistent violations of international law and subjugation of the indigenous Palestinian population.

Oxford University receives money from Israeli Trust

Campaigners for an academic/institutional boycott of Israel may be interested to know that Oxford University receives sponsorship from a philanthropic organisation close to the Israeli state. One course at Oxford, ‘Tradition and its Discontents; Ruptures in the Abrahamic Religions’, is sponsored by Yad Hanadiv, which acts in Israel on behalf of a number of Rothschild family philanthropic trusts. Projects of Yad Hanadiiv have included the building of the Israeli Knesset and the Israeli Supreme Court.

Palestinian academics and intellectuals have called upon the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid (read more here)

UK Pension Funds complicit in Israeli Apartheid Part Two: The Universities Superannuation Scheme

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) is a pension fund in the United Kingdom. Its members include staff in United Kingdom universities, mainly those that were universities prior to 1992. (Staff in the post-1992 universities are mostly members of the Teachers Pension Scheme.) USS claims to be “the second largest pension scheme in the UK by fund size”.1

UK Pension Funds Complicit in Israeli Apartheid Part One – North Yorkshire Pension Fund

The North Yorkshire Pension fund is invested in by dozens of UK employers. They include local councils, universites and charities. A full list of employers investing in the fund can be found here

The following is a list of companies which the fund invest in that are complicit in Israeli apartheid, militarism and occupation, companies who operate in Israel, sell Israeli goods or invest in an of the above.

This is not a divestment list, simply a guide for campaigners hoping to put pressure on the fund

British Universities’ Links to Israel ‒ Part Two: University of Sussex

British Universities Links to Israel – Part One: SOAS

Overview: Corporate Watch carried out research, using the Freedom of Information act, into several universities investments, procurement of service providers and joint projects. The aim was to examine whether the BDS movement should target British universities links with Israeli universities, investment in companies complicit in Israeli apartheid, militarism and occupation or procurement of services from complicit firms.

The following is a list of:

• the university’s collaborations with Israeli companies and universities
• investment in or procurement from Israeli settler companies, Israeli companies, companies selling arms to Israel, companies selling Israeli goods, companies with assets or investments in Israel, companies with significant investments in any of the above.

This is not a ‘boycott list’, simply a guide for campaigners considering launching divestment campaigns against the university. Campaigners may wish to cherrypick companies for divestment who, for example, are directly involved in Israeli settlements or aiding Israeli militarism.

The list has been compiled with the boycott call from the Palestinian Academic Boycott Initiative (PACBI) in mind, here is an excerpt from the call:

“We, Palestinian academics and intellectuals, call upon our colleagues in the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all Israeli academic and cultural institutions as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s occupation, colonization and system of apartheid, by applying the following:

1. Refrain from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with Israeli institutions;
2. Advocate a comprehensive boycott of Israeli institutions at the national and international levels, including suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;
3. Promote divestment and disinvestment from Israel by international academic institutions…”

“Wave of divestment” hits Israeli military contractor, Elbit Systems

Israeli companies profiting from the occupation of Palestine are increasingly subject to blacklisting and divestment due to the growing pressure exerted boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. The movement of Palestinian organisations and solidarity activists pushes for divestment from Israeli companies involved in and profiting from the occupation and in recent months has seen millions of dollars withdrawn from Israeli companies, in particular Israeli military contractor Elbit Systems, a company involved in the construction of the apartheid wall and connected to the manufacture of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) , or drones.