AXA Divest
In 2015, when the “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid Campaign” was launched, the campaign targeted French multinational insurance giant AXA for its investments in Israeli banks, which are deeply complicit in Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise on occupied Palestinian land. AXA was also targeted due to its investments in Elbit Systems, a leading Israeli arms manufacturer facilitating Israeli war crimes against Palestinians, and complicit Israeli banks. At that time, AXA held shares in three complicit Israeli banks (Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Mizrahi Tefahot), in addition to Elbit Systems. AXA, via its wholly-owned subsidiary AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and its 64% share of AXA Equitable Holdings (AXA EHQ), was, moreover, invested in all five main Israeli banks (Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank). Since then, in 2020, the UN Human Rights Council listed all five Israeli banks in the UN database of business enterprises involved in Israel’s illegal settlements. AXA has adopted a mix of investment and divestment decisions (see milestones). In 2018, AXA sold all its shares in Elbit Systems. In 2021, AXA also sold almost all of its shares in Equitable Holdings, retaining only a tiny share of 0.07%, in a process that had Equitable Holdings depart from AXA’s parent group and resume its original name EHQ. The research-based report by “Don’t Buy Into Occupation” (DBIO), a civil society coalition, also shows that by August 2023, AXA invested in additional companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements and in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip, among them Caterpillar, Volvo Group, IBM, Carrefour, HPE, Siemens or Solvay. With a total investment of US$ 1.449B, AXA was ranked by DBIO 22nd among the top 100 European investors in apartheid Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. The civil society organisation Ekō conducted new research analyzing AXA’s financial holdings in Israeli banks. It shows that the insurance giant divested $9.4 million dollars of shares from the Israel Discount Bank and Bank Leumi at the end of 2023. The data shows that as of 15 February the AXA Group still owns shares of $2.6 millions in Bank Hapoalim.