This motion was passed at our Branch Committee in September 2024

Members of this branch:

● Continue to express our horror and outrage at the Israeli state’s genocidal assault on the Gazan people, intensifying Israel’s barbaric colonisation of Palestine since 1948

● Condemn unequivocally the support given to Israel by the UK government and by the Labour Party leadership;

● Declare our determination to provide practical solidarity with Palestine.

Members of this branch

● Note that £10.4 million of our pension fund is invested in companies that support Israel’s apartheid regime and its genocidal actions, including many companies that supply weapons and military surveillance technology to Israel

● Reject entirely a situation in which our pension fund is being used to finance a genocide, alongside the ongoing colonisation of historic Palestine, especially the West Bank;’

● Note that the union’s national policy on Palestine supports a campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel

Members of this branch further resolve, in line with branch policy, to:

● Campaign for BDS in solidarity with Palestine

● Demand that the Council divest itself of all investments in companies linked to Israel, either directly or indirectly through banks and investment funds;

● Call upon other unions whose members have LGPS pensions members to support this demand and to campaign with us for divestment

● Insist upon a meeting with the Council to put forward our demands

● Call for a branch campaign and meeting to support maximum attendance at a lobby of the Pensions Committee meeting happening on the 9^th October.