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An advocacy group is calling on Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) to donate to humanitarian efforts in Gaza after newly released disclosures revealed the staunchly pro-Israel politician’s investments in weapons contractors as he’s campaigned for the U.S.’s backing of Israel’s genocide.
Sludge reported on Monday that Torres recently filed a financial disclosure revealing investments in Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris in September 2024. These were not disclosed until last week, nearly a year after the deadline required for stock disclosures.
These companies all provide weapons to Israel’s military. Lockheed supplies fighter jets, missiles, and bombs documented to be used in the Gaza genocide; Northrup Grumman provides missile systems for the Israeli military; and L3Harris manufactures weapons system components integrated in numerous systems.
The filing also includes an investment from February into Honeywell International, Inc., whose weapons components have also been found in use by Israel in Gaza.
Arms manufacturers are profiting greatly from Israel’s genocide and extensive use of these weapons.
The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) has called on Torres to fully disclose and donate any profits made from these investments to charities supporting humanitarian work in Gaza.
“An elected official who secretly invests in weapons companies while encouraging a war reliant upon those weapons is a war profiteer. Rep. Ritchie Torres should donate any profits gained, apologize for his secret support of weapons manufacturing, and retract his public support of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gazan people,” said Afaf Nasher, CAIR-NY’s executive director, in a statement.
These investments come as Torres has fiercely advocated for the U.S. to continue and even deepen its involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Torres is one of the most prolific backers of Israel in Congress, and has gained a reputation for his often heinous comments regarding the genocide. His top contributor is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to OpenSecrets, and the pro-Israel lobby gave his campaign over $1.1 million in the 2023-2024 election cycle alone.
He has repeatedly voted for legislation to back Israel, including imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other officials over their attempts to hold Israel accountable for its genocide. He has voted for numerous bills with funding for Israel, and was even one of 16 Democrats who voted with the GOP for a bill seeking to force President Joe Biden to send weapons to Israel that he withheld last year.
Torres’s office told Sludge that the lawmaker’s arms manufacturer investments were bought by an independent financial manager, and that he will stop buying stocks in individual companies.
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