Portsmouth university lecturers have voted overwhelmingly for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) over the Gaza genocide. John Brown explains why

The University of Portsmouth (UoP) branch of the UCU (University and College Union) has voted overwhelmingly for a motion calling for the university to ‘sever all ties – financial and otherwise – with all external bodies, businesses and organisations complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and rapidly escalating regional war.’ This follows similar motions passed and pledges made by other UCU branches around the country, including Cambridge, Leicester and UCL.

Over the last six years, UoP has received £234,964 from arms company BAE Systems, which also donated £986,603 to university research projects between 2013 and 2021. BAE manufactures essential components for Israeli F-35 jets that have been used to commit multiple war crimes including the intentional bombings of medical facilities and civilian men, women and children. As the death toll in Gaza passes 44,000 (other expert estimates put the figure nearer 186,000), the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity.

Via the wealth and asset management firm Goldman Sachs, UoP has £817,248.24 currently invested in Caterpillar, the manufacturer of the D9 bulldozer, which the Israelis have deployed lethally in Gaza and used to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, public buildings, roads and agricultural lands in the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem territories. 

The university also has a contract, originally worth £5.3m, with the Royal Air Force (RAF) to deliver “professional military education” to its personnel. Israel’s genocide has been supported and enabled by at least 200 RAF surveillance flights over Gaza, one such mission taking place the day three British aid workers were killed in a targeted and coordinated strike.

Portsmouth UCU hopes that UoP will act humanely and in solidarity with other institutions in the UK and around the world, including York, which became the first British university to divest from the arms trade and human rights-violating states. International law is clear, especially in the light of the ICC and ICJ rulings: it places an obligation on everyone to do all they can to prevent or avoid complicity with genocide. UCU therefore calls upon the university to do the right thing and build on its commendable early call for a ceasefire and divest from war crimes and genocide.