Nearly 5,000 Ealing residents have backed a petition urging the council to divest its pension fund from companies campaigners say are linked to Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ealing Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), alongside the UK-Gaza Community, Ealing Trades Union Council, Stop the War West London and Amnesty Ealing, submitted 4,994 manually collected signatures to the council on Monday. The petition has been lodged under the council’s petition scheme and is being asked to be raised at the next full council meeting next month (3 March 2026).
The groups said the council’s pension fund holds investments worth about £113m in companies they allege are complicit in breaches of international humanitarian law. PSC said its research identified holdings in firms including Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems and shipping company Maersk, which the campaign group alleges has transported military supplies to Israel.
The petition calls on Ealing Council to adopt a motion passed unanimously by Kingston Council in July 2025 to review its ethical and responsible investment policy and divest from “complicit companies”.
Barry Gleeson, secretary of Ealing PSC, said the council had made it harder for residents to secure a debate petition by more than doubling the threshold from 1,500 signatures to 3,671, and by removing the option to combine online and paper petitions.
Mr Gleeson said: “Regardless Ealing residents stopped and signed, through wet and freezing days, and dark evenings, demonstrating their strength of feeling and support to stop the council continuing their investments in companies breaching international human rights law in Gaza and the Occupied Territories.”
Fiona Barakat, chair of Ealing PSC, said: “We believe that a proper debate with Ealing Council’s pension committee will allow for the voices and stories behind the petition to be heard and considered in their decision-making processes.”
Dave Edwards, secretary of Ealing Amnesty, said: “Our council must immediately start the divestment process” while Craig Smith of Ealing Trades Union Council added: “Time is now up.”
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide and has said its military actions in Gaza are carried out in self-defence following attacks by Hamas.
