How activists pushed the UK's largest pension megafund to divest from Israel

How activists pushed the UK's largest pension megafund to divest from Israel Submitted by Sebastian Shehadi on Wed, 05/20/2026 - 16:19 Local government workers were shocked to discover their pensions were being invested in Israeli bonds at the height of the Gaza war. But within a few months the bonds had been quietly sold Campaigners protest outside the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority office in Barnsley in June 2025 (Supplied) Off The UK’s largest public sector pension pool quietly sold its holdings of Israeli government bonds last year following months of activist pressure, Middle East Eye can reveal. Border to Coast Pensions Partnership currently manages nearly £120bn ($160bn) in assets on behalf of around two million people working in local government. In 2024 and early 2025, Border to Coast bought Israeli government bonds worth $29.2m in two purchases made on its behalf by a US -based asset management firm. But it divested from the bonds within months of the second purchase, and has refused to publicly say why. Now, an investigation by MEE can shed light on the human rights concerns, private admissions and the chain of delegation that drove the decision, as well as the murky legal-political landscape that leaves British institutions silent about Palestine but loud on Ukraine. Governments routinely issue bonds to raise money for public spending or to repay debts. For Israel, those sales have been crucial to financing its wars in Gaza , Lebanon and beyond - and appetite for the bonds has remained strong. In January this year Israel raised $6bn from bond sales, with orders totalling $36bn. Largest UK pension fund sells off Israeli assets amid member a...

Original source: Middle East Eye