The UK’s leading pro-Palestine organisation is calling on councillors to stand up for Palestine, hold Israel accountable for its war crimes and divest from pro-Israeli businesses as Israel continues the Gaza genocide.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) launched its Pledge for Palestine campaign in December, urging supporters to write to their local councils, drawing parallels with the 1980s, when local authorities across Britain backed divestment from apartheid South Africa.
"Polling shows strong public support for councils taking action to end this complicity. That’s what the Councillor Pledge for Palestine is about," Dan Iley Williamson, political organiser at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told The New Arab.
"It commits councillors to take steps to ensure their councils aren't complicit in Israel's crimes."
PSC research found that local government pension schemes invest more than £12 billion in companies linked to Israeli war crimes, including hundreds of millions of pounds in arms firms producing weapons used against Palestinians in Gaza.
Supporters of the campaign have sent more than 23,000 emails to local councillors, while almost 1,000 councillors from Britain's major parties, including Labour, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives, have signed the pledge.
PSC said it would now work with councillors to expand the number of councils backing divestment, with 30 local authorities already supporting the move. A poll conducted in June found that 46 percent of the public supports councils divesting from Israel-linked companies.
The campaign has been met with familiar hostility from parts of the right-wing press, including The Times and GB News, which accused PSC of "threatening" councillors.
"To suggest there is something wrong with this campaign, as [some media] reporting does, is utterly absurd," Iley Williamson said.
"The public rightly expects high ethical and legal standards from their elected representatives, which is exactly what the pledge calls for."
The campaign follows warnings from Communities Secretary Steve Reed that councils could face legal action if they boycotted pro-Israeli businesses.
Councils across Britain are facing growing pressure to divest from companies tied to Israel’s war, occupation and apartheid.
Through Freedom of Information requests, PSC found that Local Government Pension Scheme funds administered by councils invest in arms companies supplying weapons to Israel, including BAE Systems, Caterpillar, Lockheed Martin and RTX Corporation.
PSC has written to councils urging them to divest from companies it says are complicit in violations of international law, including Israel’s war on Gaza.