WMPSC is supporting the national day of action and has called for a protest outside the New Street Branch, 130 New St, Birmingham B2 4JU of HSBC in Birmingham City Centre. Protesters will be there from 1 pm to 2:30 pm. HSBC invests in and provides financial services for companies providing military technology and weapons to Israel, which the Israeli military has used to commit war crimes and systematically violate international law. This includes investments of nearly £100 million in the company Caterpillar.
Caterpillar supplies the Israeli military with bulldozers which are weaponised and used to assist in Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, including the demolition of Palestinian homes, schools, villages and civilian infrastructure – in order to make way for the ever-expanding illegal Israeli Jewish-only settlements.
Since 1967 the Israeli military has demolished nearly 50,000 Palestinian houses, and Caterpillar equipment has been involved at many of these demolitions, which amount to war crimes. Currently Caterpillar Bulldozers are being used by the Israeli military to aid in the demolition of 70 Palestinian homes in the Sur Baher village in East Jerusalem. Over 1000 Palestinians are being displaced from their homes, forcing them to live in exile
Caterpillar also provides equipment used to reinforce Israel’s apartheid infrastructure, including Israel’s checkpoints, seperation wall alongside the West Bank as well as the wall in Gaza, and for the construction of illegal settlements and settlement infrastructure on stolen Palestinian land.
Public pressure led HSBC to divest from Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company, but HSBC remains deeply complicit with Israel’s war crimes.
Mobilise and take creative action at your local HSBC branch, join in with local actions, spread the word on social media and call on HSBC to #StopArmingIsrael!