Pro-Palestine activists protest at Barclays in Enfield over links to Israeli arms

The Enfield Palestine Solidarity Campaign says the bank is “complicit” in the continued bombing of Gaza

Pro-Palestinian campaigners staged an impassioned protest at the Barclays branch in Enfield Town over the company’s links to weapons used by the Israeli government in Gaza.

The Enfield Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), like many other similar groups in the UK, decided to target Barclays as part of its “global boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel”.

In a statement after the demonstration, the group said: “Barclays Bank provides financial services to the major arms companies that supply Israel and thereby facilitates the supply of arms for Israel’s attacks on Palestinians, including in Gaza.

“Barclays owns over £1 billion in shares and provides over £3 billion in loans and underwriting to companies whose weapons are used by Israel. This includes General Dynamics of America, which makes the weapons systems that arm the fighter jets used by Israel, and Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems, which makes the armored drones, ammunition and artillery used by the Israeli military.

This story is published by the Enfield Dispatch, Enfield’s free monthly newspaper and free news website. We are a non-profit publication published by a small social enterprise. We have no wealthy backers and rely on the support of our readers. Donate or become a supporter.

“It is for this reason that Enfield PSC is taking peaceful action against Barclays. We call on all concerned people to boycott Barclays until it ends its complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.”

Barclays has defended its activities in relation to Israeli arms companies. A statement on its website said: “We deal in shares of listed companies in response to client instructions or demand and this may result in the holding of shares. We do not make investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a “shareholder” or “investor” in this respect in relation to these companies.

“For the reasons mentioned, it is not true that we have made the decision to invest in Elbit. We may hold shares in relation to customer-based transactions, which is why they appear in the share register, but we are not investors. We also note that Elbit is singled out because militants claim it makes cluster bombs. We would cease any relationship with any business where we saw evidence that it was producing cluster bombs or components.

“As a bank, our mission is to provide financial services to thousands of business customers, including those in the defense sector (…) It is the role of the government to decide foreign policy and the laws that restrict the supply of arms to any country. .”

We know times are tough

If you’re struggling to make ends meet, we’ve got Enfield Dispatch for free. We know many people cannot afford to pay for local news, so this website and our print paper will always be free. If you can afford it and value what we do, a small monthly, annual or one-off contribution can help us continue to provide quality Enfield journalism to our community for free.

Direct monthly debit

Annual direct debit

£5 a month backers get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 a month backers get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted each month. Annual £50 backers get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else.

More information about our monthly or annual support

More information about donations