In May 2020, the Coalition Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid contracted Profundo to investigate the financial links between both AXA and Equitable Holdings (formerly AXA Equitable Holdings) and five Israeli banks -- Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank -- as well as Israel’s biggest military company, Elbit Systems, all of which are deeply complicit in Israeli apartheid. While Profundo provided the requested data, the Coalition is responsible for interpreting the data and the conclusions in this update.
Here are the latest figures for AXA’s investments in the above-mentioned companies and a comparison with these investments from the previous year.
This latest update reveals that even though AXA divested from Elbit Systems in December 2018 and has now divested from Bank Hapoalim, the company’s investments in the remaining three complicit Israeli banks have almost tripled. According to a SumOfUs report from July 2019, AXA’s investments in Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank were $2.3 million. Now, they are almost $7 million. All these Israeli banks are listed in the UN database of companies that are complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
As detailed in the 2019 SumOfUs report, AXA Financing War crimes, AXA is also indirectly implicated in Israeli apartheid through its share in Equitable Holdings (formerly AXA Equitable Holdings), which invests heavily in complicit Israeli companies and banks. Equitable Holdings’ investment in Israel’s complicit banks—Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, First International Bank of Israel, Israel Discount Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank—and Israel’s biggest military company, Elbit Systems, has shot up from $90 million last year to $157 million this year.
Since the publication of the 2019 SumOfUs report, AXA’s share in Equitable Holdings has decreased. In January 2020, Equitable Holdings was registered as an independent company, dropping the AXA brand. However, AXA still owns 9.03% of Equitable Holdings, and two of its senior officers are members of the board of Equitable Holdings.
To sum up, despite its divestment from Bank Hapoalim, AXA’s direct investment in three complicit Israeli banks has almost tripled. In addition, AXA still maintains a 9.03% stake in Equitable Holdings, which has dramatically increased its own investments in these Israeli banks and Elbit Systems.
AXA tries to complicate things, but it is still very simple: AXA keeps profiting from investing in Israeli apartheid and must be pressured to end this complicity.
* In March 2021, Profundo notified us of some things that needed to be corrected in their previous data. AXA hadn’t divested from Bank Hapoalim; it invested $0.80M at the time. In 2019, the investments in the four banks were $2.48M instead of $2.30M. In 2019, AXA’s investments in the banks were $7.14M instead of $6.72M. The data for Equitable’s investments is also slightly different. The correct information can be found here.