Dear Andy Burnham & Cllr Gerald Cooney,

I am asking that Greater Manchester Pension Fund divest now in 3 areas:

1. Arms and military spyware companies that supply arms to Israel.

2. Companies complicit in illegal Israeli settlements, including those named by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in this report:
https://www.un.org/unispal/document/un-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-report-on-business-activities-related-to-settlements-in-the-opt-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-43-71/

3. Fossil Fuel companies, particularly those, like BP, which are complicit in the illegal Israeli Occupation.

GMPF has direct holdings in arms companies including BAE Systems which makes parts for the F35 bombers which carry the 2,000lb bombs used to such devastating effect in Gaza. Israel recently admitted that it was an F35 which caused the Al-Mawasi massacre in July, dropping 8 US JDAM guided bombs on the refugee camp, a “designated safe zone”, killing 90 Palestinians and wounding 300. GMPF should not be complicit in horrific war crimes such as this.

GMPF invests in 7 companies identified by the UN as complicit in denying Palestinian human rights including 3 Israeli banks. It is hard to see how GMPF, which has an ethical investment policy, can justify investing in banks which openly operate in illegal settlements and are currently bankrolling a violent and virulently racist wave of ethnic cleansing. 3 more holdings are in the holiday companies Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia, all listed for promoting tourism in illegal settlements.

In addition GMPF has stakes in in BNY Mellon and Barclays, infamous for their holdings in Elbit Systems, suppliers of 85% of the Israeli drone fleet. The Labour government’s suspension of 30 arms export licences to Israel made specific mention of drones, which have been used to murder thousands of Palestinians and, most famously, the 7 international aid workers.

In total our fund invests over £800 million in companies making profits from the genocidal destruction of Gaza and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and fossil fuel companies that also profit from the destruction of our planet.

The Fund’s “top investments” list includes: BP, who recently won a license from Israel to drill for gas off the coast of Gaza; and Shell, who along with BP and other fuel companies are supplying oil to the Israeli military. These firms are also causing catastrophic global warming due to their reckless pursuit of profits.
Barclays are the dirtiest bank in terms of financing fossil fuel companies as well as the most heavily involved in apartheid and genocide in Palestine.

GMPF investments are made with money paid on behalf of local authority and other public service workers across Greater Manchester towards their pensions and money raised by all council tax payers across GM to fund the employer contribution.

Our money should not be used in this way. The GMPF board needs to listen to its members and the public and stop these investments immediately!

The Genocide Convention requires that public officials ensure that they are not complicit in a genocide. The ICJ has identified a plausible genocide in Gaza.

A number of pension funds have divested on ethical grounds. Lothian Pension Fund disposed of £6 million of shares in Bank Hapoalim in 2021 and East Sussex Pension Fund divested from Elbit. Most recently the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s largest pension fund, got rid of £80 million worth of assets linked to Israel.
The campaign will continue until GMPF stop investing in firms complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements, the destruction of Gaza and causing global warming leading to a climate catastrophe.

I look forward to your response.