Author: hertspsc

On 9th December, the Herts Palestine Support Coalition sent the following statement to councillors at Hertfordshire County Council:

We’re aware that some at Hertfordshire County Council have faced shocking harassment from people opposing our call for the Hertfordshire Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to end investments tied to human rights abuses.

In that context, we think it’s important to ask that HCC councillors stand collectively against irresponsible behaviour by Hertsmere Borough Council.

On 28 October, Hertsmere Borough Council issued a statement – signed by its Labour leader and his Lib Dem deputy – falsely claiming that our campaign seeks divestment “from Israel and companies connected to it”. That is untrue. We have no idea whether the Hertfordshire LGPS invests in Israel; it’s not something we have looked into. What we are calling for is divestment from seven firms – none of them Israeli – whose business activities are directly tied to grave human rights abuses. It is shameful that while county councillors were facing a campaign of intimidation, their colleagues in Hertsmere were aggravating the situation by spreading disinformation.

On 26 November, Hertsmere Borough Council passed a motion opposing our campaign that included further false or misleading statements:

• It again claimed we seek “divestment from companies linked to Israel”.
• It claimed our campaign is “singling out Israel unfairly”. In fact, we are clear that human rights commitments in the Hertfordshire LGPS Responsible Investment Policy must be applied consistently. If the scheme holds investments tied to illegal occupation, apartheid and atrocities elsewhere around the world, then it must address those too. We are not aware of any other such investments. It is telling that Hertsmere councillors have shown no interest in identifying any.
• It insinuated that decisions about such matters should account for “diverse community opinions”. The existence of human rights abuses and violations of international law is a matter for experts, not “community opinions”. There is overwhelming expert consensus that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories is illegal and that its treatment of Palestinians meets the legal definition of apartheid. That is confirmed by the International Court of Justice, countless UN experts, and the world’s leading human rights NGOs. It is a matter of public record that the firms highlighted by our campaign enable these abuses; one is even blacklisted by the UN for doing so. To say the Pensions Committee should defer to “diverse community opinions” makes a mockery of the Responsible Investment Policy. It is like saying implementation of the policy’s environmental clauses should account for residents’ “diverse opinions” about whether climate change is real.

Perhaps most shockingly, when we presented our petition to HCC on 21 October, Hertsmere councillors were involved in a counter-protest outside County Hall marked by abusive behaviour. Counter-protestors continually crossed security cordons to aggressively confront our supporters and were filmed singing “You can shove Palestine up your arse”. They surrounded some of our supporters and ripped up their placard. One Hertsmere councillor involved in tabling the recent motion was filmed shouting abuse, including “go to Gaza”. A senior figure in Hertsmere Conservatives was filmed giving our supporters a raised middle finger and calling them “scum”.

We’re sure you will agree that none of this reflects the principles of public life that are meant to guide local government, including integrity, honesty and leadership. While we will keep advocating for changes in how the Hertfordshire LGPS handles the issues highlighted by our campaign, we stand with councillors against disinformation and abuse.

North Herts District Council has passed a motion calling on those responsible for the Hertfordshire Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) to end its £95 million investments in firms linked to atrocities and other violations of international law.

The motion, which was passed with the support of an overwhelming majority of councillors on 4 December, noted that most past and present NHDC employees belong to this pension scheme. It underlined that the scheme holds investments in companies involved in grave human rights violations, including firms producing weapons and other military technologies that have allegedly been used in atrocities.

Labour Councillor Dave Winstanley, who proposed the motion, said at the meeting: “The pension scheme does have an ‘Environmental, Social and Governance’ Responsible Investment Policy. They’re currently working on the ‘environmental’ part… but they evidently need a push on the other two”.

Councillors resolved to instruct the Leader of the Council to formally write to the Herts County Council Pensions Committee, which oversees the pension scheme, to call for “action to divest from all pension fund investments in companies that profit from the manufacture of weapons and military technology used contrary to international law, and from any companies found to be profiting from business activity which is illegal under international law”.

In particular, the Leader of the Council will be instructed to emphasise the importance of applying Environmental, Social, and Governance standards to assets that are pooled with other pension funds. Our own campaign has noted that those responsible for the Hertfordshire LGPS have often used the pooling of investments as an excuse to do nothing about these issues, when in fact it doesn’t change the fact that they have the ability and a clear duty to take action.

In the same motion, NHDC also resolved to take these principles into account in the next scheduled review of its own investment strategy.

Nearly 90 members of the Hertfordshire Local Government Pension Scheme have written to those responsible, objecting to the fact that their pension savings are being invested in companies that are implicated in grave human rights abuses against Palestinians.

The joint letter was sent this week to members of the Hertfordshire County Council Pensions Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the pension scheme. It was also copied to the HCC Head of Pensions and members of the Local Pension Board, whose role is to represent employers and scheme members.

The letter pointed out that the pension scheme currently holds around £95 million of investments in seven companies that are directly complicit in grave abuses including illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide. That includes investments in RTX Corp, a US arms firm that supplies Israel with missiles used in the Gaza genocide, and Booking Holdings Inc, which is blacklisted by the UN for advertising holiday rentals in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The scheme members pointed out that the policies governing their pension specify that human rights will be treated as a priority consideration in investment; and where companies don’t respond to engagement over ethical concerns, as is the case here, the policy provides for ending investments. They noted that inaction on these human rights commitments contrasts with efforts that have rightly been made to implement environmental commitments that are also built into the policies governing the pension scheme.

The scheme members called on the Pensions Committee to pass a motion at its next meeting in December, publicly committing to take all reasonable measures within its power to seek divestment from firms implicated in these grave abuses.

Click here to read a full copy of the letter.

The Hertfordshire Palestine Support Coalition condemns abuse that has been directed at members of Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) over the past fortnight by opponents of our campaign.

The abuse of councillors follows a petition that the Coalition presented to HCC on 21st October, calling for the council to stop investing pension funds in firms complicit in grave human rights abuses against Palestinians.

In response, Liberal Democrat councillors proposed a brief motion asking the Pensions Committee to review its Responsible Investment Policy, which was debated and narrowly passed.

Opponents of our divestment campaign have since sent thousands of emails to councillors, many abusive and at least one with a threat of physical violence. In particular, they have targeted the Chair, claiming he acted in support of our campaign during the debate and vote. In fact, the actions they have highlighted simply involved the Chair imposing the usual three-minute cut-off for speakers and not voting on the motion out of respect for the impartiality of the chairperson role. These are standard council procedures. It is particularly disturbing that the abuse has focused on his Jewish identity.

This echoes abuse that our Coalition has suffered, including a counter-demonstration against our petition outside County Hall, during which counter-demonstrators continually crossed security cordons to confront and abuse our supporters at very close quarters and surrounded some of them and tore their placard.

The individual who presented our petition to HCC has also been subject to abuse on social media, which has again focused on his Jewish identity.

Herts Palestine Support Coalition condemns the attempt to stifle democratic debate, the use of misinformation, and the abuse and threats of violence.