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ePetition details

Berkshire Pension Fund divestment from companies complicit in Israeli sponsored genocide and apartheid

We, the undersigned, petition the Council to Commit to divest the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund administered by the Berkshire Pension Fund from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians. This includes arms companies supplying Israel with weapons and military technology; companies providing infrastructure for Israel’s unlawful military occupation of Palestinian land; and companies conducting business activity in Israel’s illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. End procurement contracts with any companies complicit in Israel’s attacks. Terminate all banking arrangements with NatWest, which provides financing to companies supplying Israel with weapons and companies linked to illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land.

As of 1 October 2025, 67,144 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, as well as 217 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, and more than 224 humanitarian aid workers. This does not include people buried under the rubble. Nearly 42,000 people have life changing injuries.
Over 90% of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, most multiple times. Israel has destroyed much of Gaza’s life sustaining infrastructure, including hospitals and water sanitation facilities, and left the entire population facing famine.
In January last year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the world court, handed down an interim ruling affirming there is plausible evidence Israel is committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. As a State Party to the Genocide Convention, the UK has a binding obligation to employ all means reasonably available to prevent and deter further genocidal acts.
Last July, the ICJ issued a further advisory opinion ruling that Israel's military occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful and must end, and that Israel is in breach of the international prohibition on the crime of apartheid. The court affirmed that all states are under an obligation not to render aid or assistance to this unlawful situation.
Stemming from these obligations, councils must avoid procuring from or investing the funds they manage, including Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds, in companies that facilitate Israel's breaches of international law. This includes: companies producing weapons and military technology used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians; financial institutions providing investment and loans to these arms companies; and companies conducting business activity in Israel’s illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.

This ePetition ran from 07/10/2025 to 31/10/2025 and has now finished.

53 people signed this ePetition.