Call upon the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) to divest from genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
OUR GOAL
More than one billion dollars of public Washington funds are invested in more than fifty companies directly contributing to Israel’s apartheid state. The WSIB’s investment of Washington’s money in these companies means that Washingtonians are complicit in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians—through our retirement funds, college savings accounts, and insurance premiums.
Washington Governor Bob Ferguson says he wants to “center the people in every decision,” but our state’s investments do not currently reflect that. The WSIB has a fiduciary duty to help build a future where all beings can thrive.
Washington State invests more than $1 billion in more than 50 companies directly profiting from Israel’s genocide.
INVESTMENTS SUMMARY
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![A Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor fighter. Credit: Rob Shenk. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/]()
$260M in Lockheed Martin
The world’s largest arms manufacturer
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![Raytheon missiles on display at the Paris Air Show. Credit: David Monniaux. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/]()
$202M in Raytheon
The world’s second largest arms manufacturer
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![Caterpillar D9T Bulldozer. Credit: Shaun Greiner. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0]()
Almost $20M in Caterpillar
The company responsible for supplying the Israeli military with the bulldozer that killed Washington resident Rachel Corrie in 2003
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![Elbit Systems 900 take off (cropped & levels). Credit: Ronite. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/]()
$2.2M in Elbit Systems
Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer
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![Paz Oil Company tanks near Ben Gurion Airport. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/]()
$512,140 in Paz Oil
Israeli supplier of jet fuel to the Israeli military
*Numbers calculated based on publicly available information that lists WSIB holdings by percentage of each fund. If you want to see more, you can find the WSIB annual holdings report here.
Whose money is invested?
The WSIB manages funds for all Washingtonians, but has particular impact for a few key groups of people.
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The largest fund is the retirement one, which manages pensions for well over 600,000 public employees throughout Washington. Public employees under Washington State’s retirement plan include public school teachers, bus drivers, and most faculty and staff at public universities in Washington, as well as Harborview Medical Center.
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WSIB manages money for parents and guardians across Washington state who save money through the Graduated Education Tuition Fund for their children’s future college tuition.
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WSIB manages money withheld from all Washington residents’ paychecks and employer contributions, including the L&I fund which pays out workers’ compensation in case of injury or disability on the job. WSIB also manages funds from the Long Term Care tax, which provides long-term care to low-income Washingtonians.
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WSIB manages funds held in trust on behalf of educational institutions across Washington.
Context of the Genocide
The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the implementation of Israeli apartheid began over seventy years ago, and has included the construction of illegal settlements in violation of international law, the erection of a separation wall that has restricted movement for Palestinians and cut them off from one another, and an eighteen year siege on Gaza, the world’s largest open air prison. Since October 7th, 2023, the Israeli government has escalated in what the International Court of Justice determined as a plausible genocide.
Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks, the Israeli government has escalated its violence, resulting in what the International Court of Justice has called a plausible genocide. At least 84,000 Palestinians have been murdered (likely a vast undercount).
Since breaking the ceasefire agreement in March of 2025, the Israeli military has taken control of more than 75 percent of Gaza, trapping more than 2 million people into smaller and smaller areas of the decimated territory. There, the Israeli government is enforcing a policy of total starvation, barring even baby formula from entering Gaza. More than 70 children have already starved to death. Massacres of Palestinians waiting for food aid have become a daily occurrence; the Israeli military has now killed hundreds of people at U.S.-backed food distribution sites.
WHY DIVEST
RISKS TO WASHINGTONIANS
Reducing exposure to companies that are complicit in these atrocities is not just a moral decision; it is also a financial decision. The fiduciary duty to steward pension funds should look at the risks for the funds over the next fifty years at at a minimum. The short term return on weapons and other companies who are complicit in genocide does not outweigh the serious risks involved in this long term investment. The WSIB is taking a major risk that could result in future losses.
Risks of investing in these companies include:
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In the future, many of these companies may be held accountable in the international sphere
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The WSIB is in violation of International law by maintaining investments in companies complicit in genocide and illegal occupation.
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An increasing number of people are becoming outraged by the actions of these companies and may refuse to buy their products or invest in them.
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Every day more governments, pension funds, and everyday investors are choosing to withdraw their money from these companies.
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Investing in weapons and technology companies fueling this genocide results in further global instability, which threatens economies and increases the likelihood of lower returns in the future.
Residents across the country have demanded that their states divest from genocide—and they have won.
DIVESTMENT PRECEDENTS
In the 1970s, people of conscience around the world grew increasingly horrified by apartheid in South Africa, which brutally oppressed 22,095,000 Black South Africans. Activists took action, demanding their governments and schools divest from apartheid. This financial pressure contributed to the end of apartheid in South Africa.
While obligated to maximize its returns, the WSIB has a duty to account for material risk factors, including environmental and social impacts.
The legislature and governor hold the power to direct the WSIB’s investment policy. The legislature can pass laws to change its holdings, and the governor can sign executive orders to do so. In fact, Governor Inslee exercised this initiative when Russia invaded Ukraine, signing an executive order directing the WSIB to divest all assets from the Russian government. Inslee’s move prompted the WSIB to issue a statement committing to complete divestment one day later, and subsequently divested $100 million from Russia with remarkable speed.
WHO WE ARE
The mission of Washington for Peace and Justice is to transform US policy on Palestine through political action in Washington state.
While centering Palestinian voices, they are building people-power to advocate for communities locally and in historic Palestine in pursuit of justice and collective liberation. Washington for Peace and Justice is the first state-level Palestinian-led lobby in WA history!
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is the largest anti-Zionist Jewish organization in the world.
JVP organizes a grassroots, multiracial, cross-class, intergenerational movement of U.S. Jews into solidarity with the Palestinian freedom struggle, guided by a vision of justice, equality, and dignity for all people. The Seattle chapter of JVP has been organizing in the Puget Sound Region for more than eighteen years, and has thousands of members. In coalition with our local community and national networks, JVP-Seattle leads anti-Zionist Jewish rituals, protests, campaigns, and educational events. We helped achieve BDS wins by getting the city of Seattle to cancel a major pinkwashing event, and we worked in coalition with Falistiniyat, a local feminist Palestinian collective, to pressure a local organization, Seattle Pride, to divest from companies profiting from genocide.