<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" lang="undefined" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240610-palestine-action-takes-aim-at-barclays-bank-in-england-scotland/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestine Action takes aim at Barclays bank in England, Scotland</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Middle East Monitor</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">June 10, 2024<br></div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://palestinecampaign.org/barclays-arming-israels-apartheid-and-genocide/">report released last month</a>
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.</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>“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.”</p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
</div></div>