[News] Palestine Action takes aim at Barclays bank in England, Scotland

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeastmonitor.com
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240610-palestine-action-takes-aim-at-barclays-bank-in-england-scotland/>
Palestine Action takes aim at Barclays bank in England, Scotland
Middle East Monitor
June 10, 2024
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Rights activists have vadalised 15 branches of Barclays bank in England and
Scotland demanding it end its complicity in the genocide taking place in
Gaza.

Windows were smashed and branches were sprayed with red paint, to highlight
the blood being spilt as a result of Barclays’ investments in arms
manufacturers including Israel’s Elbit Systems.

Barclays buildings in St John’s Wood, north London, Croydon, Richmond,
south-west London, and Peckham and Croydon in south London also appear to
have been targeted.

While in the City of London, three men, aged between 34 and 45, were
arrested in connection with criminal damage at the Barclays on Moorgate
this morning.

Barclays has been the subject of a number of protests, with the Palestinian
Solidarity Campaign (PSC) among the groups calling for its customers to
move their funds away from the bank which holds “substantial financial
ties” with arms companies supplying weapons to Israel.

A report released last month
<https://palestinecampaign.org/barclays-arming-israels-apartheid-and-genocide/>
found that Barclays now holds over £2 billion ($2.5 billion) in shares of
companies whose weapons, components and military technology have been used
in violence against Palestinians by Israel. Barclays also provides over
£6.1 billion ($7.6 billion) in loans and underwriting to these arms and
military technology companies. This includes holding £2.7 million ($3.36
million) in Elbit Systems, which supplies the Israeli military with
armoured drones, munitions and artillery weapons used in its attacks in
Gaza.

Denying such reports, the bank says on its website: “Barclays has been the
subject of criticism in relation to Gaza based on two arguments: that
Barclays is an investor in these businesses, and that we provide a range of
financial services to clients which produce equipment used by the Israeli
Defence Force.”

“We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying
Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed
companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result
in us holding shares. We are not making investments for Barclays and
Barclays is not a “shareholder” or “investor” in that sense in relation to
these companies.”
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