HUNDREDS of pro-Palestinian campaigners demonstrated outside Swansea’s Guildhall today to demand the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) boycott companies complicit with Israel’s genocide. 

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Cymru estimates WPP, which covers eight council pension funds in Wales, has £1.1 billion invested in companies complicit in Israeli war crimes and illegal settlements in the West Bank.

PSC Cymru’s Zahid Noor said: “Councils across Wales hold a staggering £1.1bn invested in companies that support illegal settlements, apartheid, war crimes and genocide in Palestine.

“Divestment is not just a financial move, it is a life-saving measure.”

Pembrokeshire PSC’s Marge Hawkins said she had chosen to work in health and local government so that her labour was ethical.

“I feel distressed that my pension is invested and involved with the killing of children,” Ms Hawkins said and explained the work her Pembrokeshire group had done to persuade local councillors to disinvest its funds.

Stop the War (STW) Cymru convener Dominic MacAskill told the protesters that since its foundation in 2001, the group had put Palestine solidarity at the heart of its campaigns.

“STW Cymru is fully behind the call for all pension funds to divest from companies that are supplying materials that are being used in the ongoing genocide,” he said.

“But we also need to argue and campaign against our pension funds being invested in any so-called defence industries, better termed as war industries.”

Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr Labour MP Steve Witherden sent a statement supporting the pension divestment campaign.

“In July 2024, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful and that states must not assist the illegal occupation,” he said.

“The UK has its obligations under international law to seek accountability for Israeli war crimes and sanction Israel until it abides by international law. 

“With this in mind I fully support the call by this broad coalition of groups in Wales for local government pension schemes in Wales to divest funds from companies implicated in violations of international law and human rights abuses against Palestinians.”

PSC honorary president Betty Hunter said disinvestment was a tricky issue but it was beginning to make an impact.

“The issues facing the Palestinian people are existential and their future relies on us,” she said.

“We must put pressure on Israel and ensure its economy suffers.”