G4S succumbs to BDS pressure, to divest from Israeli police academy

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: BDS
2 Jun 2023 15:37
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The BDS movement announces victory in the G4S campaign as the company seeks to divest from Policity, the Israeli police academy.

In this file photo dated Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 a G4S security company logo is seen during a news conference in London. (AP)

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign announced victory on Thursday after G4S bowed to pressure and stands to sell its shares from Policity, the Israeli police academy.

The BDS movement began pressuring G4S as early as 2012, and in 2016 G4S divested from the prison system, military checkpoints, and illegal settlements in "Israel". In 2021, Allied Universal bought G4S and the pressure campaign headlined by the BDS movement and the Church of Sweden, the United Methodist Church, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a Kuwaiti investment fund, UN agencies, trade unions, universities, restaurant chains, among others, continued the #StopG4S campaign.

The tipping point that led Allied Universal to divest from apartheid was the fact that the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which oversees the finances of the Quebec Pension Plan and other public pension plans, became the largest shareholder in Allied Universal and maintained a firm stance against Israeli violations of human rights against Palestinians, the BDS movement stated.

Since Allied Universal acquired G4S, trade unions and BDS activists, led by BDS Quebec and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), have put pressure on CDPQ by bringing up the matter in direct conversations with the fund and legislators.

The BDS movement reported that when a Quebec lawmaker earlier in May criticized CDPQ’s investment in Allied Universal in a parliamentary committee, highlighting that “cases of [Israeli] torture against Palestinian political prisoners, including children, are widely documented by human rights organizations,” CDPQ’s CEO agreed and said “I completely agree with you. This is not the kind of activity we endorse at all.”

UN rapporteur on human rights: 'Israel' treats Palestine 'as colony'

During her first visit to the UK since being appointed as UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories last year, Italian lawyer Francesca Albanese stated, earlier in mid-May, that "Israel" treats the Palestinian territories as colonies that belong to it.

Israeli government ministers, such as Amichai Chikli who claimed she was “spewing hatred and antisemitism”, called on her to resign as she has also been labeled as biased by Zionist groups.

Senior UN officials have been called on by Albanese's advocates to defend her position, since she has described the attacks as “intimidation, no more, no less” but says they will be as effective as “dogs barking at airplanes”.

Albanese told The Guardian, “For me, apartheid is a symptom and a consequence of the territorial ambitions Israel has for the land of what remains of an encircled Palestine ... The cause is the colonies. Israel is a colonial power maintaining the occupation in order to get as much land as possible for Jewish-only people. And this is what leads to the numerous violations of international law.”

She further added that if states are supposedly committed to the two-state solution, then these same states should make sure that "Israel's" conduct is actually aligned with the "possibility of having a Palestinian state." This, according to Albanese,"means sovereignty from a political, economic, cultural point of view. The right to self-determination should be the starting point."