What are two words you’d use to describe a company that sells insurance to another company helping commit a genocide? Evil…and greedy? When I see the news out of Gaza, where Israel is seemingly never running out of ammunition to slaughter Palestinians, I get quite upset thinking about how many people and companies have to be involved to make it all happen. The layers of corporate collusion involved in carrying out this genocide are quite apparent. While American companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin fuel the barbarity with their weapons, our friends at the Palestinian Youth Movement have done incredible work exposing the shipping company Maersk for its role in making sure these weapons of mass destruction end up in the hands of war criminals. On top of all of that, did you know that there’s an insurance company protecting the weapons in transit? I wish this wasn't true, but it is.
Tell Zurich Insurance they are insuring genocide! Drop Maersk!
War and genocide is lucrative business. There are a large number of executives getting rich off the carnage you see – and someone has to protect the product! Zurich Insurance is taking on the morally abhorrent task of insuring genocide collaborators. I live in Chicago, where there happens to be a Zurich office. I will personally deliver this petition to Zurich – educating them on the horrors of the genocide and what Maersk is making possible.
It’s critical that we take this action NOW! Palestinian Youth Movement is escalating its Mask Off Maersk campaign in the lead up to Nakba Day next month, which will mark 77 years since the violent establishment of Israel at the expense of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Maersk is one of the many companies making the ongoing Nakba in Gaza possible. According to Palestinian Youth Movement, Maersk has shipped over $300 million in weapons parts to US military contractors since October 2023.
If you’re still with me, I want to tell you more about Zurich Insurance. The company is based in Switzerland. A treaty Switzerland ratified in 2000 obligates the Swiss government to prevent and punish genocide. In upholding the Genocide Convention, the International Court of Justice, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, concluded in a preliminary January 2024 ruling that Israel has committed a “plausible genocide” in Gaza.
The Swiss government has called for an immediate ceasefire and massive humanitarian aid to Gaza, yet Zurich Insurance undermines its own government by insuring weapons cargo for Israel’s genocide. By insuring these weapons, Zurich Insurance is violating the UN Genocide Convention that Switzerland signed.
Shame on Zurich Insurance! Add your name before we deliver the petition to their offices!
There are so many ways you can take action for Palestine. Our friends at Watermelon Pictures are having screenings of their film “The Encampments” all over! If there’s a friend or neighbor you’ve been wanting to educate about Palestine, go take them to see the film tomorrow, on the anniversary of the first student encampment at Columbia! Find more info about screenings here.
👉 Here are other ways to engage:
- Check out what we were up to last week!
- Stay updated with news on the pro-Israel lobby.
- Print posters to bring to actions!
- Pre-Order our new "I Love Palestinian Liberation" Tee!
- Order pink keffiyehs from the West Bank!
- Sign up to organize and engage locally!
Until Liberation,
Danaka and the entire CODEPINK team
