South Africa and Israel: Apartheid Then and Now
Wednesday 9th April 7.30pm
Jubilee Centre, Catherine Street, St Albans AL3 5BU
Speaker: Andrew Feinstein
Andrew is an author, activist, film maker, and former ANC member of the South African parliament. He left the Labour party and stood against Keir Starmer in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency in the 2024 general election.
All are warmly invited to this event organised by St Albans Friends of Palestine. No need to book!
Local newspapers have been reporting on the demonstration that we held at County Hall, Hertford on 3 March and our campaign to get Hertfordshire County Council to stop investing in war crimes, apartheid and illegal occupation.
Read more here:
“Calls for Hertfordshire County Council to ‘divest for Palestine’ and ‘stop funding genocide’”, Bishop’s Stortford Independent, 7 March 2025
“Hertfordshire residents hold protest calling for Herts County Council to divest for Palestine”, Hemel Today, 4 March 2025
Dudley Council passed a motion of 3 March urging the West Midlands Pension Fund to “divest from fossil fuels and arms sales within 12 months” so that it can become an “agent for change”.
The motion was put forward by independent councillor Andrew Tromans (pictured above).
This followed a motion passed by Sandwell Council on 25 February urging the West Midlands Pension Fund to “divest from companies involved either directly or indirectly in arms production and the supply of weapons” used in “breaches of international law and human rights abuses.”
Copies of the motions passed by both councils are available on the LGPS Divest website here.
New research published by the Guardian today shows that Booking.com and AirBnB are listing hundreds of holiday rentals in illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Despite its operations in illegal Israeli settlements, Herts County Council maintains a £4,851,120 investment in Booking Holdings Inc, which owns Booking.com.
Israel invaded the entire Palestinian Territories – including the West Bank and Gaza – in 1967 and has kept them under a brutal military occupation ever since. In the meantime, it has stolen much of this occupied Palestinian land and has built settlements there for around 700,000 of its own citizens.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice confirmed that both the decades-long Israeli occupation and the settlements are illegal. For a state to steal occupied land and resources, and support its own citizens to go and live in territories that it has occupied, is a war crime.
By investing in companies that operate in illegal Israeli settlements, Herts County Council is helping to enable this illegal occupation, land theft and war crimes.
Read the Guardian article here.
On 3 March, we will be protesting a meeting of the Hertfordshire County Council pension committee, calling on them to end the Hertfordshire Pension Fund’s £95 million investments in war crimes, apartheid and occupation.
Details of the demo:
● Where – Herts County Council, County Hall in Hertford (Pegs Lane, Hertford SG138DQ)
● When – Monday 3rd March 8.30am – Meet Parliament square in the centre of Hertford Town (SG141EF)
● What we will do – Walk to County Hall where we will hold our protest during the council’s pensions committee meeting that starts at 10am. We expect the protest to finish around 11am. Please bring flags, banners, signs & noise – invite friends & family.
● County Hall is a short walk (10 min) from Parliament square / centre of town.
● How to get there – Centre of town is a 10 min walk from both Hertford East and Hertford North train stations. The main bus stop is also in the centre of town.
● There are a couple of pay & display car parks close to town – multi-storey car park on Gascoyne Way (SG141DB) and a smaller car park off St Andrew Street (SG141HZ). There is parking close to county hall on residential streets should you need to park closer.
If you’re planning on attending and you live, work or study in Hertfordshire, please make sure you’ve also signed our petition to Hertfordshire County Council! (CLICK HERE)
We need 1,000 signatures by April, so every single one counts!
On 19 February 2025, North Somerset Council passed a motion calling on the Avon Pension Fund to to divest from companies “that facilitate Israel’s breaches of international law”, including arms companies supplying Israel and companies active in Israel’s illegal settlements.
This came after months of campaigning by local groups including Weston-Super-Mare Friends of Palestine and Clevedon PSC, working with scheme members.
Bristol City Council, which is also covered by the Avon Pension Fund, passed a similar motion in January.
Read more here
Following a debate on 27 January 2025, Sutton Council voted to ask its pension committee to consider reviewing its pension policy over concerns about complicity in illegal occupation and other violations of Palestinian rights. The debate came after local group Sutton Friends of Palestine initiated a petition and gathered signatures from over 1,800 residents.
Read more here. (N.B. This article implies that it’s somehow controversial to speak of “occupied Palestine” or the “Occupied Palestinian Territories”. It’s absolutely not! Even the UK government recognises that Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been under continuous Israeli military occupation since 1967.)
On 22 January 2025, after months of campaigning by scheme members and local residents, Tower Hamlets Council committed to divest its pension scheme from arms companies producing weapons used in Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians.
Read more here
On 14 January 2025, Bristol City Council passed a motion – backed by 57 votes out of 70 – calling to divest its funds from arms firms and companies involved with Israel’s illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
Read more here
Manchester City Council passed a motion on 27 November resolving to “call on Greater Manchester Pension Fund to call for and work towards divestment from fossil fuels and weapons companies” and to “Request that the Leader of the Council writes to the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the leaders of the other nine Greater Manchester councils to ask them to join us in these calls”.
More information about the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s investments in firms supplying arms and other technologies to the Israeli military – and the campaign for this to end – is available on the website of Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine.
A copy of the motion passed by Manchester City Council is available on the LGPS Divest website here.
Herts Palestine Support Coalition 