Palestinian Mission to UK welcomes major pension fund selling Israeli assets
Universities Superannuation Scheme logo
The New Arab reports on 9 August 2024:
A major UK pension fund has sold Israeli assets reportedly worth £80 million ($100 million).
The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has “materially” decreased its exposure to Israeli investments such as Israeli government debt and currency in the last half a year, two informed sources were cited as saying by the Financial Times newspaper.
The Palestinian Mission to the UK welcomed the “principled policy”, while USS said its decisions were purely financial. The pension scheme also said it had not disclosed or confirmed the numbers the Financial Times reported.
Lewis Backon, campaigns officer at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, also welcomed the news, adding: “We call on the scheme to listen to its members and fully divest from all companies enabling Israel’s war crimes.
“Investing in companies complicit in Israeli apartheid not only violates the ethical obligation of pension funds to avoid contributing to grave abuses of human rights and international law, it’s also financially risky.”