George Binette speaking in the council chamber last night (Monday)

CAMPAIGNERS last night (Monday) warned councillors that the “world is watching” as they urged Camden to remove investments in companies manufacturing weapons used by Israel in its war in Gaza.

Two deputations – one from retired Unison members and another from the Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign – appeared at an all-member meeting asking for council workers in the pension scheme to have a say in where their contributions are deposited, and for an on-the-record motion demanding a cease fire and an end to the conflict.

The session unfolded behind closed doors after Mayor Samata Khatoon ruled the public gallery should stay locked after Gaza protests disrupted three previous meetings, although the proceedings were streamed on the council’s website.

Councillor Awale Olad became the first Labour councillor to condemn Israel’s actions in strong terms within the forum of the Town Hall chamber, accusing it of war crimes and humiliating the Palestinian people and describing the “unspeakable horror unleashed by the Israeli Defence Force on Gaza”. He also criticised Hamas for the October 7 killings and hostage-taking.

His party, however, made no commitment to change its pension investment strategy.

The Mayor allowed the deputations after a series of demonstrations on the steps of the Town Hall throughout 2024.

George Binette, a former branch secretary of Camden Unison and now chair of the Unison Retired Members Committee, told the meeting: “Last year, 2023, saw more wars including civil conflicts such as Sudan than any year since 1946, since the end of the Second World War. The sorry reality is that Camden’s pension fund is currently investing in corporations that profit from the supply of weapons that fuel such wars, and sadly but inevitably this leads on to Israel’s ongoing assault in Gaza – now in its fourteenth month.

“Time does not permit me to comment on the escalating war in Lebanon or the intensified settler violence on the West Bank, waged with the support of key figures in the current Israeli government.

“The known death toll in Gaza, however, is nearly 44,000. Thousands more are unaccounted for. The vast majority of those killed, approximately 70 per cent, were women and children, many of whom died as a result of bombs dropped by F35 fighter jets. The lead manufacturer is the US based corporation Lockheed Martin with Northrop Grumman as a principal partner, while the UK based BAE Systems applies some 15 per cent of component parts. Camden’s portfolio appears to include investments in all three as well as holdings valued at nearly £700,000.”

“While our interests may sometimes diverge, we should have a shared interest and indeed a collective responsibility to ensure that the pension fund’s investments work to promote just transitions away from the manufacture of ever more lethal weapons.”

George Binette

Mr Binette said that there was “democratic deficit” on decisions about where the £2 billion fund – which he said council staff had each paid thousands of pounds into over many years – was invested and the remedy could include voting rights for elected trade union representatives.

“There is very substantial support amongst ordinary Camden Unison members who are currently contributing to the fund for a much greater voice in how investment decisions are made and to be frank there is a particular concern about investments that are fuelling the arms trade and ultimately wars such as the one being waged in Gaza – but also for that matter Sudan where weapons manufactured in this country have been funnelled through the United Arab Emirates to one side in that horrific, catastrophic conflict.”

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Labour councillor Awale Olad’s speech in council chamber this week, accusing Hamas of inhumanity and Israel of war crimes – and telling of his fears for the future for Palestinians.

Says he has seen war first hand in Somalia and it’s ‘pure hell’. pic.twitter.com/VNFCyi22GD

— Camden New Journal (@NewJournal) November 19, 2024

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Mr Binette added: “I can say with some confidence say that there is widespread concern among ordinary Unison members and if the council were to conduct an unbiased survey I think they would find that in fact members want to have a say in how their contributions are invested and what provides for our pensions in retirement.”

Helen Aksentijevic, secretary of the Camden Palestine Solidarity campaign, told the chamber: “I would like to ask: is Camden a progressive council? Does it uphold international law? In 1983 supported by Frank Dobson, Camden acted radically in their opposition to the apartheid government of South Africa. They were on the right side of history then.

Helen Aksentijevic leads the deputation from the Camden Palestine Solidarity Campaign

“The people of Camden who you represent would like you to stop investing in arms companies and to make sure that all your investments are ethical. Every day we wake up to a new massacre in Gaza. We hear the screams of people when the Israeli army bombs and burns men, women and children. How has this become normalised?

“A BBC report says 75 per cent of deaths in Gaza are women and children and children who are aged five to nine are the largest group of the dead. 15,000 children have been slaughtered and that is before we start counting the people under the rubble.”

Campaigners supporting the deputation were forced to wait outside the Town Hall in King’s Cross as security guards informed them of the Mayor’s decision to proceed with a closed public gallery. A deputation request from the Camden Friends of Palestine was declined on the grounds it was too similar to the two that were allowed.

Ms Aksentijevic said that there should be a motion passed by Camden Council condemning the bombing of Gaza. Councillors in neighbouring Labour-run Islington have already taken this action.

“Every time I think I’ve seen the worst, something else happens,” she said.

“These are not acts of war, these are war crimes. Israel is committing war crime after war crime. Every single university in Gaza has been destroyed, 75 per cent of schools have been destroyed, every single hospital has been attacked. Doctors have been found dead in mass graves with their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Others have been arrested and tortured.

Helen Aksentijevic in the council chamber; only people listed for the deputation were allowed in the room to speak to councillors

“The people of Camden are asking you please to be radical again – to condemn Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people and to call for an immediate ceasefire. Please stand on the right side of history because history will remember this. It is the worst time that I have seen in my life and the whole world is watching.”

At the last meeting, protesters did not call out from the gallery but instead silently held up pieces of paper which spelt out the words ‘stop genocide’. A film of the incident appeared to show council staff objecting to the use of the word.

Cllr Olad asked to make a comment rather than ask a question to the deputations and gave a personal speech about his own experiences – his family fled war-torn Somalia when he was a boy – and he said he felt empathy with how Palestinians would be feeling.

He clearly condemned the October 7 atrocity and hostage-taking, telling the room: “There are really no words to describe the shocking inhumanity that was unleashed by Hamas on people working in the kibbutzes and going to music festivals and then taking hostages –many of them remaining captive for more than a year. More than 1,300 Israelis have lost their lives, civilians going about their day, dealing with life. Young people enjoying themselves at a music festival.”

Labour councillor Awale Olad delivers a speech

But Cllr Olad then became the first Labour councillor to pointedly criticise Israel in the council chamber and accuse it of “unimaginable war crimes”, adding: “Then we have the unspeakable horror unleashed by the Israeli Defence Force on Gaza, killing 43,000 people and counting, destroying everything in sight – homes schools, hospitals, mosques. You name it, they’ve destroyed it – in the process displacing millions of Palestinians and killing tens of thousands of children and women by targeting civilian structure.”

He said: “We now have a humanitarian crisis. Famine, starvation, disease, little medicine and food gets through. Unimaginable war crimes being committed against the Palestinian people. Israeli and Hamas leaders – what’s left of them – have arrests warrants out for them. Israeli politicians are openly calling for the depopulation of Gaza.”

He added that he felt further bleak for the future of Palestine with the arrival of Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States, and that ceasefire calls had proved “useless” so far.

Cllr Olad said he was informed by his own experiences: ‘War is hell’

“We will end up just continuing with the ritual humiliation, oppression and subjugation of the Palestinian people which will inevitably lead to more violence,” Cllr Olad said.

“I, of course, want this to stop. I don’t want to see innocent civilians – Israeli and Palestinian – killed and lives destroyed. I’ve experienced this first hand. War is pure hell.”

Labour councillor Rishi Madlani, who leads the pension committee at the Town Hall, made no commitment to withdraw from arms-manufacturing companies, but said that the situation would be reviewed next year.

“As someone who’s personally made a number of trips to Palestine and Israel, this is an issue that I’m deeply affected by personally and it’s deeply distressing to see from all sides, whether it’s destruction and loss of life in Gaza or sympathy for the family of the hostages. It’s not a good situation all round,” he said.

“I’ve had the privilege of being the pensions committee chair for 10 years now. We’ve won awards for our approach on environmental and social governance issues. One of my first acts was to actually invite GMB and Unison reps to take their places on the committee so we actively invite, engage and talk to our current union members.”

Rishi Madlani said Camden’s pensions team had won awards 

He said he was now on a London-wide body working on the Local Government Pension Scheme and that his “key work was the responsible investment agenda”, adding: “And also ensuring value for money, because I want to make sure all retired members get their pensions in full, entirely.”

Cllr Madlani said: “As a small fund, we have limited ability to engage in all topics and there’s a committee every three to four years when we do our valuations. We look at what the key issues are and the key issues that Camden identified in the previous cycle were climate action, gender equality and decent working jobs.

“That being said, obviously with the increasing number of conflicts – and I have a lot of sympathy for George’s points about rising conflict across the world,  whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s conflict in Yemen,  there are a number of ongoing conflicts and it’s something the committee will want to look at more actively in the coming cycle.”

He said his committee’s work and decisions were all in the public domain for transparency.

“I thank the helpful engagement of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who’ve actively met with us and discussed some of these bits,” Cllr Madlani said.

“We continue to monitor the latest legal advice on any specific prohibitions and UK regulations…When we do our next valuation around where we look at our core investment beliefs again, we will look at peace and justice as a core investment belief but that will happen next year.”

Council leader Richard Olszewski speaking during last night’s meeting with the locked public gallery above

Council leader Councillor Richard Olszewski said Cllr Madlani had answered the deputation on pension investments but wanted to respond on community cohesion.

“People of all faiths have been impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, and that pain is is felt across Camden and for some very directly and very personally,” he said.

“We’ve also seen worrying increases in the number of incidents of anti-semitism and Islamophobia reported over the last year. Our priority as a council is to ensure that our communities remain safe and we recognise that cohesion between and across communities is an important part of people both feeling and being safe.”

He added: “We’ve invested in services, staff and support to enable people to participate and as fully as possible as citizens of this borough. We work with our faith communities so that we can learn from their insights and so that we can work together on outreach and engagement particularly on issues of belonging, tolerance and cohesion.

“We’ve also increased the number of reassurance and engagement patrols conducted by our community safety officers with a particular focus on mosques and synagogues. Between October last year and August this year more than 15 reassurance patrols have been conducted and visits have been undertaken, including by by me and fellow councillors, to synagogues and to mosques to understand the impact of these terrible global events on our communities.”

Police, below, were called to the last full council meeting in October after protesters held up signs

Liberal Democrat councillor Matthew Kirk said his group – the main opposition in Camden – objected to the public gallery being closed.

He said: “I’ve given careful thought after the last meeting to how this should be approached as many members would have done, and I’m very conscious that whereas in the past protesters have sought to shout down democratic debate, what they did on the last occasion and presumably on this – had they been allowed – was hold up pieces of paper.

“I should say I disagree with the platform of the protesters probably more profoundly than anybody else in this room but against the background of 60,000 plus having died across the region, to say that people should not be able to hold up a piece of paper in silence is simply appalling and on behalf of my group we say that that decision is wrong.”

Borough Solicitor Andrew Maughan, who had advised the Mayor to close the gallery, said: “It seems to me that these are very difficult decisions to make but the point I would make is that one can disrupt a meeting in numerous different ways. It’s not always necessary to make a huge amount of noise. The last meeting was the third meeting which had been disrupted this year. The technique and the way that the disruption has happened has changed and is not predictable.”

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