After slow divestment, Canada’s Scotiabank quietly reinvests in Israel’s genocide

 

For almost two years, activists across Canada have been demanding that Scotiabank divest from Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. Despite a commitment to 'incremental divestment', the bank has slowly been reinvesting in Elbit.

For almost two years, activists in Vancouver and across Canada have been out on the streets demanding that Scotiabank divest completely from Israeli company Elbit Systems. Many sectors became involved in the campaign, from solidarity groups to artists, all to demand an end to this unholy alliance of a big bank with an Israeli arms company actively fueling genocide.

It’s been a roller-coast ride of two steps forward, one step back. Two years ago, Scotiabank’s 1832 Asset Management Fund owned 5% of Elbit Systems worth almost $500 million US. Since then, it gradually divested much of its shares and at the end of September 2024, it was down to just $118 million.

Like many others, I was encouraged by the strong response from the public, most of whom were horrified when they learnt that their mutual funds or retirement savings might directly be helping to kill Palestinians. There were flash sit-ins inside bank branches, multiple national Days of Action and a highly visible campaign from the arts community that even resulted in the Giller Prize finally dissociating itself from Scotiabank in February 2025.

Their ‘incremental divestment’ was less dramatic than a complete withdrawal of funding all at one time and allowed the bank to even pretend that their decision was based on ‘investment merit’. This strategy, coupled with the Giller Prize victory, eventually led to less public focus on Scotiabank’s complicity with genocide and war crimes in recent months.

However, as soon as Scotiabank felt they were no longer under constant scrutiny, they reversed course and started to quietly reinvest in Elbit. As noted by Canada Palestine Association/CPA in a May 9, 2025 statement: “…the last quarter of 2024 brought the news of a shift in their strategy, as they grabbed more Elbit stock which was valued at the time of reporting to be worth $180 million US. However, Elbit share prices have been on an upward trajectory since late January of this year…”

In fact, 1832 Asset Management’s latest filing for the first quarter of 2025 showed that their Elbit shares were worth $268 million US. This amount actually exceeded the dollar amount of their investment a year ago. Although Elbit stocks are currently dropping, their stock price is still almost double what it was in May of 2024.

The CPA statement went on to conclude: “Although their partial divestments were noteworthy, this simply proves that we can never have faith in multinational corporations to do the ethical thing. War, death and destruction are good for the bottom line! And even though the protests temporarily affected that bottom line, Scotiabank was able to navigate its way out of the public eye…”  (more...)

After slow divestment, Canada’s Scotiabank quietly reinvests in Israel’s genocide