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Divest our Pension Fund from Israeli Apartheid - Merseyside

Divest our Pension Fund from Companies Complicit in the Israeli Government’s Violations of International Law and Palestinian Rights

Divest our Pension Fund from Companies Complicit in the Israeli Government’s Violations of International Law and Palestinian Rights

As the Israeli Government continues its brutal oppression of Palestinians, we believe we all have a duty to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom, justice, and equality.

As members of the Merseyside Pension Fund, we call on the committee to take action by divesting from companies complicit in the Israeli government’s violations of international law and Palestinian human rights, where engagement has failed to change company behaviour.

Palestinians understand that the Israeli state’s inhumane acts against them are a form of apartheid, a crime against humanity under international law. Now Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israel’s largest human rights organisation B’tselem agree – alongside both the current, and former, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

The Israeli government’s grave violations of international law are propped up by businesses and financial institutions. Such companies: conduct activity in, or with, illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; build the illegal wall; supply infrastructure used to occupy Palestinian land; supply bulldozers and other equipment to demolish Palestinian homes and properties; and sell weapons and components which the Israeli military use to attack Palestinian civilians in violation of international law.

We do not want our pensions to fund these violations of Palestinian rights. As scheme members, we are pleased to see the Pensions Committee begin to address this issue. It’s now time for the committee to take concrete action – in line with the fund’s commitment to take human rights seriously.

In line with UNISON policy, we call on the fund to divest our money from companies on the United Nations Human Rights Office’s list of business enterprises involved in or with illegal settlements and begin a process of time limited engagement with other companies that are known to be involved in or with the settlements and the violation of Palestinian human rights. Furthermore, we call on the fund to divest from arms companies who continue to supply weapons and military technology to the Israeli government used in violations of international law.