We, the undersigned, petition Bexley Council to:
STOP INVESTMENT IN GENOCIDE! DIVEST NOW!
We are local residents, council workers, and trade unionists, who share one overriding moral commitment: we are determined to give our solidarity to the Palestinian people in the face of the murderous assault on Gaza and the illegal occupation of the West Bank by the Israeli state.
According to research by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Bexley Council has £712,925 in a range of companies that aid Israel's breaches of international law against Palestinians. A list of these complicit investments can be found in the following link: https://lgpsdivest.org/lgps-investments/.
Considering recent advisory warnings by the UN, the EU, the ICJ and a host of other international human rights organisations, a failure to divest from investments in entities that are involved in (or benefit from) potential breach of law may expose the Council to legal liability for (i) complicity in such breaches, (ii) breach of its fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of its stakeholders, and (iii) breach of its duty to promote equality and eliminate discrimination. It may also damage the Council’s reputation, leading to loss of public trust.
We call upon the Council to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. The Council should apply BDS against Israel in the same way it was successfully applied to help end apartheid in South Africa.
We are calling on the Council to divest from all investments in Israel and push for the Collective Investment Vehicle (CIV) to divest pension funds from companies tied to Israel, using their governance roles to influence decisions.
Our objective is to secure the immediate, complete and permanent divestment from the LGPS of all investments complicit with Israel. We call upon the Council to support this objective.
To sign this petition, you need to be either:
* An individual who lives, studies or works in Bexley.
* An organisation in Bexley such as a business, place of worship, trade union branch etc.
SIGN BELOW to have your name included in the petition that will be submitted to Bexley Council.
