As shareholders with the retirement giant TIAA-CREF head to Charlotte this week for their national meeting, there is one issue they will find conspicuously absent from the agenda: divestment from the Israeli Occupation. Despite pleas from shareholders, including medical professionals, students and academics from universities across the United States, the pension fund refused to allow a vote on a resolution that would have compelled TIAA-CREF to consider divestment from companies such as Caterpillar or Elbit.

[New York, April 21, 2011] Jewish Voice for Peace today responded to retirement giant TIAA-CREF’s efforts to thwart a shareholder resolution asking it to engage with companies in its portfolio that profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Despite having built a reputation based on commitment to shareholder democracy, TIAA- CREF asked the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to bar its shareholders from seeing and voting on the shareholder proposal, arguing that the proposal is unnecessary, as it already has a human rights investment policy and would und