Skip to main content

Investment in Elbit Systems

screenshot of website with three young people's photos

The repression of pro-Palestinian protestors is shocking. The British government is allowing prisoners on hunger strikes to die, simply for asking for their rights as prisoners (e.g., a fair trial). Their crime: protesting an arms manufacturer. 

This arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, get plenty of money from Canada as well. 

So, it's time for a letter! Here's my edits to Just Peace Advocates' letter for Canadian banks and pension plans.

I am writing today in horror over your institution’s investment in Elbit Systems. 

Elbit Systems is an Israeli weapons manufacturer. 

Israel is verifiably committing genocide. 

According to international law, any state or financial entities aiding and abetting a state committing genocide is complicit. 

Stop it. 

Elbit provides ground equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles for the Israeli military. It also produces tank shells, rockets, drones, electronic warfare systems, and observation / information processing systems. They also are the leading developer and supplier of systems for armoured combat vehicles. This is just a short list, there are countless types of weapons and technology that Elbit Systems provides to the Israeli military, specifically for its use in the bombardment of Gaza. Elbit has also provided technology to enforce the illegal 20 year blockade and siege of the Gaza Strip. 

Despite all of that, your institution continues to invest in Elbit Systems. 

For shame! 

In other words, your company is financing the death of Palestinians. This is not hyperbole. 

Shame on you!

Corporations can be held accountable under domestic and international law for enabling genocide and war crimes. There are plenty of Canadians watching this who will be only to eager to make sure you face legal and financial ramifications for your actions. To avoid facing criminal and/or civil prosecution, it is imperative that your company end all investments in Elbit Systems (and other complicit companies). 

History will not look fondly on those who financed genocide. You still have the chance to make a change. It will not bring back the lives of those already murdered, but it will help prevent more lives from being stolen. 

I demand you end investments in Elbit Systems today!

You can also send a letter to Canada Procurement

And here's Prisoners for Palestine's letter for British decision makers

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Money

The high incidence of money talk here is surprising to me, given the scarcity of either hard cash or savings accounts. Not that no one has money here, but living a basically subsistence existence off a jungle farm with only one major crash crop a year means you never have a whole lot of cash -- either on paper or in hand. We're currently entering the season of money here in Bekondo, when the cocoa crop is mostly harvested, dried and sold to buyers. Christmas is party time, not because of Christ but because of cash. It's a lively time for parties, running a generator to power lights and music, trucking in drinks to flow with goodwill. It's the time when schools put their foot down and demand tuition fees be paid or students leave. It's a time of increased crime because people are travelling to visit family and money is around. Taxis double and triple in price -- because they can -- until December 25th, after which the frenzy abruptly stops and prices return to normal (so...
Post a Comment
Read more

Infidel again

I just finished reading Infidel and I have to say I greatly respect this woman. What a story. And what a character, to have endured it all and emerged a determined, principled, passionate but not bitter or unyielding woman. A quote from her book: People are always asking me what it's like to live with death threats. It's like being diagnosed with a chronic disease. It may flare up and kill you, but it may not. It could happen in a week, or not for decades. The people who ask me this have usually grown up in rich countries, Western Europe and [North] America, after the Second World War. They take life for granted. Where I grew up, death is a constant visitor. Which reminds me -- on a related topic, one of the things that bothers me about Islam is how often its followers' reactions to offences are so disproportionate. A Western journalist composes editorial cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammad; violence erupts in the Middle East, including attacks on the Danish and Norwe...
2 comments
Read more

The anti-bike blog

OR I do not think [that word] means what you think it means It has become a weekly, almost daily occurrence. A how-to article or blog post will come across my path – usually in my facebook feed – touting the wonders of winter cycling. Not one to learn a lesson quickly, I keep clicking on them. Inevitably, I navigate away in frustration. It’s fun! It’s easy! Anyone can do it! You don’t need special gear; you can even look chic while you’re doing it. Oh, and get off your high horse – being a winter cyclist doesn’t make you special. This is the message of all these articles. Lies, I tell you. Now, far be it from me to dissuade people from cycling, but I think we may need different words for the varying circumstances that fall under the umbrella term “winter cycling.” Take Vancouver and Seattle, for example, where bicycle enthusiasts will talk about “winter” cycling. I’ll grant you that a bone-chilling, relentless, drenching rain is its own special brand of miserable to bi...
4 comments
Read more