Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign that aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign." The disinvestment campaign is related to other economic and political boycotts of Israel.

A notable campaign was initiated in 2002 and endorsed by South Africa's Desmond Tutu. Tutu said that the campaign against Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories and its continued settlement expansion should be modeled on the successful historical disinvestment campaign against South Africa's apartheid system.

There have been renewed calls for disinvestment from Israel in 2024 as pro-Palestine protests in the United States have increased nationwide there, especially on college campuses.

Initial call to action Divestment campaigns targeting Israel first received media attention in 2002, thanks largely to a high-profile divestment petition at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology early that year.Faculty Urge Divestment from Israel , David H. Gellis, Harvard Crimson, 6 May 2002 This was followed later that same year by calls from South African anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu for the international community to treat Israel as it treated apartheid South Africa:

The origin of the Israeli divestment campaigns can be traced back to the early 1990s just after similar programs targeting South Africa proved successful in (1) rallying political activists and (2) contributing to pressures that – along with other economic and political factors - led to an end to white minority rule in that country.The End of Apartheid , United States Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs

Targets for disinvestment

Disinvestment campaigns have been focused on high-profile organizations with large financial holdings such as endowed universities or churches and municipalities managing large portfolios of retirement fund investments. Such high-profile institutions, like Harvard University or the multimillion-member Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, provided divestment proponents a platform from which to spotlight their political activity. In addition, the wide financial holdings of these institutions generally provided divestment campaigns a list of stocks upon which to base their calls for divestment.

Disinvestment efforts Much of the disinvestment activity that has been widely publicized has come from the English-speaking world, but many Muslim groups have also called for divestment. Efforts have ranged from general boycotts to targeting specific Israeli companies.

United States

Churches

Presbyterian Church (USA)

In July 2004, the 2.4-million-member Presbyterian Church (USA), voted 431 to 62 in July to "initiate a process of phased selective divestment in multinational corporations operating in Israel." The Church manages a set of investment funds totaling approximately $7 billion USD.

According to the Church's highest elected official, Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, there is no plan for a "blanket divestment" from Israeli companies, but instead the Church will "target businesses that it believes bear particular responsibility for the suffering of Palestinians and will give them a chance to change their behavior before selling their shares." Church officials, according to The Washington Post, mentioned Caterpillar Inc. as a possible target of the selective divestment campaign because the company "manufactures bulldozers used by Israel to demolish Palestinian homes that are built without permits or belong to families of suicide bombers."

There was significant opposition in the American Jewish community to the Church's decision. The Washington Post reported in September 2004 that "Jewish-Presbyterian relations have been in turmoil" and that "the heads of several major U.S. Jewish organizations condemned the Presbyterian Church's decision to begin selective divestiture in companies operating in Israel." The executive vice president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Rabbi Paul Menitoff, said the resolution was "lopsided" and that it unfairly blamed only one side in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In response to the criticism, Kirkpatrick said that the Church would also "pull its money out of any companies that are complicit in supporting terrorism."

On 29 June 2006, the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly by a vote of 483-28 adopted a balanced resolution that replaced language adopted in 2004 mandating a process of divestment focused on Israel and endorsed instead a corporate engagement process. Instead of using the word "divestment", the resolution calls for the Church to invest only in companies who are involved in "peaceful pursuits" in Israel and Palestinian territories.Church adopts compromise resolution on Israel by Nathan Guttman (The Jerusalem Post) 19 June 2006

In July 2012, the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly decided to reject divestment and instead focus on investment. By a narrow vote of 333–331, the members voted to discard a resolution proposing divestment from Israel. This was followed by a vote of 369–290, with eight abstentions, for the church to pursue positive investment in the territories.

In June 2014, the General Assembly, meeting in Detroit, voted 310–303 to divest from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions. Supporters of the resolution said those companies were involved with "demolition and surveillance activities against Palestinians in the West Bank".

World Council of Churches In February 2005, the Geneva-based World Council of Churches followed suit. The resolution passed by WCC's 150-member Central Committee commended the selective divestment resolution passed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) saying that the previous resolution "in both method and manner, uses criteria rooted in faith and calls members to do the things that make for peace." The WCC planned to focus "on companies that assist the Israeli government in demolishing Palestinian homes, constructing settlements, and erecting a controversial 'dividing wall' within the Palestinian territories."

"The unexpected resolution", according to a BeliefNet report, "caught many American Jewish groups off guard and confirmed fears among some that the Presbyterians opened a Pandora's box last summer that now has the tacit approval of global Protestant and Orthodox leaders. Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor, interfaith director for the Anti-Defamation League, dismissed the WCC as 'irrelevant' but was nonetheless concerned that the divestment campaign has taken on a life of its own."

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ also followed suit, endorsing a range of economic leverages that included divestment, but church leaders did not commit their pension or foundation assets to a divestment plan..

United Methodist Church In June 2005, the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church had voted to urge the divesting of funds from companies that support the Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories. The resolution stated: "Whereas the United Methodist Church should not profit from the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian land or the destruction of Palestinian homes, orchards, and lives," "Whereas we are committed to ensuring that our denomination's money is used in a manner consistent with our beliefs, with international law, and with Christ's teaching."

At the 2012 Tampa Conference, the United Methodist Church twice rejected resolutions on May 2, that called for divestment from companies that were accused of contributing to the "Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories", including "Caterpillar, Motorola Solutions and Hewlett-Packard." Approximately 2/3 of the 1,000 delegates in attendance rejected the divestment resolutions. The church also rejected similar resolutions in 2008. According to Reverend Bob Long, "Of course we care about the Palestinians, and what they've been through. But we also care about the Israelis and what they've been through."

In June 2014, the Methodist pension board voted to divest.

In May 2024, the United Methodist Church voted to divest from Israel bonds.

Episcopal Church In July 2012, the Episcopal Church adopted a resolution at its General Convention Assembly that supported "a negotiated two-state solution" and "positive investment" rather than divestment from Israel.

Others Other mainline churches have debated the subject of divestment. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America rejected a pro-divestment resolution during the summer of 2005. The Episcopal Church USA ruled out the possibility of an Israel divestment later that year, and the United Methodist Church has also avoided divestment.

Universities

University of California, Berkeley (ASUC) 11-9-0 University of California, Irvine (ASUCI) 16-0-0 University of California, Riverside (ASUCR) 8-7-0 Loyola University Chicago (USGA) 12-10-9 (Vetoed) University of California, San Diego (ASUCSD) 20-12-1 University of California, Santa Cruz (SUA) 22-14 University of California, Los Angeles (USAC) 8-2-2 University of California, Davis (ASUCD) 8-2-2 (Vacated by Student Govt. Court) Stanford University (SU) 10-4-1

At universities the focus has largely been to pass resolutions supporting divestment in student government. Few campaigns have gone further than these resolutions in pressuring universities to agree to divest. Some student organizations support the broader Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign on campus, often in cooperation with other progressive campus groups.

On 17 March 2010, a UC Berkeley Student Senate resolution asked that the university divest itself of companies that conduct business with Israel, especially targeting General Electric and United Technologies which supplies arms and technology to Israel, but it was vetoed on 24 March by the Student Body President who called it "a symbolic attack on a specific community". In 2013, another UC Berkeley Student Senate resolution was passed as SB160, which proposed the university divest itself of companies complicit in Israel's abuse of human rights in Gaza.

On February 8, 2015, the University of California Student Association passed a resolution calling on the UC Board of Regents to divest from companies violating Palestinian human rights in the West Bank and Gaza. The historic vote passed in an overwhelming majority of 9–1 with 6 abstentions.

In May 2015, the Princeton graduate student community voted by a margin of 56%-39% (4.5% abstaining) in favor of a non-binding resolution to "divest from multinational corporations that maintain the infrastructure of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, facilitate Israel's and Egypt's collective punishment of Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or facilitate state repression against Palestinians by Israeli, Egyptian, and Palestinian Authority security forces, until these corporations cease such activities."

Columbia University In October 2002, during the Second Intifada, the Columbia/Barnard Faculty Committee on Divestment released a petition for Columbia to divest from companies that it said manufacture arms for or sell arms to Israel, specifically Boeing, General Electric, Caterpillar, and Lockheed Martin, for a total withdrawal of $8,118,225 in investments. Rabbi Charles Sheer, director of the Columbia-Barnard chapter of Hillel, led a campaign in 2003https://archive-publications.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs20030514-01.2.13&srpos=24&e=-------en-20-cs-21--txt-txIN-Charles+Sheer----2003-- against the divestment proposal that gathered 33,000 signatures in support. The petition did not pass.