A group of United Nations experts has named the "Big Three": BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, among dozens of entities, weapon manufacturers and financial institutions in a joint statement warning them not to engage in arms transfers to Israel as they would be complicit in war crimes and genocide.
They named the arms manufacturers supplying Israel – BAE Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Oshkosh, Rheinmetall AG, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, RTX and ThyssenKrupp – and called on them to stop deliveries, even if they are made under existing export licences.
“These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components, and ammunition to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws,” reads a statement made on June 21, 2024 by more than 30 experts and special rapporteurs led by Robert McCorquodale, a member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
The statement also warns financial institutions investing in the arms companies involved in supplying weapons to Israel.
Among the investors named include Bank of America, BlackRock, Capital Group, Causeway Capital Management, Citigroup, Fidelity Management & Research, JP Morgan Chase, Harris Associates, Morgan Stanley and The Vanguard Group.
"Failure to prevent or mitigate their business relationships with these arms manufacturers transferring arms to Israel could move from being directly linked to human rights abuses to contributing to them, with repercussions for complicity in potential atrocity crimes," the experts said.
They said the risk of being accused of complicity in war crimes has been further increased by the recent decision of the International Court of Justice ordering Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah, as well as the move by the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.
"In this context, continuing arms transfers to Israel may be seen as knowingly providing assistance for operations that contravene international human rights and international humanitarian laws and may result in profit from such assistance."
The Israeli attack on Gaza was characterised by "indiscriminate and disproportionate" attacks on civilians and infrastructure, killing more than 37,000 people and injuring 84,000, the statement added.
"Today, children in Gaza are the largest group of amputee children in the world due to grave injuries sustained in the war."
In 24 June, 2024, in Malaysia, 22 civil society organisations called on their Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to make "the right and conscionable decision" by excluding a company owned by controversial US investment fund BlackRock from a consortium to manage local airports.
In a joint appeal led by the Malaysian chapter of the global anti-Israel boycott movement Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), they said the call for the government to cancel the plan was clearly justified.
"The situation is straightforward and widely understood: a Zionist entity is conducting a settler-colonial and racist genocide in Gaza. To halt this atrocity, those opposing genocide must act collectively to disrupt the systems enabling such crimes against humanity," reads the statement signed by prominent Muslim and pro-Palestinian groups.
"This means refusing to engage or collaborate with entities complicit in these actions. Understanding this context clarifies why BlackRock should not be allowed any involvement in our nation’s strategic assets."
It comes as Putrajaya appears to have launched an aggressive media campaign to discredit critics of the plan, which would see BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) taking a 30% stake in a consortium to manage Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB), alongside the government's investment arm Khazanah Nasional and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), both entities under the jurisdiction of the finance ministry led by Anwar.
In the face of mounting pressure to scrap the plan, Anwar defended the sale of the shares to GIP, arguing that the government could not cut ties with companies that have ties to Israel because it would "harm the country's economy".
Anwar also accused critics exploiting the Palestinian conflict to score political points.
In their statement, the groups said Anwar must maintain his "commendable" stance on Palestine by preventing "entities complicit in atrocities being committed in Palestine a foothold in our nation".
"It is now public knowledge that BlackRock has been identified as complicit in the ongoing human rights violations in Gaza," they said, referring to a statement released last week by dozens of UN experts.
"Implicit in the UN statement is the obligation for member states to exert pressure, by any means available, on parties complicit in or enabling war crimes and genocide in Gaza to cease their actions immediately.
"Malaysia as a UN member state should take heed of that call and fully oblige by immediately telling BlackRock that it is not a welcomed partner in the ownership and running of our airports," the statement added.
The BlackRock issue has emerged as one of Anwar's greatest challenges since his appointment to the top post,and comes against a backdrop of a perception that he is more friendly with the US and Israel, with critics citing past statements including his interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2012 which quoted him as saying that he would "support all efforts to protect the security of the state of Israel".
Anwar has taken pains to change this perception with speeches and statements criticising Washington's support for Israel, in addition to his attendance at meetings with global Muslim leaders in the wake of Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza last year which has so far killed at least 35,000 Palestinians.
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