In May, it appeared that Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Boston was on the cusp of a victory. Along with other activists around the world, BDS Boston had been pointedly organizing against Chase Bank for investing in Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer, amid the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli forces have killed at least 41,000 Palestinians in the enclave, including 16,000 children. (The true toll of the genocide, which is obscured by the ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade, may be as high as 186,000, according to estimates recently published in The Lancet.) So when Chase Bank’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from May revealed a 70 percent decline in shares held by the bank in Elbit, BDS Boston took to X to celebrate.
Unfortunately, the celebration appears to have been premature. According to more recent SEC filings, the initial decline in the bank’s investments in Elbit has since rebounded. Nevertheless, BDS Boston has achieved a victory against Elbit elsewhere, as the company has vacated its Cambridge office, and plans to have more.
Quarterly SEC filings from JPMorganChase, the parent company of Chase Bank, illustrate a substantial reduction in investments in Elbit for a short period. From the second quarter of 2023 through the third and fourth quarters, the number of Elbit shares held by Chase grew from 180,770 to 247,357 and 253,678, respectively. While the value of those shares fluctuated significantly during that period, Chase’s stake in Elbit peaked at more than $54 million in December 2023. Then, in the first quarter of 2024—following months of organizing by activists against the ongoing genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza—Chase’s investment in Elbit fell to just 76,567 shares worth a little more than $16 million. However, by the second quarter of 2024, Chase had resumed increasing its investment in Elbit, holding 152,089 shares valued at more than $26 million.
Graph by Christopher Cruz
Data from JPMorganChase.
“Financial investors make their decisions based on expectations of future profits—expectations that are influenced by a wide range of political and economic considerations,” activists with BDS Boston, who declined to share their names due to security concerns, tell The Progressive.
“Our goal is to apply constant pressure on JPMorganChase via disruptions at Chase Bank so as to make sure that their calculations regarding future profits from investments in Elbit are lowered not only because of difficulties in Elbit’s performance, but also the direct cost of investing in Elbit to JPMorganChase,” they continue, referring to the public relations costs incurred by Chase for doing business with an Israeli weapons manufacturer during the ongoing genocide, as well as the costs incurred from direct actions by activists, such as pickets. “Only sustained and widespread pressure can achieve this.”
BDS Boston has been applying such pressure on Chase for nearly a year. In January, the group organized a demonstration outside of a local Chase branch in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as reported by The Berkeley Beacon and others. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the branch to educate the public about the bank’s connection to Elbit, and Elbit’s connection to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Demonstrators asked Chase customers to close their accounts in protest.
“Elbit Systems is the largest weapons developer for the state of Israel,” the BDS activists tell The Progressive. “Various sources report that Elbit manufactures up to 85 percent of the drones and land-based munitions being employed by the Israeli military.”
“JPMorganChase, the parent company of Chase Bank, is one of the main U.S. shareholders in Elbit Systems,” they continue. “We want to send a message to Chase and its shareholders everywhere that investing in Elbit Systems has major consequences, and that we will not allow business to continue as usual for any financial institution that profits off the genocide in Gaza.”
Chase did not respond to multiple requests from The Progressive for comment.
Since the start of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, BDS Boston has also demonstrated against Chase’s investment in Elbit by blockading various branches and showering them with fake bloody money.
But BDS Boston and other groups opposing the genocide, as well as the Israeli occupation of Palestine more broadly, are not the only ones critical of Elbit. Morningstar, a U.S. financial services company that specializes in research for asset management, lists Elbit as “high” on its environmental, social, and governance risk rating as of September 8. According to Morningstar, investors should be aware that companies with higher ESG risks may “incur significant economic costs that jeopardize their ability to earn long-term, sustainable profits.”
In the full rating report provided by Morningstar to The Progressive, the company summarizes Elbit’s risks dryly: “Engagement in inappropriate or illicit practices tends to attract public scrutiny and can result in fines, indictment for corporate managers or executives, and termination of contracts.” The report does not go into further detail, but international organizations like the United Nations have stated that companies which continue to arm Israel, as well as their investors, risk “complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide.”
Although Chase’s latest SEC filings suggest that the bank is not taking perspectives like those of Morningstar or the United Nations to heart, BDS Boston is ensuring that those “risks” are not purely hypothetical. In August, following months of demonstrations and other actions in coordination with Palestine Action U.S. and the Palestinian Youth Movement, BDS Boston announced that Elbit had vacated its office in Cambridge, as reported by Cambridge Day and others. While activists with BDS Boston have reason to celebrate, they remain focused on the work ahead.
“We would love to see nationwide disruptions targeting Chase Bank and other financial institutions with holdings in weapons companies such as Elbit, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin,” say the aforementioned activists. “Convincing the unconscionable fund managers responsible for these investments to drop their shares in Elbit will not be possible unless the impact on business operations becomes untenable as a result of intense, sustained pressure. We encourage activists to disrupt business at Chase in whatever capacity they have, wherever their branches are located.”