The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has written to 82 British universities alerting them of the potential risk of criminal liability over any investments held in both arms companies and Israeli settlements.
ICJP Senior Legal Officer Dania Abul Haj said:
“The massive crackdown on civil liberties we are seeing in the US is a huge catalyst. This money is paid to the universities by the students, and yet their voice is being totally disregarded in how it is being immorally invested.
Elbit Systems, Caterpillar, BAE Systems and other companies that British universities invest in are not only potentially complicit in Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, but they have a track record of providing equipment that has been used in home demolitions, the illegal Israeli separation wall in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, and other tools of apartheid.
Investment in these companies was already morally bankrupt, but in the current circumstances, it is beyond belief that universities, which are educational institutions, paving the way for future generations of leaders and politicians, would continue to invest in them.”
BAE Systems is one of the companies we have been demanding the University of Manchester cuts ties with, a demand they continue to ignore. If senior leadership don’t care about ethics, maybe they will care about the risk of individual prosecution for their complicity in war crimes.
Manchester Universities Palestine Coalition 