A recent report by ‘Shake the CIV,’ a London-wide divestment campaign, has uncovered that London’s £34 billion ($45 billion) pension fund has £7 billion invested in companies allegedly enabling Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians. Published on Thursday, the report scrutinizes the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV), the investment pool for London-based local government pension schemes, jointly owned by the City of London and all 32 London boroughs. Over a fifth of the LCIV’s portfolio, amounting to more than £7 billion, is tied to firms accused of facilitating these abuses. The LCIV manages pensions for approximately 700,000 Londoners. Last year, it divested £6.7 million in Israeli government bonds and is currently evaluating its investments in 12 unnamed companies. The report highlights nearly £1 billion invested in arms manufacturers, including £10 million in Israel’s Elbit Systems and £228 million in British arms giant BAE Systems. Additionally, £5.2 billion is invested in technology firms accused of enabling Israel’s surveillance and control of Palestinians, with over £2.5 billion allocated to Microsoft. Last month, Microsoft announced it would sever ties with Israel’s Unit 8200, a surveillance entity accused of spying on Palestinians using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. The LCIV clarified that £6.5 billion of the £7 billion cited in the report are ‘passive strategies’ managed by third-party fund managers, outside the LCIV’s control. The report calls for immediate and complete divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s alleged genocide and apartheid against Palestinians. Councillor Liam Shrivastava of Lewisham Council’s pension committee emphasized the moral and democratic imperative to act, drawing parallels to past divestments from apartheid South Africa and fossil fuels.