Artists Against Artwashing calls out Scotiabank investments in Israeli military tech at TIFF

On September 6, a paper mache head of Scotiabank’s portfolio manager David Fingold was paraded in front of the Scotiabank theatre during TIFF rush hour.

The grand mache-Fingold had marionette hands carrying a large cheque with red paint dripping from the top, signed for $300,000,000 USD  addressed to Israel. The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) demonstration, organized by the No Arms in the Arts coalition, drew crowds of festival-goers to stop and take photographs, as well as a hefty police presence.

“We are protesting Scotiabank’s stake in Elbit Systems,” said demonstrator Mitra Fakrashrafi, in an interview with Antler River Media. “We’re artists, we’re filmmakers, we’re people that are invested in ending the genocide in Palestine. So we want Scotiabank to cut their stake in Elbit systems.”

Elbit Systems is the largest Israeli military technology manufacturer, and in 2023 Scotiabank subsidiary 1832 Asset Management held a stake in the company more than 60 times of any other Canadian bank. As sole portfolio manager for 1832, Fingold has direct control over the bank’s investment decisions.

“A big part of our campaign is putting pressure on Scotiabank so that anywhere someone goes, when they see the word ‘Scotiabank’, they are reminded of this genocide that Scotiabank is funding,” Fakrashrafi said. TIFF festival-goers had generally favourable responses, with cheers of support heard as the mache-figure waved down Toronto’s Richmond Street. “We know that the Canadian public is against the genocide happening in Palestine. They don’t want Canadian weapons parts being funneled to Israel, and they don’t want Canadian banks to have a hand in this either.”

As an artist herself, Fakrashrafi is part of the Artists Against Artwashing organization which encourages artists, filmmakers, and others working in the film industry to refuse to be complicit in Israeli war crimes by any means. “We need to build up collective power amongst cultural workers, amongst artists, to be able to say no when there is an Israeli funder that is directly tied to the State of Israel — We need to be able to boycott. We need to be able to say no, but we can only do that when we build collective power.”

Scotiabank’s involvement with the festival wasn’t the only thing that drew protests. The inclusion of The Road Between Us, a documentary directed by filmmaker Barry Avrich about a retired general of the Israeli Defense Forces and his experience during October 7, 2023, drew crowds of pro-Palestinian protesters and pro-Israel protesters. The documentary was initially pulled for failing to meet general inclusion requirements for the festival, including requirements for legal clearance of footage, despite repeated follow-up from festival coordinators. Following the announcement of the film’s disinvitation, the filmmaking team behind the documentary publicly accused the festival of censorship. In a statement on X, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey called the claims of censorship “unequivocally false,” before committing to work with the filmmakers and subsequently allowing the documentary to be screened — an extension of good grace past the festival’s own deadlines.

“This film is an example of TIFF platforming genocide and platforming voices that justify all the violence that we’re seeing in Gaza,” said Fakrashrafi, rejecting the festival’s perspective that the film allowed for “vital conversations.” She noted that director Barry Avrich is a major festival donor as well as a former board member of the festival, further calling into question the exceptions made in regards to programming decisions with his films.

Fakrashrafi sees the film as an attempt to “artwash” Israel’s international war crimes and violations of international law, and as part of the normalization of Canada’s ties with Israel. Through artists against artwashing, she is part of the No Arms in the Arts coalition, which brings together multiple organizations dedicated to stopping Israeli military investments in literature, music, filmmaking and the broader arts world.

 “Our focus at No Arms in the Arts is around power and the infrastructure of [organizations like] TIFF and the kinds of narratives that are allowed to kind of be platformed in these institutions, and that is so deeply linked to complicit funders,” she explained. 

No Arms in the Arts’ 2024 campaign against Scotiabank has been credited with successfully getting the bank to halve its stake in Elbit Systems by around $400 million in August of the same year. The bank denies that protest campaigns were part of their decision to change their investments.

However, as Fakrashrafi notes, the bank quietly increased their stake in Elbit Systems by 25 per cent at the beginning of the year. 

“We as artists and cultural workers have to shift the narrative and to use our platform towards addressing these kinds of issues — we want to just keep on making as much noise as possible so that they divest the rest.”

*This article was edited October 16, 2025 to clarify the role of the No Arms In Arts coalition in the organization of the protest.