Boeing Rejects Peace Activists' Push To Detail Weapons Sales To Israel
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Boeing shareholders overwhelmingly voted down a proposal to disclose more information about the company's weapons sales to Israel on Monday, but anti-war activists behind the idea pledged to keep up the fight.
The resolution received only 5 percent of the vote at Monday's annual shareholder meeting, but members of the Antiwar Committee Chicago said that was enough to allow activist shareholders to reintroduce it next year.
"We're making a statement here today to try to get the word out to the people of the city of Chicago. We think Boeing is flying in the wrong direction," shareholder Richard Berg said.
Newland Smith, one of a few other AWC members who bought Boeing stock so they could introduce the resolution demanding more transparency and a risk analysis of sales to Israel, said many of the bombs dropped on Gaza in the summer of 2014 – killing more than 2,000 people – were made with Boeing components.
"Israeli forces used Mk84 bombs equipped with a guidance system built by a Boeing company, called a JDAM – Joint Direct Attack Munition," Smith said.
Joe Iosbaker said Boeing received a big part of the $1.9 billion weapons sale to Israel recently approved by the Obama administration.
"Most of that are these Joint Direct Attack Munitions that turn dumb bombs into smart bombs," he said.
The activists said, if more people knew details of the weapons side of Boeing's business, they would disapprove.
Boeing directors opposed the resolution, calling it an attempt at micromanaging, and saying much of the information about their sales to Israel already is public through the U.S. Department of Defense.