Activists urge New York City Marathon to drop Indian company Tata over links to Israel

India's largest business conglomerate, Tata Group, is complicit in Israel's ongoing occupation of Palestine and should be dropped as the lead sponsor of the New York City Marathon, a group of activists said at the launch of a new campaign targeting India's involvement in the war on Gaza.

The TCS New York City Marathon, organised by New York Road Runners (NYRR), a non-profit based in the city, is considered the largest marathon in the world. In 2023, more than 51,000 runners participated in the event.

The campaign, dubbed "Tata Bye Bye", was launched on Thursday by the New York City-based South Asian Left (Salam). It accuses Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a subsidiary of the Tata Group, of playing "a critical role in enabling Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime".

The group alleges that the Indian company, through its various arms, maintains several business relationships with the Israeli government, including the manufacturing of weapons as well as the provision of IT and cloud services for the Israeli military.

"We are demanding Tata disclose all its connections with the Zionist entity and divest from them. We are demanding the NYRR to drop TCS," said Aman, an organiser with Salam, who spoke to Middle East Eye and asked to be identified by their first name.

"Tata partners with Israeli defence firms, directly enhancing Israel's military capabilities," Aman added.

The organisers said Tata invests in Israel’s high-tech and financial ecosystems and has a history of supporting start-ups working on potential defence applications.

The decision to target Tata in New York City, the organisers explained, stemmed from the company's visibility in the United States and its significant role in the American economy. 

Tata employs close to 50,000 people in North America across sectors such as mining, engineering, steel and coffee. 

Aman said Tata is heavily involved in defence projects and collaborates with Israeli contractors, contributing to military operations in occupied Palestinian territories. "At the same time, it has a very benevolent image. And it uses this image to whitewash its crimes," Aman added.

"We want to dispel that narrative and we want to let people know that there is no 'good capital' here." 

According to TCS, the company works in Israel's public sector on various digital ventures, including Project Nimbus, which provides cloud storage for the Israeli government, including the defence ministry and military.

Project Nimbus itself has been at the centre of a revolt among Amazon and Google employees in the US, who have repeatedly urged their companies to withdraw from the $1.2bn deal over its connection with the Israeli military. 

"These services are essential to Israel’s military operations and its broader system of digital control, which enables the surveillance and repression of Palestinian civilians. TCS has formed deep partnerships with Israeli banks and ministries, embedding itself within Israel’s apartheid economy," Salam said in a statement.

NYRR, TCS and the Tata Group did not respond to MEE's request for comment on this story.

Tata and the military 

The Tata Group, through its subsidiary Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), has also been closely involved with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) since at least 2008. 

When the two companies signed a landmark agreement in 2008, Itzhak Nissan, IAI president and chief executive officer, described the memorandum of understanding to produce a wide range of defence products as reflecting "IAI's evolving relationship with India and with the Indian industries".

Since normalising ties with Israel in 1992, India has become a significant patron of Israeli technology, spanning sectors such as defence, agriculture, cybersecurity, and water preservation.

Although this partnership is often seen as the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian weapons companies, tech firms and universities began strengthening ties with Israel well before Modi’s rise to power.

Over the past decade, Indian-Israeli military ties have reached unprecedented levels, with Indian companies, purchasing upwards of 46 percent of Israeli weapons and co-manufacturing them in factories across the country. 

Salam said the Tata Group not only supplies Israel with electronics and weapon components but also sells Land Rovers that are turned into armoured vehicles for use in "the occupied Palestinian territory for patrol, reconnaissance and combat".

The Tata Group owns Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC, which manufactures the vehicle.

The organisers with Salam told Middle East Eye that as Indian companies’ complicity in the occupation of Palestine grows, South Asian activists living in the US have a responsibility to draw attention to and take action against companies aiding Israel.

"In New York City, there is a huge presence of capital that directly supports and provides critical infrastructure for the Zionist regime. [This] is where we want to target them," Aman added.

Heighten consciousness

More than 50 people attended the launch of the "Tata Bye Bye" campaign on Thursday evening at the People's Forum in Manhattan.

Rafael, with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), one of 20 organisations endorsing the campaign, described the initiative as a unique opportunity to heighten consciousness across communities.

"It is also an opportunity to uplift international solidarity efforts from Kashmir to Palestine," said Rafael, who provided only his first name.

The campaign, conceived earlier this summer, builds on efforts by Indian civil society to pressure the Indian government to halt the export of weapon components and electronics to Israel amid the devastating Israeli war on Gaza.

In June, UN experts warned that the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel could constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law. They called for an immediate halt to arms transfers to Israel, a demand India has refused to back.

The launch of the campaign against Tata coincidentally came days after Ratan Naval Tata, the man who transformed the Tata Group into a global powerhouse, died after a long illness.  

In a tribute posted on X, formerly Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "Many in Israel mourn the loss of Ratan Naval Tata, a proud son of India and a champion of the friendship between our two countries."

Despite its polished public image, several scholars have noted that a significant portion of the Tata Group's wealth originated from the opium trade in the late 19th century. The group has also faced repeated accusations of land theft, corporate fraud and the displacement of tribal communities in central India.

The organisers said the campaign against Tata aims to raise awareness about the growing collaboration between Indian and Israeli companies in both the current war in Gaza and the increasing authoritarianism in India and Indian-administered Kashmir.

"Tata is a true testament to the power of Indian capitalism. This campaign is to bring people into the movement," Kulsoom, an activist with Salam, told the audience.

TCS was among the first Indian IT companies to establish operations in Israel when it launched in 2005. 

In 2022, TCS appointed Chen Kamer to head its operations in Israel. In its press release announcing the appointment, TCS highlighted Kamer’s background as "a commander in the Israeli special forces unit, Shaldag, considered one of the most elite units of the Israel Defense Forces, for four years".