Dear Vice Chancellor Tim Blackman, Pro-Chancellor Malcolm Sweeting (Chair of Council) and Dave Hall (University Secretary),

Since October 2023 we – the undersigned staff, students, alumni and supporters of The Open University – have watched in horror as Israel have carried out a ‘livestreamed genocide’ in Gaza [1].

As of 28th June 2024, UN figures confirm that Israel’s onslaught on Palestinians has directly killed over 37,396 people, displaced 1.7 million and injured 85,523 [2]. The International Criminal Court is considering applications for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity [3]. Birzeit University has traced the scholasticide destroying (completely or partially) 372 schools and 19 colleges or universities [4, 5]. And in May 2024 the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah in order to avoid a greater genocide [6].

This ongoing genocide is not external to the logics of the Israeli state, but rather the most recent episode in decades of illegal occupation, ongoing colonisation, apartheid and breaches of international law [7, 8, 9, 10, 11].

At a meeting on 30th April 2024, The Open University branch of the University and College Union (OU UCU), which represents academic and academic-related workers in the University, overwhelmingly passed a motion demanding that:

1 - The OU provide transparency through full records of its current investments complicit with the arms trade and Israel.

2 - The OU abandon or avoid all investments complicit with the arms trade and arms industry.

3 - The OU abandon or avoid all investments complicit with Israel.

4 - The OU remove arms companies (such as BAE Systems) from its careers recruitment events.

5 - The OU report back on its measures to carry out these actions [12].

The motion mandated OU UCU to set up a working group to investigate whether the OU currently holds any investments complicit with Israel or the arms trade and to campaign for divestment in the case that such complicit investments exist [12]. Having sent the OU administration the above demands on 15th May 2024, OU UCU have received confirmation that the OU have disposed of investment funds previously held with the Baillie Gifford Managed Fund (£87m) and Newton Growth Fund (£48m). In 2021, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign had suggested that those funds included investments in several companies directly and indirectly complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, subjugation of the Palestinian people and onslaught on Gaza.

The OU have stated that as of March 2024 they hold £91.4 Million in the Troy Trojan Ethical Fund. This fund claims to operate using an ethical investment framework, including a criterion to not invest in companies that generate 10% or more of its total turnover from strategic military supplies [13]. This criterion and the wider framework neglect other forms of complicity, especially with the Israeli military and surveillance systems, as well as with the wider Israeli economy. The fund’s holdings as of 31st January 2024 reveal that at least 17.78% of the funds (equivalent to £16,250,920 of the OU’s known investments) are invested in companies complicit in the occupation, oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people [14]. These include holdings in Alphabet, Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, Experian, Visa, Unilever and Nestle.

Further information on the complicity of the above-listed companies can be found in the Annex below.

As staff, students, alumni and supporters of The Open University, we believe that the above investments attest to a complicity that is incompatible with the OU’s mission to promote social justice.

Noting that the decision to divest from fossil fuel companies (from December 2023) sets an important precedent for an ethical investment framework, we call for urgent action. We stand in solidarity with student encampments worldwide, and with the Palestine solidarity movement. We echo OU UCU’s April 2024 motion demanding that:

- The OU offer transparency as to its investments and holdings.

- The OU divest from investments complicit with Israel and the arms trade and arms industry.

- The OU remove arms companies (such as BAE Systems) from its careers recruitment events.

We ask for the OU to report back on its actions as a matter of urgency.

Signed

by OU Staff / OU Students / OU Alumni / OU Supporters

*Signatories' names will be submitted to the petition's addressees only and will not be published online.
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ANNEX: Complicit investments

Troy Trojan Ethical Fund

On request of the UCU OU branch, the OU management provided the information that the OU’s only fund currently held is Troy Trojan Ethical Fund (value of holdings: £91.4 million). In Troy Trojan Ethical Fund’s latest Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 January 2024, we identified seven companies that have ties with Israel (see pp 79-82) [14].

Alphabet (£18,684,000; 2.32% of portfolio). Alphabet is the holding company for Google, which, conjointly with Amazon, entered into a $1.2 billion cloud contract with the Israeli government in 2021 [15]. The purpose of the contract, known as Project Nimbus, is to support the Israeli state, including its military, with cloud computing infrastructure and technologies, thus aiding the Israeli Ministry of Defence and the IDF in its genocide of the Palestinian people [16, 17].

Microsoft (£25,395,000; 3.15% of portfolio). Microsoft has a history of deep engagement with the Israeli high-tech industry and close ties to the Israeli military [18]. Since October of last year, Microsoft operates a data centre region in Israel. While the announcement of the launch is no longer available on Microsoft’s website, it lists Israel as a ‘Azure datacenter region’ that is currently operational [19, 20].

Proctor and Gamble (£9,834,000; 1.22% of portfolio). Since 2007, Procter and Gamble operates a research and development centre in Israel, the Israel House of Innovation [21]. In 2022, Procter and Gamble awarded the ‘Supplier Excellence Award’ to the company, Avgol, which continues to have a production site in Dimona/Israel [22, 23].

Experian (£12,751,000; 1.58% of portfolio). Experian offers credit check services in Israel [24].

Visa (£25,548,000; 3.17% of portfolio). Since 2015, Visa operates a research and development centre in Israel [25].

Unilever (£24,680,000; 3.07% of portfolio). Following the decision of ice cream producer Ben & Jerry’s for its ice cream to no longer be sold in parts of Palestine that are illegally occupied by Israel, Unilever sold its Israel Ben and Jerry’s subsidiary to an Israeli company [26, 27].

Nestle (£26,349,000; 3.27% of portfolio). Osem Investment, which Nestle has a controlling stake in, is a major food producer and distributor in Israel [28].

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References:

[1] Reuters (2024). World has failed Gaza in 'livestreamed genocide', South Africa's delegation says at ICJ. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2024/jan/11/world-has-failed-gaza-in-livestreamed-genocide-south-africas-delegation-says-at-icj-video (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[2] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2024). Occupied Palestinian Territories – Reported Impact since October 2023. Available at: https://www.ochaopt.org/ (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[3] International Criminal Court (2024). Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine. Available at: https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[4] Birzeit University (2024). Tweet available at: https://x.com/BirzeitU/status/1793356877692047719 (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[5] Scholars Against War (2024). Scholasticide Definition. Available at: https://scholarsagainstwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Scholasticide-Definition.pdf (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[6] United Nations (2024). Gaza: World court orders Israel to halt military operations in Rafah. Available at: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/05/1150196 (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[7] International Court of Justice (2024). Application of the Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide in the Gaza strip (South Africa v. Israel). Available at: https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[8] United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022). Dismantling Israel’s illegal occupation is a sine qua non for Palestinian right to self-determination: UN expert. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/dismantling-israels-illegal-occupation-sine-qua-non-palestinian-right-self (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[9] United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022). UN expert warns of new instance of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, calls for immediate ceasefire. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-expert-warns-new-instance-mass-ethnic-cleansing-palestinians-calls (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[10] Human Rights Watch (2024). World Court Finds Israel Responsible for Apartheid. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/19/world-court-finds-israel-responsible-apartheid (Accessed: 22 July 2024).

[11] United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2022). Commission of Inquiry finds that the Israeli occupation is unlawful under international law. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/commission-inquiry-finds-israeli-occupation-unlawful-under-international-law (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[12] University and College Union Open University branch (2024). Motions passed at General Meetings. Available at: https://ucu.open.ac.uk/about-us/motions-passed-general-meetings-2024?nocache=667e870fbf55a (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[13] Troy Asset Management (2022). Trojan Ethical Fund Exclusion Criteria. Available at: https://www.taml.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Trojan-Ethical-Fund_Ethical-Exclusion-Criteria.pdf (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[14] Troy Asset Management (2024). Trojan Investment Funds – Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Annual Year ended 31 January 2024. Available at: https://www.taml.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Trojan-Investment-Funds_Annual_31-January-2024.pdf (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[15] Alphabet (2024). Investor Relations. Available at: https://abc.xyz/ (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[16] Al Jazeera Staff (2024). What is Project Nimbus, and why are Google workers protesting Israel deal? Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/23/what-is-project-nimbus-and-why-are-google-workers-protesting-israel-deal (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[17] Biddle, S. (2024). Israeli Weapon Firms Required to buy cloud services from Google and Amazon. The Intercept. Available at: https://theintercept.com/2024/05/01/google-amazon-nimbus-israel-weapons-arms-gaza/ (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[18] Who Profits Research Centre (no date). Microsoft. Available at: https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/7371?microsoft (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[19] Swindhoe, D. (2023). Microsoft quietly launches Israeli Azure cloud region. Data Center Dynamics. Available at: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/microsoft-quietly-launches-israeli-azure-cloud-region/ (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[20] Microsoft (no data). Azure geographies. Available at: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/explore/global-infrastructure/geographies#overview (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[21] Science Business (2011). Procter and Gamble signs master collaboration weal with Hebrew University. Available at: https://sciencebusiness.net/news/75445/Proctor-%26-Gamble-signs-master-collaboration-deal-with-the-Hebrew-University (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[22] Nonwovens Markets (2022). Avgol Nonwovens honoured for its service to Procter and Gamble’s Baby Care Business Unit. Available at: https://www.nonwovens.com/nonwovens/news/avgol-nonwovens-honoured-for-its-service-to-procter-gamble-s-baby-care-business-unit222441.html (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[23] Avgol (no date). Contact Us. Available at: https://www.avgol.com/contact-us/ (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[24] Experian (no date). Products and Services. Available at: https://www.experian-ibr360.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?CountryCode=ISR (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[25] Shamah, D. (2015). Credit card giant Visa opens Israeli R&D center. Times of Israel. Available at: https://www.timesofisrael.com/credit-card-giant-visa-opens-israeli-rd-center/ (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[26] BBC (2021). Ben & Jerry's to stop sales in Israeli settlements in occupied territories. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57893161 (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[27] Osgood, B. (2022). Unilever decision spotlights crackdown on US Palestinian activism. Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/6/unilever-decision-spotlights-crackdown-on-us-palestinian-activism (Accessed: 15 July 2024).

[28] Osem Nestle USA (no date). About Osem. Available at: https://www.osem-nestleusa.com/about-osem (Accessed: 15 July 2024).