The UBC Social Justice Centre and UBC Graduate Students for Palestine cross-referenced the 2023 UBC IMANT Endowment Holdings Disclosure Report with data from the UN OHCHR, the AFSC, WhoProfits, Amnesty International, the BDS Movement, CorpWatch, and Al-Haq to identify 88 companies complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity that UBC invests in.
In May 2024, seven months into Israel’s genocidal bombardment of Gaza, UBC finally disclosed its 2023 endowment investments after sustained pressure from students across its campuses. Through extensive research, we identified 88 firms out of the more than 6,500 companies in the Holdings Disclosure Report that are complicit in Israeli apartheid, the settler-colonial occupation of Palestine, and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians. Shockingly, the value of these holdings totaled an estimated $113.8 million—a horrifying increase from 2022.
Among these are 16 companies listed by the UN as operating in illegal Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian and Syrian lands (over $10 million in investments) and 16 military companies directly profiting from and enabling the ongoing genocide of Palestinians (around $16 million). Notably, between 2022 and 2023, UBC’s Board of Governors approved a 0.23% increase in investments in the military-industrial complex. Investments in BAE Systems and Boeing—two of the world’s largest arms dealers—rose four- and five-fold, respectively. For more details, see our previous post, “UBC’s Math Isn’t Matching,” which outlines our methodology for constructing this list.
UBC claims to be committed to building a “more just, sustainable society,” but this will never be true as long as it remains a partner in genocide. As UBC students, we join the global movement calling for divestment from Israeli crimes against humanity. We refuse to normalize the systematic annihilation of our Palestinian kin or accept the unelected Board of Governors’ decision to fund genocide, ecocide, and apartheid in Occupied Palestine. We will not remain silent while our university finances the deliberate destruction of Palestine’s schools and universities.
Divestment is entirely feasible. In 2019, UBC committed to divesting $144 million from fossil fuels by 2030, making it a pillar of its pooled-fund investment strategy. With the ongoing genocide in Gaza, divestment from Israeli apartheid is even more urgent—and we will not stop until it becomes a reality.
Key Financial Data
- The percentage of the endowment invested in the military-industrial complex increased by 0.23% from 2022.
- UBC did not disclose its 2023 holdings until pressured by students from the Okanagan and Vancouver campuses, demonstrating that transparency only occurred under external demands.
UBC IMANT’s reports list endowment holdings in percentages. The dollar amounts cited here are estimates, calculated by comparing the overall value of the endowment with the percentages disclosed. However, discrepancies in reporting dates should be noted. The value of the endowment was reported as $2.19 billion on March 31, 2023, while the Holdings Disclosure Report was released on June 30, 2023. For comparison, the fund’s value as of March 31, 2022, was $2.09 billion. These estimates assume the fund’s value grew somewhat evenly over the three months from March to June 2023.
Notable Investments That Increased in 2023
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BAE Systems:
Holdings increased fourfold. BAE Systems, the world’s seventh-largest military contractor, manufactures weapons systems routinely used in war crimes against Palestinians.
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Palantir:
Holdings increased fourfold. Palantir produces surveillance technology used by Israel to conduct mass monitoring of the Palestinian civilian population.
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Boeing:
Holdings increased fivefold. Boeing aircraft have been used by the Israeli military since 1948 and have been directly deployed in numerous attacks on civilians in Gaza.
UBC’s financial decisions stand in stark contradiction to its professed values. Divestment is not only possible but necessary to align the university’s practices with its stated mission of creating a just, sustainable society.