A U.S. investment firm has removed Caterpillar Inc. from three of its popular indexes that track socially responsible investments, citing concerns about the Israeli military's use of company bulldozers in the Palestinian territories.

Controversy over the Israeli army’s use of Caterpillar Inc. bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes was a “key factor” in a corporate rating agency’s decision to drop the American manufacturer from its list of socially responsible companies.

The decisions by TIAA-CREF, the pension fund managers, to divest $73 million in Caterpillar stock from a socially-responsible investment fund and by MSCI, a Wall Street investment service firm, to delist Caterpillar from its index of "socially responsible" companies, have hit a giant political nerve. Palestinian solidarity groups are claiming the divestment as a victory-- because Caterpillar has long been a target of divestment initiatives. Meantime, pro-Israel groups are spinning the decision their way, saying that Caterpillar got axed for reasons unrelated to the occupation.

Pension fund giant TIAA-CREF has removed Caterpillar, Inc. from its Social Choice Funds portfolio. As of May 1, 2012, financial data posted on TIAA-CREF’s website valued Social Choice Funds shares in Caterpillar at $72,943,861. Today it is zero.