Banking or Financial Institutions
While Barclays is an official target of the BDS movement, as mentioned above it does not have a large presence in the US — it is a better target for the UK and Europe. Other financial institutions that are the targets of boycott or petition efforts organically include:
CitiBank – Consumer Boycott & Divestment
CitiBank has become the target of public pressure because of its complicity in the violent occupation of Haiti, and because of the company’s public support of far-right wing figures in the Israeli government—even as they call for whole villages to be “wiped out.” Citibank also invests in Israel’s infrastructure and tech sector as the largest US bank in the country. Citibank has also lent to Israel directly for the purchase of Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, backed by US taxpayer dollars in aid to Israel. See the BankOnSolidarity initiative led by MPower and other groups for more information. Presently this campaign focuses on a petition effort.
Starbucks Banking System – Organic Consumer Boycott
Another mechanism to boycott Starbucks that has emerged on social media is to move one’s money out of their app-based Starbucks accounts. The app essentially asks consumers to preload value onto their system for regular drink purchases and participation in rewards programs. That deposit of money then becomes a miniature bank deposit that Starbucks can lend upon while it sits unused. Given that Starbucks’ connection to Israel is indirect, banking divestments or boycotts would be better targeted at other financial institutions.
Companies with Leadership or Majority Ownership that Individually Fund Settlement Projects or other Zionist Agendas
Several companies have periodically come under public scrutiny due to their leadership’s direct support for the Zionist colonial project and far right wing politics. Examples include Hobby Lobby, owned by Steve Green, a major Christian Zionist donor; Home Depot, founded and majority-owned by Bernard Marcus, an Israeli-American philanthropist and one of the largest neoconservative and Zionist donors in the US; Whatsapp, founded by Jan Kaum who has also donated millions to organizations in the Zionist lobby; Starbucks, as mentioned above, with majority-ownership by Zionist donor Harold Schultz; Duty Free Americas airport chains, owned by Simon Falic, who has funded illegal settlements and other Zionist causes; among several others. We believe it is important to raise awareness about these major funders but do not include them as part of our focused boycott efforts at this time. Their leaders’ roles in the Zionist lobby, anti-Muslim organizations, and far right-wing politics in the US are hugely indicative of the nature of support for Israel in the US: aligned with a discriminatory and anti-democratic vision.
US University-Based Targets and Boycott Opportunities
Academic and cultural boycott (PACBI) targets are important to consider here. This includes pressure on cultural icons, influential creatives, and academics to decline performance, platform or collaboration opportunities that treat the Israeli regime’s apartheid system as normal and acceptable. For example, artists withdrew in October 2023 from the second largest comics festival in the world, Lucca C, due to the conference’s sponsorship by the Israeli Embassy. In addition, the recent bombardment of Gaza has come with concerted attacks on students and Palestine solidarity work across US campuses. Several figures defaming these students and calling on universities to punish or suppress Palestine solidarity organizing are heads of companies or law firms that could be a target for boycott in protest of suppression of Palestinian human rights activism. For example, a publicly-produced guide from anonymous lawyers explains ways companies can fire their law firms for retaliation and discrimination against Muslim students or Palestine solidarity, and lists some law firms that could be initial targets. Campus-based tourism groups are also a key target specific to university campaigns: Passages, Birthright, and Israel Trek offerings are often all-expense-paid Zionist propaganda mechanisms, usually with itineraries that include visits to illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian and Syrian land. The right-wing Zionist funders of those trips speak to the intended Zionist indoctrination of these trips.
What companies should I include in my divestment campaign?
Grassroots, Union and Institutional Divestment Opportunities
Divestment through pension and banking systems are particularly important targets for institutions like unions, employee groups, public pension funds, university endowments, and across industries that have shared or common investment vehicles. In addition to student organizing for divestment from Israeli crimes, many allied movements for climate justice and prison abolition have sought to research university and other institutional endowments for divestment from fossil fuels and prison systems. There are many known overlaps between corporations that are enabling climate disaster, war, prisons, and oppression of Palestinians. For example, Chevron is one such company on the BDS divestment list. Groups like LittleSis have also shown the overlaps between profiteers of Israel’s war on Gaza, funders of right-wing movements in the US, and leadership of oil and gas companies. Grassroots organizing towards divestment should start with a focus on the top divestment targets of the BDS movement, several of which are implicated in intersectional struggles. As mentioned regarding Chevron in our Explicit Ties section, this can mean searching endowments or investment funds not only for those companies, but also for ETFs and Mutual Funds with great financial exposure to those companies (meaning they are heavily invested as top shareholders of the company). We will release further guidance on this at a later date. If endowment research does not yield results, divestment efforts can still target major pension investment institutions that are the largest shareholders of war technology: for example, Vanguard is among the top private pension managers in the US. Vanguard is also the top investor in both Elbit Systems (a BDS target) and Lockheed Martin, another major weapons supplier for Israel and other global warfare. On the pension side, pushing for ethical divestment from fossil fuels has an existing precedent and allied unions can advocate for the same with regard to companies complicit in Palestinian oppression and other warfare. Codepink has also produced practical guidance on building divestment campaigns here.