BRISTOL — Barclays Bank said Monday that it does not invest directly in defense companies that supply NATO and its allies, after 20 of its branches in the UK were vandalized by pro-Palestinian protesters over the lender’s alleged ties with Israel military firms.
Earlier on Monday, the 20 branches of the bank across England and Scotland were found with windows smashed and red paint daubed over the buildings as part of a protest calling on the bank to divest from arms companies that sell to Israel as well as from fossil fuel businesses.
Barclays helped raise $41 billion in ESG-linked finance for fossil fuel firms in 2023, according to an analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism published in May.
The UK-based campaign group Palestine Action and climate change group Shut the System claimed responsibility for the damage. Palestine Action said among the Barclays branches targeted were five in London, as well as banks in Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton, Exeter, Sheffield, Northampton, Solihull and Preston, Bury, Stockport and Glasgow, as well as an office in Edinburgh.
A spokesperson for Barclays told Al-Monitor: “We provide vital financial services to US, UK and European public companies that supply defense products to NATO and its allies. Barclays does not directly invest in these companies. The defense sector is fundamental to our national security, and the UK government has been clear that supporting defense companies is compatible with ESG (environmental, sustainability and governance) considerations. Decisions on the implementation of arms embargoes to other nations are the job of respective elected governments.”
“While we support the right to protest, we ask that campaigners do so in a way which respects our customers, colleagues and property,” the spokesperson added.
City of London police said that three people were arrested over the damage to a Barclays building in Moorgate in central London.
In a statement, Palestine Action said it “aims to halt the Palestinian genocide by undermining suppliers of weapons to the Israeli military … along with financial companies involved with these weapons suppliers.”
“Our collaboration demanding divestment from Israel’s weapons trade and fossil fuels has left the bank shattered,” the group added.
In May, several pro-Palestinian rights groups published a report stating that Barclays has £2 billion ($2.55 billion) in investments in companies supplying weapons to Israel, including one of the country’s biggest military firms, Elbit Systems, and General Dynamics, a US firm that produces components for warplanes. Barclays is also reported to have financial ties in BAE Systems and Raytheon.
The UK-based bank says on its website that defense companies it provides financial services for are “an important contributor to our security in a time of increasing uncertainty.”
The website states: “We have been asked why we invest in nine defense companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand, and that may result in us holding shares.”
“Whilst we provide financial services to these companies, we are not making investments for Barclays, and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies,” the website states.
More than 37,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel began attacking the enclave, in response to a surprise attack by Hamas on the south of the country that killed nearly 1,200 people and saw 240 more abducted.
In May, pro-Palestinian activists and 130 music artists boycotted the Great Escape Festival in Brighton, south England, as Barclays was the event’s sponsor.
