Angry scenes as Brent Council hears anti-Israel ‘divest for Palestine’ petition

Brent Council does not actively invest funds directly into territories considered by the United Nations to be occupied by Israel and nor does it invest in companies manufacturing arms,a senior cabinet member has confirmed.

Councillor Mili Patel spoke in response to a petition placed on the Change.org platform by Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign calling for the north west London council to divest all funds it administered in companies “complicit in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians”.

Patel, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources, did confirm she had asked  for a “full audit of all allocations in line with the UN’s principles for responsible investment.”

The petition motion was presented at Thursday’s meeting of Brent Council by Sheila  of the pro-Palestinian group who said she was speaking alongside two local residents  Gada, “of Palestinian heritage” and Jonathan “of Jewish heritage.”

Earlier in scenes that angered some local Jewish residents three Brent councillors, Teo Benea, Ajmal Akram, the Group treasurer, and Abdi Aden, the former mayor, were join at a rally outside Brent Civic Centre supporting the call to “divest for Palestine.”

Police were at the venue to prevent clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine activists.

But there was shouting and insults hurled both before and during the council meeting.

At the meeting was claimed the hardline anti-Israel petition had attracted the support of “two thousand residents of all faiths and backgrounds”.

But there were shouts of disapproval from the public gallery as Sheila cited the controversial estimate that deaths in Gaza could reach 180, 000 which was published without proper evidence in medical journal The Lancet.

Sheila repeatedly made allegations about Israel’s alleged “genocide” as she spoke adding Waltham Forest Council had “already committed to divest” and two other London boroughs were hearing divestment petitions that same evening.

Earlier, introducing the petition onto the agenda, Brent mayor Tariq Dar appeared to recognise the divisive nature of the debate and stressed “the peaceful relationship that exists between our many different communities”.

The mayor added:”My heart goes out to all those affected by the conflict in Israel and Gaza.”
Councillor Patel also later stressed that the council “cannot exclude potential contractors because of trading connections that they may have with particular countries or territories” which is the case for all London boroughs as a result of local government laws. 

Ahead of the meeting UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). said the petition to divest from Israel is illegal.

Jonathan Turner, chief executive of UKLFI claimed: “The issues relating to the war in Gaza are clearly controversial. In these circumstances the fiduciary duty of the trustees and managers of pension funds, as well as other funds held by the Council, is to focus on the financial factors, not foreign policy, as observed in the Law Commission’s report.”