A West Wales Pension Fund Has Been Targeted After Investing Millions Into Israel
Cover image: Campaigners taking their petition to residents outside Brynmeurig Stores in Tregunnor, Carmarthen.
In the Carmarthenshire village of Llangunnor, and across the whole county, local residents are being urged to take a stand against their council’s involvement in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
Palestine solidarity campaigners in west Wales are engaging with locals to make them aware that the Dyfed Pension Fund’s (DPF) investments could be supporting genocide in Gaza. They are collecting signatures for a petition that calls on the DPF to quit such investments.
On Thursday 15th May, campaigners will lobby the pension fund’s Board Meeting outside Carmarthen County Hall where they will hand over letters requesting the Fund divest.
The day will also mark the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, the day when the modern Israeli state was created through the violent eviction of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and land. Nakba means ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic.
The DPF is one of eight local government pension funds in Wales. It manages the pensions of just over 50,000 past and present employees and is worth around £15 billion.
Carmarthenshire County Council administers the DPF on behalf of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire county councils and other bodies such as Dyfed-Powys Police, Mid & West Wales Fire & Rescue Service, local colleges, town and community councils.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign says that their research proves that the DPF has invested £235 million in Israel. The DPF originally told activists that the sum only amounted to £1.3million.
Campaigners have turned their focus to the councillor who chairs the committee which administers the fund. This is Elwyn Williams, a Plaid Cymru councillor who represents the Llangunnor ward. Mr Willams is also chair of the Wales Pension Partnership, the body which has key influence over all eight local government pension schemes in Wales. Carmarthenshire also provides administrative support for the all-Wales body, with both the authority and Mr Williams holding influence over how Welsh pensions are invested.
The situation has led to calls for the council to lead the way in Wales divesting from Israel.
On Monday 23rd June campaigners will again put pressure on the DPF Pension Committee by handing over a petition containing over 1700 signatures collected by campaigners in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.
In the past 20 months, Israel has killed at least 52,908 Palestinians and wounded 119,721, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office has updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.
At least 84 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on the enclave since dawn today (Wednesday), medical sources have told Al Jazeera.
Mohammad al-Dreiny, who lives in al-Nahda refugee camp in northern Gaza, said the army bombed a tent in the camp, “resulting in a number of martyrs and injuries”. He said children playing football were among those killed.
The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel is in breach of international law, and Benjamin Natanyahu is under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Yvonne Redfern of the Carmarthenshire Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said: “Therefore, councils must avoid procuring from, or investing in, companies that facilitate Israel’s lawbreaking.”
“These include companies producing weapons and military technology used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians; financial institutions providing investment and loans to these arms companies; and companies conducting business activity in Israel’s illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.”
The divestment campaign includes the Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion branches of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, Solidarity with Palestine Pembrokeshire, Palestine Solidarity Aberystwyth, Palestine Solidarity West Wales and the Narberth Gaza Support Group.
Letters have been written to leaders of the three councils of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, emails sent to councillors, council employees engaged and street stalls and film showings held to highlight what is being done to the Palestinians.
But campaigners and pensioners are angry that the councils say they have no influence on how the DPF manages its money. When they asked to make a presentation and hand over a petition to Pembrokeshire County Council, they were told it was not an issue for the local authority.
“Activists are unhappy with this seeming lack of democratic accountability and transparency,” said Dinah Mulholland of Ceredigion PSC. “The three county councils in west Wales are partners in the pension fund. The councils represent workers and former employees who have paid into the pension fund. But both present and future beneficiaries of the fund don’t appear to have much say over how their pensions are invested.”
The DPF says its investment decisions follow the advice of Robeco, an independent asset management company. Campaigners believe their fund is using Robeco as an excuse to hide behind and to avoid ethical decisions on investments that support Israel.
The fund says it had no provision for members of the public to make presentations or to accept petitions. But at the March committee meeting, Cllr Williams did accept the Pembrokeshire petition and at the next meeting in June, campaigners from Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion intend to present their petitions too.
They say the fund’s attitude contrasts with other pension funds in Wales where campaigners have formally met councillors to make the case for divestment. Some pension funds in England have already agreed to change their investment policies, such as on weapons manufacture and arms sales.
Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion councils are led by Plaid Cymru, and nationally the party supports the call for pension funds in Wales to divest. So campaigners are wondering why the process appears to be obstructed in these areas, and will continue to make the case for divesting from Israel.
