UK universities hold investments worth over $600M in companies complicit in Gaza genocide: Study

LONDON

Universities in the UK hold investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in companies that are "complicit" in the Israeli occupation and oppression against Palestinians, a new study revealed on Wednesday.

According to updated research, published by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) group, there are £456 million ($605.7 million) worth of investments by UK universities in companies that are "implicated in Israel’s military occupation, system of apartheid and genocide against Palestinians."

The PSC said the details regarding the investments were obtained through Freedom of Information requests, and its research was updated with responses from 87 universities.

According to the research, they include "significant sums with companies such as BAE Systems, Siemens and Barclays."

"This information adds impetus to the growing divestment campaigns led by students and academics that have won significant concessions from university authorities in the past 18 months," the group said in a statement.

University of Essex, Kingston University, Queen Mary, University of London, and University of Warwick are among those that have investments in those companies.

"In response to Israel’s wholesale destruction of education facilities in Gaza, and mass killing of teachers and students, support for divestment has been very strong across UK universities," said the PSC, recalling last year's "unprecedented wave of student encampments" on 35 campuses with activists holding protests to demand university authorities address their complicity.

Following the coordinated efforts, several universities have committed to divesting from companies engaged in Israeli weapons manufacturing.

"It is absolutely shameful that any university is investing in companies complicit in genocide," Stella Swain, PSC Youth and Student officer, said in the statement.