LONDON: The Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Wednesday launched a campaign urging local councillors across the UK to commit to “upholding the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”

The Councillor Pledge for Palestine is the latest effort by the PSC to build pressure on the UK’s political system and encourage systemic change for the benefit of the Palestinian cause. It comes five months ahead of local elections.

Research conducted by the PSC has revealed extensive financial ties between local councils and the Israeli military.

Pension funds administered by councils invest more than £12.2 billion ($16.2 billion) in companies with direct complicity in Israel’s war in Gaza, which has been deemed by the International Court of Justice to plausibly constitute genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The PSC accused these companies of complicity in Israel’s “genocide, ethnic cleansing, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.”