Your say / Palestine
‘Does our pension fund truly reflect our values?’
Imagine your pension savings were funding war crimes and human rights violations as outlined by the United Nations.
For many in Bristol, this isn’t a hypothetical—it’s happening.
Like so many of us, I’ve spent much of the past year seeing images and hearing stories of unspeakable horror. Civilians in Gaza and Lebanon, journalists, aid workers, parents and children have been slaughtered by Israel —maimed, orphaned, starved, suffocated, and burned alive.
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Almost all hospitals in Gaza have now been destroyed, universities wiped off the map and schools that serve as shelters are bombed almost daily. Entire families, across generations, have been erased from the civil registry. The list of atrocities goes on and on, leaving us witnessing some of the worst war crimes of our age.
What makes me lose my mind the most though, are the children. Over 17,400 children—by the most conservative estimates—have been killed in Gaza in the past 13 months. To put this in perspective for Bristol: imagine the total enrolment of every primary school in our city, erased. In neighbourhoods like Southville, Easton, Redland and Knowle, entire communities would be left without their youngest members—schools turned to rubble. The trauma is simply unimaginable.
Members of the Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign protested outside City Hall last week – photo: Hannah Massoudi
But beyond the immediate horror lies another layer of complicity—one far closer to home. The Avon Pension Fund, which many public-sector workers in Bristol entrust their hard-earned money to, has £12m worth of investments in companies tied to operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) such as Siemens, Booking, Motorola, AirBnB, Caterpillar, PayPal, Hewlett Packard, Puma, Expedia, Cisco etc.
These companies contribute to the construction and maintenance of settlements that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled as flagrant violations of international law. Furthermore, the Pension has £10m invested in the arms industry, including companies like Boeing, BAE Systems, General Dynamic Corp, HEICO, Howmet Aerospace and others, which fuel Israel’s ongoing onslaught against the people of Gaza and Lebanon.
The ICJ has ruled on the illegality of the Israeli settlements in the OPT. Furthermore the ICJ has ruled there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the International Criminal Court just a few weeks ago issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
By remaining complacent, the Avon Pension Fund risks finding itself on the wrong side of history; by being indirectly complicit in human rights violations and war crimes.
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Norway’s KLP pension fund set a precedent by divesting from 16 companies listed in the UN database for their involvement in settlement activity. KLP’s decision was not only an ethical stance but a financial one, acknowledging the long-term risks associated with investing in companies that violate international law.
The USS Pension Fund, that serves higher education staff has already divested. Waltham Forest Pension Fund and Islington Pension Fund have done so as well. So why does the Avon Pension Fund lag behind?
The people of Bristol deserve transparency. As members of a city committed to social justice and human rights, we must ask ourselves: Does our pension fund truly reflect our values? Are we complicit in an illegal occupation and genocide?
The ICJ has made it clear, actions supporting the occupation are not just morally indefensible but legally questionable. It is time for the Avon Pension Fund to follow the example of institutions like KLP and divest from companies that profit from the suffering of others. This isn’t just a financial decision; it’s a moral imperative.
To the members of the Avon Pension Fund and the citizens of Bristol: the time to act is now. Talk to everyone you know about this. Your friends, your relatives. Contact local councillors. Sign Petitions. Submit formal requests to trustees and demand they apply pressure on the pension fund. Demand transparency. Demand accountability. And demand that our investments do not fund oppression, occupation, and genocide.
This is an opinion piece by Lea Kaye, a member of the Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign
In a statement, the Avon Pension Fund said:
We have recently received questions from various parties about our investments, particularly those in aerospace & defence potentially used by the Israeli military.
As responsible investors, among other objectives we invest to meet net zero goals and to address issues such as human rights. Obviously ongoing conflicts across the world, including in the Middle East, can lead to tragic abuses of human rights.
Through pooled funds Avon Pension Fund has £14m of its £6bn assets in companies involved in arms manufacturing and servicing, which primarily supply the UK, NATO partners, and other allies such as Australia.
The Pension Committee is assessing this complex issue and the various petitions, as well as its legal and financial position, before it considers the issue at a public committee meeting in early 2025.
Main photo: Rob Browne
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