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Divest Now! - to end complicity in Israel's attacks on Palestinians.

We the undersigned therefore ask Bristol City Council to: 1. Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and for the UK to end its arms trade with Israel. 2. Divest any Council-managed funds, including Local Government Pension Scheme funds, from companies complicit in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians and other human rights violations. Also ensure the Council does not enter new procurement contracts with these companies, as well as excluding such companies from tendering for council contracts. 3. Commit to an ethical Investment Strategy and transparency - regularly update the Investment Strategy Statement to commit to excluding companies that enable or profit from human rights violations, with regular reviews of fund-holdings to ensure compliance, including the publishing of statements regarding changes to the pension fund strategy and disinvestment programme.

Councils have an urgent obligation to divest local government pension scheme funds they administer from companies enabling Israel’s attacks on Palestinians, such as companies supplying Israel with weapons and military technology.

Research has previously uncovered that local authority pension funds collectively invest £4.4 billion in companies complicit in Israel’s violations of international law. It is a scandal that the deferred wages of local government workers are being invested in companies enabling Israel’s grave human rights abuses.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled it plausible that Israel is committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza, while the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Palestinians.

The UK, as a state party to the Genocide Convention, has a legal responsibility to take action to deter and prevent genocide in another state. Similarly, Councils must take immediate action to divest from companies that are enabling Israel’s grave violations of human rights and international law.

Councils must divest local government pension scheme funds they administer from:

Companies supplying weapons and military technology to Israel, which it uses in its unlawful attacks on Palestinians.
Companies complicit in Israel’s violations of international law, whether through activity in, or with, Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise, or by providing infrastructure for Israel’s illegal military occupation of Palestinian land.
To date, Bristol City Council's known complicit investments in the Avon Pension Fund amounts to over £18 million.

Started by: TejSingh Bhandal (Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign)

This ePetition runs from 19/08/2024 to 31/10/2024.

272 people have signed this ePetition.