Wall Street CEOs standing up for Israel

Israel declared war against Hamas after the terrorist group infiltrated the country on Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets at residential areas and killing civilians. 

At least 5,600 people have been killed in the war on both sides, including at least 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers and 32 Americans as of Friday, and the conflict is escalating. 

ISRAEL’S WAR ON HAMAS: LIVE UPDATES

Many top U.S. CEOs have been speaking out in support of Israel and against those who have publicly supported Hamas. 

FOX Business takes a look at the powerful voices on Wall Street supporting the cause. 

Bill Ackman, Pershing Square CEO 

The billionaire hedge fund manager was one of the first to speak out in support of Israel, specifically denouncing pro-Hamas Harvard students and demanding the names of these supporters be made public, so companies like his and other businesses leaders could know not to hire these individuals. Ackman is a Harvard MBA graduate and has donated millions to the Ivy League school. 

BILL ACKMAN WON’T HIRE HARVARD HAMAS SUPPORTERS

US CEOS SHOW SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL AFTER HAMAS ATTACKS

Marc Rowan, Apollo Management CEO 

Rowan, who co-founded Apollo Global Management and received an MBA from the Wharton School, wrote in a letter sent to the school’s newspaper, The Daily Pennsylvanian, to call for the resignation of UPenn President Liz Magill and Scott Bok, chair of the board of trustees. Rowan is the chairman of the board of advisers to the Wharton School, UPenn’s elite college of business, and in 2018 he and his wife gave the business school $50 million.

APOLLO CEO ROWAN ASKS UPENN CEO TO EXIT

Larry Fink, BlackRock CEO 

Fink, who runs the world’s largest asset management firm with nearly $9 trillion in assets, discussed his support for Israel during an interview on FOX Business Network’s “The Claman Countdown” with host Liz Claman and Charlie Gasparino. 

Fink said that “the world needs to get back its moral compass” and said that he is “standing up against bigotry and hatred.” He also said that he “totally agreed” that there is no moral equivalence between what is happening in the Middle East broadly versus what happened to Israel on Oct. 7, when at least 1,400 Israelis were killed by Hamas in a surprise terror attack.

Fink added that in his role as a member of the New York University board of trustees, the board and university leadership categorically condemned the attack.

“As a board member at NYU, we were loud and specific and immediate in terms of stopping any of that support of hatred,” Fink said.

BLACKROCK CEO LARRY FINK: WORLD NEEDS TO GET BACK ITS MORAL COMPASS

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon 

On the Sunday following the attacks, Dimon sent a company-wide memo to employees. 

“This past weekend’s attack on Israel and its people and the resulting war and bloodshed are a terrible tragedy,” Dimon said in an internal memo obtained by CNN. “We stand with our employees, their families and the people of Israel during this time of great suffering and loss.”

Later, following the bank’s quarterly earnings, Dimon warned about the global unrest. 

The war in Ukraine, along with the unprecedented attacks in Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas, may have “far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade and geopolitical relationships,” Dimon said in a statement accompanying the bank’s third-quarter earnings release.

“This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades,” he said. 

JPMORGAN CEO DIMON WARNS OVER GLOBAL UNREST

FOX Business’ Breck Dumas, Daniella Genovese, Eric Revell and Megan Henney contributed to this report.