Swedish AP- Funds Reject the Safety of Israeli Women and Children

The AP-Funds are various Swedish pension funds which have existed in Sweden since the 1960s. The most important ones; the first, second, third, fourth and sixth are buffer funds that are part of a smaller fraction of the pension income systems assets. Now the first, second, third and fourth of the AP- Funds have decided to divest their portfolios of their investments in the Israeli company Elbit.

The reason why the different AP-funds have decided to exclude the Israeli security company Elbit from its investments is explained in a press release, “that the dialogue that the funds common council of ethics has had with the company did not lead to the result they wished for."                                          
                                                                                                                            Surveillance System

                                                                                                                                     

The dialogue was based on the Swedish AP-Funds demand that Elbit comment on”its deliveries of a surveillance system to parts of the barrier that is built in the West Bank”. As Elbit has not commented on the delivery it can, according to the AP-Funds council of ethics, “be connected to violations of basic conventions and norms.”

Already last year, Norway’s oil funds decided to halt its investments in the Israeli company which resulted in negative Israeli reactions.

Elbit was established in1967 and is one of the world's largest defense electronics manufacturers and integrators. The company has delivered surveillance systems to the security fence that Israel decided to built in the year of 2000 after numerous suicide terrorist attacks against its civilians

The fence is an operational concept conceived by the Israeli Defense Establishment in order to reduce the number of terrorist attacks whether in the form of explosive-rigged vehicles or in the form of suicide bombers who enter into Israel with the intention of murdering innocent babies, children, women and men.

Since the construction of the fence began in the year of 2000, the number of attacks has declined by more than 90%. The number of Israelis murdered and wounded has decreased by more than 70% and 85%, respectively, after erection of the fence.

Elbit’s surveillance technology is also used in the US where the company supplies technology to identify threats, to deter and prevent crossings, and to apprehend intruders along the US borders with Canada and Mexico.

Elbit is an Israeli security company and it is natural that the company helps with the protection of innocent civilians in Israel from suicide terrorists. Swedish AP-funds decision to reject investments in Elbit clearly shows that Swedish AP-funds also reject safety for innocent Israeli civilians. Most notably the Swedish AP-fund reject the right of self-defense for the women and children who were a large percentage of the victims of suicide bombing attacks.