With multi-billion investments, insurers such as Allianz and Axa fuel Israel’s war in Gaza – and the climate crisis. The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine has also drawn attention to this.

A new campaign called ‘No Allianz with Genocide’ aims to pressure the Munich-based company Allianz to withdraw completely from business that fuels the war in Gaza and the climate crisis. The organisers point to the particular responsibility of the financial sector, arguing that investments and insurance make deadly military and fossil industries possible in the first place. Their research is summarised in a factsheet made available to ‘nd’.

The activists recall the ruling of the International Court of Justice from January 2024, which found it ‘plausible’ that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Companies such as Allianz, they argue, are therefore obliged not to contribute to its continuation.

The investments cited include shares worth €64 million in the British firm BAE Systems, which supplies M109 howitzers that, according to human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, also fire shells with white phosphorus, for example in Lebanon. Allianz’s €53.6 million in the US aerospace group Boeing concern the production of guidance systems for bombs used in airstrikes in Gaza that have caused civilian casualties. Further commitments involve nearly €167 million in the US firm Caterpillar, known for its D9 bulldozers used in the demolition of Palestinian homes. Precision munitions from Honeywell International are said to have been used in an attack on a UN school in June 2024 – Allianz is reportedly invested in the US arms company to the tune of €65.6 million.

According to the report, Allianz invests a total of €6.8 billion in firms involved in the occupation and war against Gaza – including non-military ones. These include capital investments and insurance policies for corporations operating in Israel or the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, thereby creating conditions that enable Israeli human rights violations. The campaign was launched on the occasion of the ‘Shut Elbit Down’ camp taking place in Ulm since Wednesday. Particular attention is paid to cooperation with the Israeli arms company of the same name: Allianz is said not only to invest in Elbit Systems but also to insure its British factories. Rheinmetall is also alleged to play a role: Allianz has invested in an artillery system developed jointly by the German company and Elbit.

Allianz is also said to have invested considerable sums in fossil fuels: the company reportedly holds policies worth around €560 million and invests more than €1.6 billion in oil and gas corporations such as BP, ExxonMobil and Chevron. According to the campaign, these companies operate infrastructure in Israel such as the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline, which supplies Israeli settlements – while Gaza is cut off from electricity and energy.

The new campaign does not criticise Allianz alone. The German insurer AXA, for example, invests more than €3.8 billion in arms and energy companies. Aviva and Zurich are also described as complicit in the genocide in Gaza. Allianz itself has so far shown no sign of turning away from its business practices. On the contrary, its investments in arms companies almost doubled in 2024. Asked by nd to comment, the company declined to respond to the practices and allegations raised by the ‘No Allianz with Genocide’ campaign.

Published in German in ‘nd’.

Image: Israeli army D9 Bulldozer by Caterpillar (joeskillet, CC BY 2.0).