Apple under pressure for funding both ‘illegal settlements and Israeli military’

Former and current employees of Apple, along with shareholders, have signed a letter demanding the multiple trillion pound company stop funding both Israel’s military and illegal Israeli settlement expansion in Palestine.

Apple: colonial charities and their genocidal giving

Through a platform called Benevity, Apple matches employee donations to organisations listed as charitable. The thing is, that includes organisations such as Friends of the IDF.

This so-called charity states on its website that it is the “sole organisation authorised to collect charitable donations on behalf of the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces across the United States of America”.

Apple’s donations come despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) finding it “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinian people in Gaza. Israel has since ignored orders from the ICJ to protect Palestinian civilians from genocide.

Another ‘charitable’ organisation Apple is funding through Benevity is the One Israel Fund. This group states on its website that is has “remained committed to the safety and wellbeing of the over 500,000 residents of Judea and Samaria – Our Biblical Heartland”.

Judea and Samaria are the Israeli colonial names for the Palestinian territory of the West Bank. In March, the UN human rights office reaffirmed that the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a war crime.

‘Shocking new levels of settler violence’

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said: “settler violence and settlement-related violations have reached shocking new levels, and risk eliminating any practical possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state”.

From 1 November 2022 to 31 October 2023, Israel and its settlers advanced about 24,300 housing units in the West Bank.

Yet Apple, through Benevity, is funding more organisations that support this colonial expansion, such as HaYovel. HaYovel champions the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Another organisation Apple is funding, according to its employees, is IsraelGives. The ‘charity’ platform has facilitated the donation of millions of pounds to the advancement of illegal settlements in Palestine, as well as IDF units and paramilitary groups.

The letter demands Apple “promptly investigate and cease matching donations to all organisations that further illegal settlements in occupied territories and support the IDF”.

Hear hear.

Featured image via IsraeliPM – YouTube