South Yorkshire Pensions Divest for Palestine

South Yorkshire Pension Authority

South Yorkshire Pension Authority (SYPA) has investments in companies that are helping Israel to commit genocide, occupation and forced displacement of Palestinian people. This includes many millions invested in arms companies that sell weapons to Israel, as well as Israeli bonds and a number of complicit companies.

You are paying into SYPA if you are a member of the pension scheme, or if you live in South Yorkshire, you contribute to the pension scheme through your council tax.

This petition is run by South Yorkshire Divest for Palestine Campaign, which is part of the Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. It will be presented to SYPA in June 2025, urging them to divest from these companies that do harm, and instead invest in businesses that benefit local people such as green energy and public transport.

Please sign if you live in South Yorkshire or are a member of the pension scheme.

More information about SYPA and the Divestment Campaign go to https://linktr.ee/SYDPC

To: South Yorkshire Pension Authority
From: [Your Name]

We the undersigned South Yorkshire residents and members of the South Yorkshire Pension Scheme are concerned that South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (SYPA) is investing our money in Israeli government bonds and companies that are currently helping to sustain or profit from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, and the ongoing genocide and forced displacement of the Palestine people;
It is the view of United Nations legal experts that “States must immediately review all diplomatic, political and economic ties with Israel , inclusive of business and finance, pension funds, academia and charities.”

We therefore call on South Yorkshire Pensions Authority to develop an Ethical Investment Policy that specifically seeks to:

1. divest from companies engaged in arms manufacture

2. divest from companies complicit in human rights abuses in Palestine​ or on the UN’s list of businesses operating in the illegal-settlements in the Occupied Palestine Territory

3. divest from Israeli government bonds