A group of pro-Israel layers put legal pressure on Bristol City Council after councillors voted in support of divesting from arms companies over Israel’s assault on Gaza.
The council passed a resolution in January 2025 calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the Avon Pension Fund, which runs local government pensions in Bristol and its neighbouring authorities, to divest from arms companies. The £6bn pension fund has £18m invested in companies in the “aerospace and defence” category.
Pressure group UK Lawyers for Israel wrote to Bristol City Council after the motion was passed, saying the council could face judicial review if it acted upon the resolution. In letters to Bristol City Council and the Avon Pension Fund, which have been seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, UK Lawyers for Israel claimed that the motion adopted by councillors was “unlawful and invalid,” that claims of atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza were “false,” and that it would be illegal for a decision to be based on the motion.
Shona Jemphrey, the Green councillor for Lawrence Hill who tabled the motion, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It is shocking and extremely disproportionate for a pressure group to attempt to interfere with the democratic process of the council once the motion has been passed. The people of Bristol clearly stand against Israel’s unlawful actions in Gaza and, as their elected representatives, it is our job to give them a voice.”
UK Lawyers for Israel’s website states: “We use the law to counter attempts to undermine, attack and delegitimise Israel, Israeli organisations, Israelis, and supporters of Israel.” The group is currently being investigated by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority over claims it sent “vexatious and legally baseless” letters to individuals and organisations to silence and intimidate Palestinian solidarity efforts.
The Public Interest Law Centre and European Legal Support Centre lodged the complaint last year over eight letters sent by UK Lawyers for Israel between January 2022 and May 2025. It is not known if the letters to Bristol City Council and the Avon Pension Fund were among them.
Chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel Jonathan Turner said that the complaint was “misconceived.” He said: “We are confident that it will be rejected.”
(Image: Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Mr Turner told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “So far as I can recall, we did not threaten legal proceedings against Bristol Council; we accepted that this would be premature since there would be further opportunities to ensure that the council’s unlawful resolution was not implemented.”
In an email to Bristol City Council’s top lawyer in February 2025, UK Lawyers for Israel did say that it accepted that it would be “premature to seek judicial review” before the issue had been considered by one of the council’s decision-making policy committees. The group said it would reserve its objections until a decision was made in reliance upon the motion, before adding: “Please let us know if the council disagrees with this approach and requires us to bring the issue before the court at this stage.”
The Avon Pension Fund committee, which is administered as part of Bath and North East Somerset Council but is made up of councillors from across the four local authorities covered by the fund, deliberated divesting from arms throughout 2025. It had already been looking into the issue since before Bristol City Council passed its motion.
Meetings of the committee heard statements from members of the public on the issue, including members of the fund and Palestinians with children in their extended families who had been killed by Israel in Gaza. In December, however, the committee voted 8-2 against divesting from arms companies, due to a lack of support shown in a survey of people with their pensions in the fund.
The decision is listed as an “achievement” on the UK Lawyers for Israel website, but the fund says the pressure group’s letters were not what led to the decision. Avon Pension Fund’s head of pensions Nick Dixon said: “Any so-called legal opinion — and we have had legal opinion from all sides — we would ignore.”
He said: “We do not take into account the legal perspectives of external stakeholders and pressure groups. We would always rely on our own independent legal opinion which we have sought.”
The fund’s own independent legal advice said that two conditions needed to be met for divesting from arms companies to be legal: there needed to be no significant financial impact and it needed to have the broad support of the fund’s members. Mr Dixon found the financial impact would not be significant but a survey found there was not the required broad support among the fund’s members.
Weighted results from a survey of a representative sample of the fund’s 135,000 members found that only 42% of the fund’s members supported divesting, while a slightly higher 47% supported continuing to invest in the sector. 11% were unsure.
Mr Turner said: “Elected councillors should remember that they are not above the law. Bristol Council passed a resolution which was illegal and also based on false information. We are pleased that the Avon Pension Fund subsequently addressed the issues properly and reached a correct and lawful decision. We hope that the explanations and information we provided assisted Bristol Council and Avon Pension Fund to comply with the law.”
A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: “Motions to full council are often reflect the political interests of the councillors or political group proposing the motion and are a statement of political intent and aspiration. The rules and procedures for the handling of motions can be found in the council’s constitution.
“Following last year’s golden motion the council is committed to doing what is within our power to support a ceasefire in Gaza and end UK’s arms trade with Israel, but as a local authority our influence on this international issue is limited. The council’s ethical and equitable investment policy sets out the council’s investment principles and decisions are made in accordance with the policy.”
The council added: “Following the motion agreed by full council we wrote to the foreign secretary asking the government to cease arms sales to Israel.”
The Avon Pension Fund was the first Local Government Pension Scheme fund to survey its members on divesting from arms in response to campaigners calling for action to stop genocide in Gaza. Many other pension funds are facing similar campaigns. UK Lawyers for Israel says it has now sent warnings to councils in Wales where pension funds are also considering the idea.
Ms Jemphrey said: “The Green Party has officially recognized the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza as apartheid and genocide. This is in line with the UN Commission, which has found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and urges all states to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible for it.
“Many prominent Jewish organisations are also opposed to what is going on in Gaza and have stood in support of the Palestinian people. If the national Labour government took human rights at all seriously, they would stop arms sales to Israel at the very least.”
