Press Release

Press Release

On Day of Shareholders Meeting, Protests Held in 12 Cities Against TIAA-CREF Investments in Israeli Military Occupation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 17, Oakland, CA – On Tuesday, July 16th at TIAA-CREF offices in over a dozen cities nationwide, human rights advocates protested the retirement giant’s investments in Israeli military occupation, on the same day that TIAA-CREF held its annual shareholders meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina.  The protesters sang, chanted, handed out thousands of flyers, and performed street theater, also signaling their displeasure with TIAA-CREF’s refusal to allow investors to vote to vote on a shareholder resolution, which calls on TIAA-CREF to divest from companies such as Veolia, Caterpillar, and Northrup Grumman which profit from segregated services, home demolitions, militarized violence, and other human rights abuses.

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Press Release

TIAA-CREF Shareholders Filed Resolutions Asking for Divestment from Israel's Occupation

NEW YORK - Fifty New Yorkers gathered in the cold in front of TIAA-CREF national headquarters to show support for a shareholder resolution asking trustees to end investments in companies that contribute to or enable serious human rights violations, including companies whose products support Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.

CREF shareholders, including a professor of peace and conflict studies, addressed the crowd, emphasizing that it is crucial that the retirement company let shareholders have a conversation about the human rights abuses their investments are supporting. Also present was Omar Barghouti, one of the founders and leaders of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions National Committee. Barghouti's evening talk with Judith Butler at Brooklyn College this evening has been the object of much recent controversy among local city officials and in the national media.

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Press Release

New York’s City Harvest in ethics bind over links to Israeli settlement-builder Leviev

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY – The award-winning New York City anti-hunger nonprofit City Harvest is avoiding requests to distance itself from funding and support from controversial Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, despite over 500 letters to the organization complaining about Leviev’s human rights record. Leviev’s companies have built thousands of Israeli settlement homes on occupied Palestinian land in violation of international law, and have also been accused of involvement in human rights abuses and unethical business practices in the diamond industry in Angola and Namibia, and now possibly in Zimbabwe as well.

The governments of Norway and the United Kingdom, Oxfam America, UNICEF, CARE, and Hollywood stars have all sought distance from Leviev or his companies over their human rights record. Most recently, in December, New Zealand’s Superannuation Fund, which invests $20 billion for New Zealand’s government, announced it had divested from Leviev’s companies Africa Israel and its subsidiary Danya Cebus.

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Press Release

New Yorkers sing carols for an end to abuses by developer Lev Leviev

Protesters urge local nonprofit City Harvest to reject Leviev support

New York, NY, December 15, 2012 – Eighty New Yorkers sang parody carols in front of Israeli settlement-developer and diamond magnate Lev Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store this afternoon. This was the sixth annual holiday demonstration at the store. Leviev’s companies have built thousands of Israeli settlement homes on Palestinian land, and are also involved in human rights abuses and unethical business practices in the diamond industry in Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The protest took place during a period of heightened international criticism of Israeli settlement expansion. This week New Zealand’s Superannuation Fund, which invests $20 billion on behalf of New Zealand’s government, announced its divestment from Leviev’s companies and two others due to their construction of settlements and Israel’s wall in violation of international law.

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Press Release

New Zealand divests from companies of Israeli settlement-builder Lev Leviev

New York, NY, December 13, 2012 – The New Zealand Superannuation Fund, which invests money on behalf of New Zealand’s government, announced on December 12 that it is divesting from Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev’s company Africa Israel and its construction subsidiary Danya Cebus over their construction of Israeli settlements. The announcement came amidst heightened international criticism of Israeli settlement expansion. The move also follows a 2010 decision by the Norwegian government to divest from Africa Israel, and a 2009 decision by the British government not to do business with the company. The organizations Oxfam America, CARE and UNICEF have also severed ties with Leviev.

The announcement came as Adalah-NY is petitioning the New York City anti-hunger nonprofit City Harvest to publicly disavow Leviev, and is preparing for its sixth annual anti-apartheid caroling protest outside Leviev’s Madison Avenue jewelry store this Saturday. Adalah-NY launched a campaign for the boycott of and divestment from Leviev’s companies in 2007.

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Press Release

Over 50 New Yorkers Protest at Iconic GE Building in Rockefeller Center in Commemoration of Those Killed in Assault in Gaza

New York, NY, November 27, 2012: This morning, over 50 New Yorkers braved the chilly rain for a solemn march in front of the iconic General Electric Building at the heart of Rockefeller Plaza in commemoration of those killed by the assault on Gaza that ended in a cease fire on November 21st. Surrounded by preparations for the holiday season, the protesters, accompanied by the haunting music of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, read the names and ages of all the people killed in the assault in the mic check style popularized by the Occupy Movement.

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Press Release

Caterpillar Removed from TIAA-CREF’s Social Choice Funds

Victory for Pro-divestment Advocates

For Immediate Release

June 21, 2012- 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.

“We applaud this decision,” said Rabbi Alissa Wise, Director of Campaigns at Jewish Voice for Peace and National Coordinator of the We Divest Campaign (www.wedivest.org). “It’s long past time that TIAA-CREF began living up to its motto of ‘Financial Services for the Greater Good’ when it comes to the people of Israel and Palestine.”

Since 2010, We Divest has been urging TIAA-CREF to drop Caterpillar and other companies profiting from and facilitating Israel’s 45-year-old military occupation and colonization of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.

“By selling weaponized bulldozers to Israel, Caterpillar is complicit in Israel’s systematic violations of Palestinian human rights,” said Rabbi Wise. “We’re glad to see that the socially responsible investment community appears to be recognizing this and is starting to take appropriate action.”

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