Updates:
September 30:
Avaaz staff met with Barclays at its London HQ. The bank says the shares it holds in ElBit are held for clients who use its trading platforms, and that it cannot control what they buy on the stock exchange. We explained that Barclays' human rights obligations should cover all of the bank's business, and are continuing to press Barclays on this.
July 25:
Our campaign is working! Barclays have released a
*new statement*
responding to all of our messages claiming they are "not an investor" in Israeli defence company El-Bit because they merely hold shares in El-Bit on behalf of Barclays clients. How does managing investments in El-Bit for Barclays clients leave their claims to be an ethical company that "is not an investor the defence industry"? This hair-splitting won't let them off the hook -- let's ramp up our pressure until they stop managing all investments in this conflict.
July 23:
The Gates Foundation has yet to respond to our campaign even though their Facebook and Twitter is being flooded by Avaaz members' comments. They already divested from G4S this year after public pressure -- let's keep it up and get another victory!
July 22:
We haven't heard a peep from HP yet. We know they are seeing our Facebook comments because they are replying to others, but they've yet to engage with Avaaz members on this issue.
July 21:
After we saw our Facebook comments on ABP were being deleted we called them and now they are staying up, but reps for the company aren't yet responding directly to our campaign. Let's keep flooding their page and ramp up the pressure

July 20:
Barclays: We have another company's attention! Barclays has been posting a response to Avaaz members' comments on Facebook. Their
statement
says they do not invest in 'unjustified aggression'. But Barclays’ invests in El-Bit, an Israeli defence company which provides drones and military systems that have been used to bomb Gaza.
July 20:
ABP: Our campaign has got their attention! Their new
statement
says these banks do not violate international law. But the settlements have been pronounced illegal under international law, and threaten to make peace impossible.