Iām sure you are all aware of the numerous efforts around the world to boycott products and companies that support and contribute to Israelās attack on the Palestinians. Along with boycotting them, we also need to avoid investing in them. So, Iāve put together a short list of companies that are directly supporting Israel and its attacks.
Intel (INTC)
Chevron (CVX)
HP (HPE)
Google (GOOG, GOOGL)
Amazon (AMZN)
Airbnb (ABNB)
Expedia (EXPE) Booking.com (BKNG)
TripAdvisor (TRIP)
Disney (DIS)
McDonaldās (MCD)
Restaurant Brands International (RBI)
Papa Johnās (PZZA)
Yum Brands (YUM)
Starbucks (SBUX)
Coca-Cola (KO)
PepsiCo (PEP)
Caterpillar (CAT) Wix.com (WIX)
Fox (FOX)
Estee Lauder (EL)
Boeing (BA) and obviously other arms companies (RTX, GD, NOC, and LMT)
Avoid these companies. Investing in them is like supporting them and their crimes. There are many, many more companies that support Israel, but these are some of the worst ones directly contributing towards the war effort.
Dont invest in these companies! If you already own shares of these companies, you should probably sell them ASAP. If there are any more you can think of that that Iāve forgotten, please do add them below. Thanks!
If youāre dealing with individual stocks, by all means look into each one and divest from the ones that cross your chosen line.
If you are not or like most at least your retirement savings are not, my opinion and one I heard others share is be conscious some percentage of your investments are going to a haram direction and do extra good (donate more to charities, etc) with the intention of offseting it. There are purification calculators for that but I consider that the very minimal. Do more if you can afford it.
For example, if I know $100 of my tax money is going to Israel, I should at least make sure $100 goes to support Palestinians if not multiples more. Same goes for your personal share of haram revenues. Best keep invested and overcompensate on purifying your investment rather than leaving it sitting in depreciating currencies, as you would be doing more good overall IMO.
Consider if you boycotted what would happen, would they not find other buyers for the stock? What if you work there and have a high position. Are you helping more by resigning and letting someone else take your position? Those are questions for companies whose main business is otherwise halal.
We have to be conscious, we have to see the big picture, and we have to be smart as Muslims.
Remember also Allah will bring down any people who get money by haram means sooner or later. So we canāt fool ourselves either and go all in haram ways seeking money and power, while thinking we will be better able to help the ummah this way. We are more likely to become corrupted hypocrites along the way even if we started with good intentions.
Well if enough people boycotted a companyās shares, that company would be affected, and the price would drop.
Also, if you own shares of such a company, it would lead to a conflict of interest. You would naturally want that company to do well and for its share price to rise, so that you maximize profit. But for me at least, if theres a company supporting and funding Israel and its crimes, then no, I definitely donāt want it to succeed and do well.
Think of it this way: letās say you are determined to invest somewhere. And you think companies vary in degree of ethics. So, if you buy stock in āEvil Corp.ā, would you then also want to boycott them or encourage others to? Or would you want them to succeed big? The point is, you would have an ethical conflict of interest as a part owner. Whereas when you buy shares of āGood, Inc.ā, you would want them to succeed, you would feel fine promoting them.
To be clear I donāt consider the idea that others would buy instead of me as a justification for buying into something I know to be harmful / haram. Itās just one factor I would consider if something was in a gray area where the primary business case is halal.