Palestine campaigners have written to all 70 councillors at Ealing Council urging them to establish a cross-party group to review the council’s pension fund investments and consider withdrawing money from companies they claim are linked to Israeli violations of international law.
In an open letter sent on Thursday (8 October 2026), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Ealing West London asked councillors to commit to bringing forward a formal proposal to establish the group.
The appeal is directed at all four political groups on Ealing Council – Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens and Conservatives – ahead of a full council debate on the campaigners’ petition next Tuesday (13 October 2026), almost eight months after 4,994 signatures were submitted.
Labour-run Ealing Council has confirmed that the petition met the threshold required for a full council debate.
Campaigners want Ealing Council to establish a cross-party Task and Finish Group to review its pension fund investments. The group would examine investments in companies campaigners allege are linked to human rights abuses or breaches of international law in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, and consider whether the council should withdraw its money from them.
Campaigners are also seeking greater transparency over pension investments and changes to the council’s investment policies.
Barry Gleeson, secretary of PSC Ealing West London, told EALING.NEWS that no motion had yet been put forward.
He said: “The debate mechanism does not allow for a motion to be submitted, although the responders to the motion could commit to putting one before the Council.”
Mr Gleeson said PSC had checked with Ealing Council’s legal team about whether councillors could bring forward a motion to establish the proposed group, which would make recommendations to the council’s Pension Fund Panel. He said: “We have verified with the council legal team that this is an acceptable approach and the councillors are empowered to do this.”
Asked by EALING.NEWS what he would like to say directly to councillors ahead of Tuesday’s debate, Mr Gleeson said: “This is your chance, your last chance, to be on the right side of history, to put Ealing on the right side of history.”
The petition was submitted to Ealing Council on 16 February 2026, with campaigners initially seeking a debate at the full council meeting on 3 March 2026.
However, the then-Mayor of Ealing, Councillor Anthony Kelly, said the council’s constitution did not permit petition debates at the March budget-setting meeting or the annual council meeting in May.
As previously reported by EALING.NEWS, PSC has claimed that almost £113 million of Ealing Council’s pension fund investments are held in companies it alleges are connected to violations of international law involving Palestine.
The council’s pension fund provides retirement benefits for current and former local government employees and other eligible workers.
The latest open letter, signed by Mr Gleeson, is also supported by Amnesty International’s Ealing group, UK Gaza Community, West London Stop the War Coalition and Ealing Trades Union Council.
Israel has rejected allegations of genocide and has said its military actions in Gaza are carried out in self-defence following attacks by Hamas.
