AS ISRAEL ANNIHILATES GAZA, SAUDI ARABIA HOSTS WEAPONS INVESTORS AT ‘DAVOS IN THE DESERT’
Attendees fund white phosphorous and other ‘controversial’ missiles deployed by Israel
As the Israel-Hamas war raged on, scores of Western bankers and financiers flew into the Saudi capital Riyadh to attend the annual Future Investment Initiative deals jamboree last October.
Dubbed ‘Davos in the Desert,’ attendees were lured by the promise of investments from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund estimated at $700 billion.
The meeting from October 24-26 attracted corporate leaders such as BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon.
According to the People’s Forum, ‘BlackRock is a New York City-based investment company that has massive investments in Israel and in companies including Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and General Dynamics that make the weapons Israel uses to murder Palestinians.
‘BlackRock invests in companies that arm the Israeli war machine! Its CEO, Larry Fink, is also an outspoken supporter of the apartheid regime in Israel and is cheering on a regional war. When the Biden administration deployed a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the region last month to threaten war against Iran, Fink called it “a spectacular statement by the United States.”’
Weapon Free Funds reported in September 2023 that BlackRock invests in conventional weapons as well as ‘controversial weapons’ such as cluster munitions, landmines, white phosphorus and depleted uranium.
Amnesty International reported October 31, 2023, that Israeli artillery exploded white phosphorous over a border village in South Lebanon.
According to Ethical Consumer on April 23, ‘Investment company BlackRock has investments of €32.6 billion in weapons companies …far more than all ten European banks combined. This is despite stating that it expects all the companies in its portfolio to make “a positive contribution to society.”’
Corporate Accountability wrote on June 27, 2022: ‘BlackRock has been nominated to join Corporate Accountability’s Corporate Hall of Shame.’
Goldman Sachs, another ‘Davos in the Desert’ attendee, invests in conventional, nuclear and ‘controversial’ weapons.[i]
The hypocrisy is astounding. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, chair of the $700 billion Public Investment Fund, welcomed chiefs from corporations like BlackRock and Goldman Sachs to the October meeting. Only a week before, Bin Salman had called for ‘all possible efforts to prevent the expansion of violence that will affect the stability of the region.’
Normalizing Gulf-Israeli relations
Attendees at last year’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ included Israeli Samer Haj-Yehia, chairman of Tel Aviv-based Bank Leumi, the country’s largest lender, who created a political stir. The presence of Israeli business leaders in Riyadh signalled more acceptance of the US’ Abraham Accords.
Saudi Arabia adheres nominally to the Arab League’s position that official ties with Israel cannot be established until its conflict with the Palestinians is resolved. Riyadh has not officially normalized relations with Israel, as have the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan in 2020 under the Abraham Accords.
Bin Salmon sees Israel as a potential ally in shifting Saudi’s dependence on oil to a more tech-based economy. Mutual profit is to be gained from Gulf-Israeli deals in oil/gas, defence, shipping and IT sectors if indeed Israel does emerge from its genocidal war.
‘The potential for the region is just huge,’ said Jonathan Medved, founder and CEO of the Jerusalem-based venture capital platform, at the 2022 Davos in the Desert meeting. ‘The politics will catch up.’[ii]
Other attendees at the 2023 meeting included CEO David Solomon, HSBC, CEO Noel Quinn, billionaire hedge fund founder Ray Dalio and private equity executives Stephen Schwarzman and Harvey Schwartz of Blackstone and Carlyle respectively.
No Arms Embargo or economic sanctions imposed on Israel
The United States, European Union, the United Kingdom and the United Nations impose crippling sanctions on many of the world’s poorest and most defenceless economies, in order to change their behaviour. I wrote about that here.
Israel has never been embargoed, despite violating UN resolutions and 75 years of occupation. Deals with weapons investors used in Israel’s wars partially explain why. But today, the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians and annihilation of Gaza’s infrastructure are clearly visible on everyone’s screens. Going where the money is, has bad optics. Groups like the People’s Forum are protesting outside the offices of manufacturers of weapons used in the current war against Gaza to murder 20,000 Palestinians to date, of which 70% are women and children.
Five days ago hundreds of demonstrators and workers closed off four weapons manufacturing facilities in the UK that produce parts for the F-35 stealth fighter jet, which Tel Aviv utilizes in its ethnic cleansing campaign of the Gaza Strip
The Yemen Armed Forces, which controls two thirds of Yemen, is taking matters into their own hands. A spokesman said naval forces would block passage of Israel-bound ships of any nationality unless Gaza gets the food and medicines it needs.
[i] Goldman Sachs International Equity Insights Fund | Weapon investments | Weapon Free Funds
[ii] Israelis take the stage as Saudi economic summit wraps up - The Circuit
BlackRock Vies for the 2022 Corporate Hall of Shame - Corporate Accountability
BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund | Weapon investments | Weapon Free Funds
Protesters flock to UK arms factories to block deliveries to Israel (thecradle.co)
Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree: – Al-Manar TV Lebanon (almanar.com.lb)
It just gets more depressing. This ditto in the Yemen. Wish we could see these angles in the mainstream. Thank you.
"A US intelligence report found that about 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in the Gaza war were unguided.
CNN reported on Wednesday night that analysis conducted by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found that nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in the war against Hamas were unguided, leading to high casualty rates. More than 18,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, with the death toll rising even as US officials pressure Israel to avoid indiscriminate bombings.
The report and growing death toll have widened the rift between the United States and Israel as Sullivan visits the region. He started his trip in Saudi Arabia, where the threat of regional war has become more explicit with intensifying Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/10/live-updates-us-national-security-advisor-meets-netanyahu-erdogan-and-biden-talk#ixzz8LwvB6ql5