<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-top-anchor"></div>
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" lang="en-GB" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025/12/16/people-against-genocide-targets-11-hsbc-branches-over-elbit-investments/">thecanary.co</a>
<div class="gmail-domain-border"></div>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">People Against Genocide targets 11 HSBC branches over Elbit investments</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">The Canary</div>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">December 16, 2025</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>People Against Genocide has launched a clandestine
network, with a national series of actions against HSBC. HSBC invests in
Israel\u2019s biggest weapons producer, <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/?s=Elbit+Systems" target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elbit Systems</a>.</p>
<p>In the early hours of Saturday 13 December, groups across Britain
conducted operations at 11 locations of Britain\u2019s largest bank,
shattering windows and dousing buildings in red paint to symbolise the
bloodshed of the Palestinian people.</p>
<p>Actions took place at HSBC branches in: Catford, Lewisham, Ilford,
Tottenham Court Road, Fulham, Birmingham, Wokingham, Brighton,
Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Glasgow (on 12 December).</p>
<p>In 2018, HSBC announced it would be <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/banking-giant-hsbc-divests-from-israeli-arms-manufacturer-following-pressure-from-human-rights-campaigners/" rel="external noopener noreferrer">divesting</a> from the <a href="https://caat.org.uk/data/companies/elbit-systems/" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Israeli arms firm</a>, but has since reneged on that decision. As of 13 November 2025, it owned <a href="https://fintel.io/so/us/eslt/hsbc-holdings" rel="external noopener noreferrer">16,317 shares in Elbit Systems Ltd</a>, valued at $8,318,407 in September 2025.</p>
<p>Not only has HSBC reinvested in weapons production, but it continues
to buy more shares. It increased its holdings by 27.22% during the
quarter, from 12,826 shares in August 2025.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.hsbc.com/who-we-are/our-strategy-and-values" rel="external noopener noreferrer">HSBC claims to be</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>bringing together the people, ideas and capital that drive progress and growth, helping to create a better world.</p></blockquote>
<p>In fact, says People Against Genocide, it\u2019s bank-rolling an arms company specifically <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250710-the-economy-of-genocide-report-a-reckoning-beyond-rhetoric/" rel="external noopener noreferrer">linked to genocide by the United Nations</a>. Elbit markets its weapons as \u201c<a href="https://archive.ph/20161118100740/http://elbitsystems.com/products/uas/hermes-450/" rel="external noopener noreferrer">combat proven</a>\u201c, and its military drones have been directly linked to the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians, and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/14/foreign-doctors-say-israel-systematically-targeting-gazas-children-report" rel="external noopener noreferrer">specifically targeting children</a>.</p>
<p>The company is currently under suspension from tendering for NATO contracts because of <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/12/09/elbit-systems-at-center-of-nato-corruption-investigation-reports-suggest/" rel="external noopener noreferrer">corruption allegations</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/barclays-israel-elbit-systems-sells-shares-weapons" rel="external noopener noreferrer">Direct Action previously forced Barclays Bank to sell its holdings in Elbit</a>.
And groups like People Against Genocide are now using the same tactics
against HSBC. The sustained number of actions against Barclays forced
the bank to re-think its investment strategy, and sell off its 16,345
shares in Elbit.</p>
<p>A spokesperson for People Against Genocide said:</p>
<blockquote><p>Despite divesting from Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems
in 2018, HSBC has since amassed millions of dollars worth of Elbit
shares right under our noses, cementing its complicity in the ongoing
genocide in Gaza and brutal occupation of the West Bank and East
Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Banks such as HSBC invest in the production of weapons used to commit
genocide as they prioritise their profits over the lives of the
Palestinian people. By taking direct action and costing HSBC, we are
making investing in genocide unprofitable. It\u2019s now not only the ethical
decision, but it\u2019s also financially strategic to pull all shares out of
Elbit Systems.</p>
<p>Our actions were taken in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and
the prisoners for Palestine hunger strikers, who are calling for Elbit
to be shut down. Some are on their 41st day of hunger strike, and their
resistance inspires us all to escalate our actions and to shut Elbit
down.</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Featured image supplied</em></p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div></div>
</div>
<br></div>