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Demonstration seeks halt to Japanese pension funds investing in Israeli companies

One protester called it the
One protester called it the "pension of death" and said Japanese money was "being invested in the worst atrocities of the century." (ANJ)
One protester called it the
One protester called it the "pension of death" and said Japanese money was "being invested in the worst atrocities of the century." (ANJ)
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13 Jan 2025 02:01:42 GMT9
13 Jan 2025 02:01:42 GMT9

Arab News Japan

TOKYO: A demonstration was held in Tokyo in support of the “Divest Japanese Pension Funds from Genocide” campaign.

Demonstrators opposed Japanese pension funds being invested in Israeli companies. They said Japanese pension funds have invested 1 trillion yen ($6.3 billion) in support of Israel’s occupation of Palestine and “the genocide of Palestinians.”

One protester called it the “pension of death” and said Japanese money was “being invested in the worst atrocities of the century.”

The demonstration was held on Sunday evening in the busy Shinjuku district of Tokyo. The title was “Tell the world Japan funds genocide.”

The protesters called for pressure to be put on Japan’s government to divest funds from areas “supporting genocide.”

The government has previously said that under the current law, it can’t control where funds are invested, but the protesters pointed to Norway, where citizens have pressured their government to withdraw investments from Israel.” 

A petition has been organized that calls on the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and the General Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), an agency that manages pension funds on behalf of the MHLW, to stop investing in companies that “are endangering the lives of people living in Palestine” and stop “investing in nations and corporations that are complicit in genocide.”

The petition wants Japan to “immediately withdraw their investments in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military contractor and Caterpillar Inc. of the United States, which delivers armored bulldozers to the Israeli army.”

It also wants companies to withdraw any investment in Israeli government bonds and Israeli banks “until Israel abolishes its policies and military actions in violation of international law and stops ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.

The petition states: “Pensions paid by people living in Japan are being used for the massacre and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Japanese pension funds hold approximately 227 billion yen in Israeli government bonds and 874 billion yen in shares of companies involved in the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

“We will not allow Japanese pension funds to be used for genocide and ethnic cleansing, nor will we allow them to endorse these atrocities,” the demonstrators’ slogans echoed in the crowded Shinjuku station. 

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