Kiwis Ready To Leave ASB KiwiSaver Over Illegal Israeli Settlement Investments

The Don’t Bank on Apartheid campaign has launched and announced the first target of a new public pressure campaign. The campaign group, which stands up for Palestinian human rights, have issued an ultimatum to ASB KiwiSaver: divest from companies linked to illegal Israeli settlements or your customers will switch en masse to another fund on 29 November - Palestine Solidarity Day.

The campaign launched on Sunday, 6 October and already over 1000 people have called on ASB to divest, including almost 500 ASB Customers who have committed to moving their funds.

The campaign focuses on ASB KiwiSaver's significant investment of over $14 million in Motorola Solutions Inc., a company identified by the United Nations as maintaining and enabling illegal Israeli settlements.

"Our money is being used to finance Israel's apartheid regime and illegal occupation of Palestine," said spokesperson and ASB customer Nadia Abu-Shanab "We're giving ASB a clear choice: stop investing in human rights abuses or watch your customers walk away on November 29th."

The campaign comes at a time of heightened awareness of human rights violations by Israel. Thousands of Kiwis have been taking action against Israel’s assault on Gaza and wider occupation of Palestine, and recent International Court of Justice rulings add legal weight to the moral arguments against such investments.

According to research by Mindful Money, New Zealanders have an estimated $200 million collectively invested in companies supporting illegal Israeli settlements, with investments up 20% in the first five months after October 2023.

"Right now we’re targeting ASB but it won’t stop there" Nadia said. "We're putting all financial institutions on notice and giving them a window to do the right thing. If they continue to bank on apartheid, we will be doing an organised outreach campaign to make it known just how many customers care about this and how ready we are to move our money over this."

The campaign is part of the broader global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which has seen recent successes with divestments by NZ Super Fund, Simplicity KiwiSaver, Ireland's sovereign investment fund, and French insurance giant AXA.

Campaign details

ASB KiwiSaver has until 29 November 2024 to divest Motorola Solutions Inc. and commit to adopting and implementing a policy to divest from companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements or customers will switch to another Kiwisaver provider or bank.

Petition: https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/don-t-bank-on-apartheid-asb-kiwisaver-divest-from-illegal-israeli-settlements-or-we-switch

Background references

Detailed research on Motorola Solutions: https://wiki.stoparmingisrael.nz/motorola

UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights update of database of all business enterprises involved in the activities detailed in paragraph 96 of the report of the independent international fact finding mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem [30 June 2023].

Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Advisory Opinion) [2024], in which the UN’s highest court declared that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is illegal, its practices amount to apartheid, and all states are under an obligation to act to bring this situation to an end; and that global institutions (including investment corporations) are not to cooperate with or assist in any manner activities associated with Israel’s illegal occupation (referencing UN General Assembly resolution 32/161 (1977))

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016), co-sponsored by New Zealand, in which the UN Security Council reaffirmed that Israel’s establishment of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders.

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