Dear Vice Chancellor Professor Evelyn Welch,

We are writing to you as citizens of our City regarding the University’s business links with arms companies recently independently valued by Demilitarise Education at £75 million. 

We are concerned at growing business links between the arms industry and UK universities (now estimated to be worth over £1 billion), and that the University of Bristol is one of the ‘worst offenders’. 

Work by Campaign Against the Arms Trade shows many of these arms companies have been licenced since 2008 to export arms to Israel. This includes partnerships with:

Thales, the 4th largest arms company in Europe, whose partnership with Elbit Systems produces the ‘Elbit Watchkeeper Drones’ used against Palestinians in Gaza 
Rolls Royce, whose Bristol plant manufactures the engines used in the F-35 fighter planes, the most advanced attack aircraft in Israel’s lethal arsenal responsible for the murder of thousands of unarmed civilians
GKN, whose Aerospace Division based here in the city of Bristol manufactures and exports electronic component systems for the F-35 fighter planes used in Israel’s current atrocities in Gaza and beyond.

We understand the University disputes these figures but has resisted calls to provide its staff with the necessary data to verify the nature and extent of these links. After more than one month, the University has not responded at all to a recent petition on this topic signed by more than 300 of its own staff and students.

We are concerned that the University is working with arms companies implicated in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and its longstanding and grave human rights abuses across Palestine. 

We are concerned that the University continues to bank with Barclays Bank which is bankrolling Israeli apartheid. Research by Palestine Solidarity Campaign shows that Barclays invests over £2 billion in, and provides financial services worth £6 billion to, companies arming Israel.

We believe citizens of Bristol are entitled to know the extent of the University’s business links with companies arming genocide and ethnic cleansing in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

We believe the University’s ties with arms companies supplying Israel constitute material support for companies profiting from Israeli human rights abuses. They constitute complicity in Israel’s actions and damage the University’s reputation, especially given the changing legal context of Israel’s war of extermination in Gaza. 

The changing legal context

For nearly 77 years the Palestinian people have lived under occupation, been denied their human rights, and subjected to serious violations of international law.

The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel may be committing genocide and war crimes in Gaza and required Israel immediately cease its attacks and supply humanitarian aid. Since then, Israel’s war on Gaza has continued, so far resulting in at least 50,000 deaths (mostly women and children) and the displacement of almost the entire population. Gaza is now a wasteland where normal life is impossible.

The International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the arrest of Israel’s leaders for suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Israel’s leadership now openly calls for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. The ICJ called on Israel to immediately withdraw and for all State Parties to avoid complicity in Israel’s actions. Since then, Israel has expanded its illegal colonies, armed its settlers, and destroyed Palestinian communities. Since Oct 2023, more than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and Israel’s government now openly backs illegal annexation of Palestinian land.

Many companies contribute to these serious human rights violations by providing infrastructure for the occupation, or by supplying weapons and equipment used to oppress Palestinians. Companies that profit from the illegal occupation and the violation of Palestinian human rights are taking significant financial, reputational and legal risks.

Our demands

We applaud recent Motions by our elected representatives in Bristol City and North Somerset councils supporting divestment of public funds from arms companies and companies complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation.

We call on the University of Bristol to follow suit and to commit to ending its business links with:

all companies profiting from the sale of weapons, munitions, and military equipment and technologies
all companies (including universities and financial institutions) facilitating illegal occupation of territory and serious human rights abuses

We believe the University’s business links with companies and universities complicit in Israeli genocide is inconsistent with it’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, and to decolonisation.

We believe links with companies facilitating apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and human rights abuses damage the University’s reputation, including with prospective staff, students, and benefactors.

We believe the University’s role in supporting the arms industry is jeopardising global security and undermining efforts to tackle climate change and promote social and environmental justice.

We call on the University of Bristol to explain:

What steps has it taken to engage with Palestinians on actual human rights harms linked to its business activities and partnerships?

What steps has it taken to consult its own staff and students on its investments and partnerships with companies linked to human rights abuses in Palestine?

What leverage might it have to influence the cessation of human rights harms in the OPTs by ending partnerships with companies facilitating rights abuses?

Are there any ‘no-go’ areas for its business activities linked to the expansion of illegal Israeli colonies in the OPTs?

It is time for the University to show moral leadership and commit to DIVEST NOW.

Supported by: UoB Staff Stand with Palestine, Bristol Student Encampment, UoB Friends of Palestine, Bristol Leftist Collective, Student Action Bristol.