Barclays Forced to Sell Israeli Weapons Shares Amid Pro-Palestinian Pressure

Date: 01 November 2024 - 22:57

News ID: ۱۳۳۰۵۴

LONDON (Dispatches) – British banking giant Barclays has sold all of its investment shareholdings in the Zionist regime’s largest weapons company Elbit Systems Ltd.
According to Palestine Action, a British activist group that has been protesting against the bank’s investments in the Israeli-occupied territories, Barclays has until recently owned over 16,000 shares in Elbit Systems.
In the latest U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, Barclays owned zero shares in Elbit Systems Ltd (ELST), down 16,345 since the previous filing, dated May 15, 2024, worth over $3.4mn.
“The most recent SEC filings and NASDAQ data record an immediate total sale of Barclays’ ELST shares, abruptly sold just when Palestine Action’s campaign hit them hardest,” Palestine Action said.
A Barclays spokesperson denied that the company has been a shareholder in Elbit Systems as such.
Palestine Action has undertaken 54 protest actions across the UK against Barclays over the past 12 months, including smashing windows of the bank’s branches and spraying them in red paint.
The group said its actions sought to raise the costs associated with dealing with Elbit, which it said was a major contributor in genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza since the Zionist regime’s war on the enclave began last October.
Palestine Action has previously targeted Elbit Systems in protests that occasionally involve occupation of British properties associated with the company.
In May, several Palestinian solidarity organizations published a report saying that Barclays has £2bn of investments in companies involved in supplying arms to the Zionist regime.
The list of firms in which the financial giant is reported to have interests includes General Dynamics, a U.S. arms firm that produces components for warplanes. Other firms include BAE Systems and Raytheon.
In response to the report, Barclays said it provides services to American, British and European companies “that supply defence products to NATO and its allies”.