University pension scheme sells £80m of Israeli assets after pro-Palestine campaign

Scheme’s members had previously called for divestment over Israel’s human rights record

The universities’ pension scheme has been criticised by Israeli groups for selling £80m of assets in the country after a campaign by pro-Palestine activists.
Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), Britain’s largest private sector pension fund, has materially reduced its investments in Israel in recent months including the sale of government debt and currency, the Financial Times reported.
David Davidi-Brown, chief executive of non-profit organisation New Israel Fund UK, said that cutting investment to Israel undermines efforts to bring peace to the region.
He said: “As an organisation working with Jewish and Palestinian led organisations, we understand the concern over inadvertently contributing to human rights abuses in Gaza or the West Bank.
“Yet rather than turning away from all Israeli companies and society, we must increase our investment – financial and otherwise – in the people, projects and companies bringing Jews and Palestinians together and creating the possibility of a safer shared future.”
A USS spokesman said: “These are relative value decisions, not exclusions. It would be wrong to state or imply these decisions were made for anything other than financial reasons.
“We can only make investment decisions on financial best interest grounds, so this isn’t a result of the range of views members may have or any form of comment on events other than the financial circumstances.”
The £79bn pension scheme has faced pressure from members to withdraw from Israel over concerns about its human rights record in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The organisation is made up of more than 520,000 active and retired workers across higher education institutions across the UK, including academics at Oxford and Cambridge.
It follows a wave of student-led protests across the UK demanding that universities cut financial and academic ties with Israel’s government and Israeli companies which operate in occupied Palestinian territory.
It is understood that USS investment decisions are made purely on financial reasons, rather than based on the views of members about the conflict.
In February, the USS rejected demands from the The University and College Union (UCU), which represents more than 120,000 academics and support staff, to dump its investments linked to Israel.
The calls came after findings by the International Court of Justice that the conflict in Gaza could be branded “genocide”. The ruling was rejected by Israel.
Dame Kate Barker, chairman of USS’s board of trustees, at the time refused to consider divestments and said it was premature to condemn the Israeli government.
A UCU spokesman said: “We welcome what they [USS] have done by disposing of Israeli government bonds and currency, but we want them to go further and divest the companies that are supporting the Israeli government in its conflict in Gaza.”
USS previously confirmed that it has reduced its exposure to the region in response to the financial risks coming out of the Oct 7 attacks and subsequent conflict in the Middle East.
In its latest accounts published in July, USS said that it engaged with stakeholders throughout the year about “broader responsible investment matters” about the events which unfolded in the Middle East.
The Liverpool-based pension scheme said that it appreciated the “diversity of views” relating to the conflict among those who share hopes of peace in the region.
However, the USS said it had a legal duty to invest in the best financial interests of our members and beneficiaries, rather than making decisions for any wider reasons.
It added: “We continue to keep our portfolio and broader positions under regular review.”
USS is not the only pension fund to reduce its exposure to Israel in recent months.
KLP, Norway’s largest private pension fund, in June divested from US industrial group Caterpillar over concerns that bulldozers were being allegedly weaponised by Israel’s military.
USS was approached for comment.