PRO-PALESTINE activists celebrated a major breakthrough for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement today after persuading their local council to divest from firms that profit from the bloodshed in Gaza.

A freedom of information request by Waltham Forest For a Free Palestine (WF4FP) found that the north-east London borough had invested £18.7 million of its pension fund in companies linked to the arms trade and human rights abuses in Palestine.

They include firms such as Ultra Electronics, a supplier of parts for Israel’s F-35 warplanes, the Albermarle Corporation, which is linked to the production of white phosphorus, and L3 Harris, which makes components for Israeli weapons.

WF4FP members spent six months knocking on doors, organising protests and gathering 3,000 signatures from local residents in a sustained campaign backed by Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

On Monday, they achieved victory when Waltham Forest Council approved amendments to its “ethical investment policy” following a debate at a pension committee meeting.

The local authority authority agreed to disclose all its investments, report quarterly on arms divestments and review all investments in companies complicit in human rights abuses. 

An updated investment strategy is due to be presented in September.

Activists hope that the decision sets a precedent, a WF4FP organiser said, adding: “When the community comes together and fight, they can win!”

Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal hailed a “huge breakthrough” for the BDS campaign. 

“It will be the first of many such decisions that accept the only ethical position, and the only legal position under international law, is that governments, institutions and corporations cannot be complicit with genocide,” he said.

“We look forward to them putting this policy into action as soon as possible and hope other councils around the country will quickly follow suit.”

In another success for popular pressure, Goldsmiths University announced that it had banned oil, gas, mining, arms and tobacco companies from all its careers and recruitment activities, following an 18-month campaign by students.