Justice for Palestine applauds Amnesty International’s decision to quit ASB due to its refusal to divest from Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land. Amnesty’s move is part of the Don’t Bank on Apartheid campaign, organised by Justice for Palestine to put pressure on financial institutions to divest New Zealanders’ money from Israel’s apartheid against the Palestinian people. The campaign’s first target is the ASB KiwiSaver funds’ investments in Motorola Solutions, a company that provides telecommunications, surveillance and military technology to the illegal settlements.

“ASB has tried to silence the campaign’s supporters, including thousands of its own customers like Amnesty International by claiming they have followed their ethical investment process. According to ASB, it has not been able to show that Motorola is providing services that meet its exclusion criteria,” said Justice for Palestine spokesperson, Kate Stone.

“This response reveals ASB’s perverse logic. The United Nations has repeatedly reported Motorola as a company that is complicit in maintaining and expanding the illegal settlements. Amnesty and other human rights organisations have concluded that Israel is perpetrating the crime against humanity of imposing an apartheid system on Palestinians and NGOs have presented evidence of Motorola’s role in supporting this system. In this context ASB ought to be putting the onus on Motorola to demonstrate it is not complicit and to present that evidence to their customers.”

“Companies identified in the UN’s list can present evidence to the UN to be removed from the list. The fact that Motorola has not done this in the face of escalating ethnic cleansing in the West Bank obliges ASB to take a precautionary approach to ensure it is not investing New Zealanders’ money in crimes against humanity,” said Kate Stone.

“As Amnesty points out, ASB has specific international obligations to avoid causing or contributing to human rights abuses through its activities. Moreover, it must seek to prevent or mitigate human rights abuses linked to ASB’s operations, products or services, even if it has not contributed to those abuses.”

“ASB has been on notice since we launched our campaign in October 2024 that it was investing in human rights abuses against Palestinians. But the bank has dug its heels in and sought to hide behind a compromised ethical investment process, rather than respect its customers’ wishes. In fact, analysis of its recent financial disclosures shows its investment in Motorola has increased from $14m to $18.4m,” said Kate Stone.

“The thousands of people, and organisations like Amnesty, that have got behind the campaign are sending a clear message to ASB and other financial institutions: there will be commercial consequences if you invest in Israeli apartheid. In this way we are getting behind the Palestinian civil society led, non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement. The BDS movement asks the international community to stop providing material support that enables Israel to maintain its unlawful occupation and apartheid regime, which causes immense harm to the Palestinian people”.

“We believe all people should enjoy freedom, justice and equality, including Palestinians. And we won’t stay silent while ASB and others invest our money in this oppression.”

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