Councillor Tables Pension Fund Motion Amid 'Continuing Genocide In Gaza

‘Pension funds should be invested ethically’, a motion tabled by a councillor states, following concern over Isle of Wight Council pension fund investments “potentially complicit” in “Israeli war crimes”.

Cllr Chris Jarman has lodged a plea for the pension fund committee (PFC) to ‘strongly urge’ fund managers ‘to avoid any direct or indirect investment which may or may be seen to be supporting or enabling the continuing genocide in Gaza’.

The PFC chair’s proposal comes after Marilyn Barrett, an activist from the Isle of Wight branch of the national Palestine Solidarity Campaign, questioned the integrity of the council’s pension fund investments at a full council meeting last week.

Cllr Jarman’s motion condemns both the October 7, 2023, attack by ‘Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups’ into the ‘Gaza envelope of southern Israel’ and ‘disproportionate attacks’ by the Israel Defence Force ‘into the Gaza Strip’.

It says:

“Pension funds should be invested ethically and in a manner consistent with international law and human rights.

“That continuing to invest in companies complicit in or enabling violations of international law undermines the values of this authority and the trust of scheme members.

“This committee resolves, so far as the legal considerations allow, to: engage (in writing) with fund managers to strongly urge them to avoid any direct or indirect investment which may or may be seen to be supporting or enabling the continuing genocide in Gaza, the ongoing displacement of Palestinians in the region, or the blockading of aid to Palestinians.

“Write to the relevant national pension oversight bodies and the UK Government urging them to support ethical investment standards across all Local Government Pension Scheme funds.”

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service this afternoon, Cllr Jarman said:

“We’ve debated as a committee many other things, in terms of Russia, oil, big tobacco and other things where the decision is not purely a financial one – it is a risk based one but it’s also a socially and morally justified position and I think the motion tries to reflect that.

“There’s been quite a degree of disquiet within councillors themselves about the situation and our prospective involvement…we’ve been very mindful of the judgements that have been made by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).”

In November last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas commander Mohammed Deif (now deceased), citing alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In a January 2024 ruling, the ICJ found it ‘plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide’, according to the United Nations.

The PFC will next meet at County Hall on July 29 at 2pm.