This section includes companies involved in state violence and human rights violations as a part of occupations through:
- The Settlement Industry - companies that support and maintain illegal settlements in occupied lands.
- Exploitation of Natural Resources - companies involved in the exploitation and plundering of natural resources in occupied lands.
- Wall and Checkpoints - companies that support the system of severe travel restrictions Israel imposes on Palestinians.
- Weapons and Military Equipment - companies that provide militant groups in Palestine/Israel with weapons and militarized equipment specifically designed for and consistently used in war crimes or attacks on civilians.
- Discrimination - companies that discriminate against Palestinians in their services or goods, in the workplace, or by exploiting the unequal and discriminatory legal situation for their commercial benefit.
For the first three categories, we are grateful to be able to rely on information published by Who Profits, an independent research center dedicated to exposing the role of the private sector in the Israeli occupation economy. However, our information is not identical. We conduct our own independent research to verify, supplement, and update the information from Who Profits. The two last categories are mostly based on our internal research.
This database does not include all Israeli companies or all companies doing business in Israel, but only companies involved in specific human rights violations as part of the Israeli occupation. At the same time, we recognize that the Israeli occupation is not the only illegal occupation in the world, although it is the longest and deadliest one. It is also the only place in the world from which a call was issued by the occupied people to the international community to use economic activism tools such as boycott and divestment to help end the occupation. Nevertheless, we are exploring ways to incorporate other occupations into this database.
Investigate was developed within the framework of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) long history of work in Israel and Palestine. Since 1949, AFSC has worked in cooperation with both Palestinians and Israelis to realize a just and lasting peace in the region. In its work in Israel and Palestine, AFSC has consistently sought to respond to and end suffering whether it is caused by direct human actions or by oppressive structures that human beings have created. AFSC currently has offices in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, working with both Palestinian and Israeli partners.
AFSC first adopted an investment policy in relation to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2008, in response to requests from both our Israeli and Palestinian partners, who asked that AFSC ensure that its resources are not invested in occupation and violence. The AFSC Board stated that it was approving the screen “as a matter of conscience and an expression of our unwillingness to remain complicit with violence and oppression occurring daily in Palestine and Israel, which is contrary to all that we know to be true and right.”