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A Jewish grassroots organization is petitioning a major financial services provider to divest from holdings in companies it says profit from Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

Jewish Voice for Peace has organized a campaign asking TIAA-CREF, one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, to stop investing in companies it says “profit from the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.” Among the companies listed are Caterpillar, Motorola, Northrop Grumman, Veolia and Elbit.

The organization expected to have 15,000 signatures on a divestment petition for TIAA-CREF’s annual meeting earlier this week.

According to Jewish Voice for Peace, Caterpillar benefits from the demolition of Palestinian homes and Veolia profits from a landfill it operates in the West Bank, while Motorola, Northrop Grumman and Elbit all profit from security systems and military services they provide to Israel.

JVP successfully petitioned TIAA-CREF to stop investing in companies linked to Sudan last year. But TIAA-CREF already has rejected the latest divestment request.

“While TIAA-CREF acknowledges participants’ varying views on Israeli and Palestinian policies and the Gaza Strip and West Bank, we are unable to alter our investment policy in accordance with those views,” the firm stated. “Our responsibility to earn a competitive financial return on the retirement savings entrusted to us by 3.7 million participants obliges us to invest in a diverse line-up of companies across all sectors of the global economy.” — jta