UK unions urge G4S to end Israel occupation role now

The leaders of some of the UK’s biggest trade unions and campaign groups are asking UK-based multinational security firm G4S to clarify its announcement that it “expects to exit” the Israeli market and sell its Israeli subsidiary.

G4S is being pushed for information about when the sale will take place and to commit to immediately stop working with Israeli bodies that are involved in human rights abuses, such as Israeli occupation forces and the Israel Prison Service.

The letter is signed by Unite the Union, UNISON, the National Union of Teachers, construction union UCAAT and the Fire Brigades Union, as well as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, War on Want, and the Stop G4S UK campaign.

When G4S announced in March that it intends to sell its Israeli subsidiary, the news was welcomed as a significant step forward for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

At the same time, it was clear that the pressure had to continue because G4S has a long track record of breaking its promises.

For example, a pledge G4S made in 2012 to end its involvement in Ofer prison and Israeli checkpoints in the occupied West Bank by the end of 2015 was never translated into reality.

Now G4S is being pushed to turn its words into actions by trade unions representing millions of workers in the UK.

“We are concerned that [G4S] continues to provide services to Israeli state bodies that commit serious violations of international law and Palestinian human rights and that the announcement of a sale of G4S Israel may be used to justify ongoing complicity in human rights violations,” the letter states.