King’s College, Cambridge has become the first Oxbridge institution to commit to wholly divest millions from the arms industry as well as companies complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestine by the end of the calendar year.
King’s College Cambridge: finally divesting
The announcement was made in an email to all students by Provost Dr Gillian Tett after a vote by the Governing Body last night. It follows almost a year of sustained campaigning from student activist group King’s Cambridge 4 Palestine (KC4P), alongside the broader Palestinian solidarity movement.
The college has voted to adopt a “responsible investment” policy which excludes companies involved in activities that are “generally recognised as illegal… such as occupation” and production of military weapons. The college has committed to implementing these changes in their investment portfolio this year.
While this announcement has come far too late for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have already been murdered by the Israeli state, KC4P has welcomed the commitment to divestment and hope that this sets a precedent for educational institutions globally. They stand in solidarity with the Cambridge for Palestine coalition and urge Cambridge University to follow the example now set by one of its most renowned colleges.
King’s Cambridge 4 Palestine said:
Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza; instead of investing in this destruction, our university should be supporting the rebuild of Gaza’s decimated education system.
At present, King’s College is the first Oxbridge institution to bring its investments in line with international law and recognise the barbarity of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. This barbarity is enabled and enacted by companies such as BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, two of the companies in which King’s will no longer invest. However, KC4P expects the college to also apply these principles to the speakers and companies they choose to platform and affiliate themselves with, beyond addressing their financial ties.
Israel’s current escalations in Gaza are beyond horrifying. No aid has entered Gaza in almost three months, with this blockade enforcing widespread famine with starvation being used as a weapon of genocide. King’s College’s decision must trigger global condemnation of Israel’s actions against the Palestinian people. KC4P stands with the Palestinian people in their fight for liberation.
A “massive victory”
Stella Swain, Youth and Student Officer at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:
This is a massive victory, and speaks to the incredible power and commitment of student campaigning, at King’s College and across the country.
If King’s College, at the heart of Cambridge, can finally listen to its students and divest from the arms industry and companies complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestine, then every university can act to ensure they are on the right side of history.
We are almost 20 months into a genocide, people in Gaza are starving: there is no excuse for our universities to be investing in war crimes. PSC research has found that UK universities collectively invest nearly £460 million in companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid. But more and more universities are listening to their students and cutting all investments, proving that universities can stand up for justice for Palestine.
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