Divestment is withdrawing investment from a company, often for ethical or political reasons. For example, if you don’t like the way that a company is operating, you can take your money out to show how you feel.

When a university withdraws its investment from a company, it sends a powerful message to the company that the university does not approve of its actions. This is an effective way to pressure a company to change its ways.

Sometimes universities do not invest in these companies, but they still work with them. They might have joint research centres or industry/academic partnerships. Ending these partnerships is a powerful way to pressure the company into changing its ways.

• The Rolls-Royce Control, Monitoring and Systems Engineering University Technology Centre at the University of Sheffield

• The ‘strategic academic partnership’ between BAE Systems and the University of Nottingham

• The University of Warwick’s ‘industry partnership’ with Rolls Royce PLC

• The position ‘Hewlett Packard Chair’ in Cyber Security at the University of Birmingham

• Sheffield Hallam’s ‘industry partnership’ with Rolls Royce PLC, BAE Systems and HP

Methodology

For our #Divest4Palestine campaign, we sent three Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to each university to expose their links to the arms industry and Israeli universities.

While we are aware that this is not substantive and that universities have links to the Israeli occupation through various other forms of investment, considering Israel’s ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing campaigns in Gaza and the West Bank, we chose to focus our attention on military cooperation and the ways that British universities may be complicit.

Links to Arms Industry

Universities were each sent two FOI requests regarding their links to the arms industry. The questions asked were:

–     Which military and defence companies does the university currently hold investments in?

–     What is the total value of these investments and how much is invested in each company

–     Does the university have any joint initiative or research projects with arms and defence companies?

–     What is the nature of these relationships?

For each of these requests, the universities were given a non-exhaustive list of companies as examples. These were: Airbus, Babcock International, BAE Systems, Boeing, Chemring, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, General Electric, Honeywell, Huntington Ingalls, JCB, L3Harris Technologies, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Meggitt, Northrop Grumman, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce PLC, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), Smiths Group and Thales.

The main difficulty we came across in this regard was universities not grouping their investments or projects, or their partners under the title of “defence company”. In some cases, they would argue that some of these companies (such as Airbus, Boeing and Rolls-Royce) take part in non-defence related activities; on other occasions, their records did not give them the ability to search by industry. In these cases, although some universities refused our requests (see individual institution for details), the majority agreed to provide information on the companies that we listed.

The arms companies mentioned have direct involvement in Israel’s military activities and, by investing or working with them, British universities may be complicit in Israel’s genocide, war crimes and violations of human rights. Based on open-source research, each company’s links to the Israeli occupation is listed below:

–     Airbus has strong connections to the Israeli defence industry. It has been working with the Israeli Ministry of Defence and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) to develop a surveillance drone, the Heron TP, which can be used for reconnaissance missions and to tighten the siege on Gaza.

–     Babcock has longstanding relationships to Israeli arms suppliers and has applied for a dozen export licenses between 2008 and 2021 to supply weapons, components and military technology to Israel. While the company claims to not provide defence support or equipment to Israel, it has previously worked with companies such as Elbit Systems, Rafael and IAI. It is likely that these collaborations and the company’s expertise in aerospace will have contributed to advancements in Israel’s own weapons capabilities.

–     BAE Systems is the UK’s largest arms company and produces parts and weapons components for the F-35 fighter jet, which Israel has deployed regularly across the Gaza Strip to carry out airstrikes. Additionally, BAE weapons are used by the Israeli military to fire white phosphorous, a chemical weapon illegal under international law; and it supplies them with heavy artillery shells and bombs.

–     Boeing is the world’s fifth largest weapons manufacturer and makes the F-15 fighter jet and Apache AH-64 attack helicopter, both of which Israel uses extensively in its bombing campaigns. It also manufactures the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits, which confirm unguided bombs into guided munitions, which Israel has used extensively, including in the 1 November 2023 airstrike on Jabalia refugee camp that killed 195 people; and the 250-pount GBU-39 guided small diameter bomb. Following 7 October 2023, Boeing expedited the delivery of these weapons to Israel to carry out its genocidal war on Gaza.

–     Caterpillar has been assisting Israel in its occupation of Palestinian land for decades. It supplies D9T bulldozers to the Israeli military, which it uses to destroy cultural sites and demolish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – a form of collective punishment that is illegal under international law. Since launching its ground campaign in Gaza last year, the bulldozers have played a major role in civilian buildings and infrastructure. They have been used to clear land to solidify Israel’s long term military occupation of Gaza, runover civilians and bury killed civilians in mass graves.

–     Chemring has a history of exporting military goods to Israel from the UK and military sales account for 90% of the company’s revenue. It is a part of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 programme, providing infrared countermeasures for the aircrafts, which Israel has used regularly. The company’s CEO commented in June 2024 that he wants sales to quadruple by 2030 in the face of global conflicts.

–     Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer and is one of the primary suppliers of weapons and surveillance systems to the Israeli military, including UAV drones, bombs and artillery shells, to name a few. It provides helmet technology for fighter jets, including Lockheed Martin’s F-35, and Israel’s Merkava tanks. Additionally, it builds the Hermes 450 and 900 drones, which have been used extensively for surveillance and to carry out attacks in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon. Elbit has also produced “controversial” and illegal weapons to the Israeli army, including weaponised white phosphorous and cluster bombs.

–     General Dynamics has a long history of supplying Israeli with military equipment and weapons. It is one of the few companies that produces the metal bodies for the MK-80 bomb series, which Israel has used extensively in its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and Lebanon. It also produces artillery shells and manufactures the Israeli army’s Namer armoured vehicle, which it uses extensively in ground operations. Furthermore, it has developed a new armoured patrol vehicle being tested by the Israeli military.

–     General Electric produces engines for several Israeli military aircraft, including Apache helicopters, F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. It also builds the Sa’ar 5 naval missile ship’s gas turbine and supplies wind turbines and maintenance services to wind farms in the illegally occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

–     Honeywell makes around 13% of its revenue from military applications and its Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) are fitted on Boeing’s JDAM kits, which turn unguided bombs into precise munitions – used regularly by Israel in Gaza. Other Honeywell IMUs are fitted on bombs, one of which was found intact after an Israeli airstrike on an UN-run school in June 2024.

–     JCB bulldozers have long been used by Israel to demolish Palestinian homes – a form of collective punishment and illegal under international law.

–     L3Harris Technologies supplies components for several weapons systems used by the Israeli military, including Boeing’s JDAM kids, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 warplane and Northrop Grumman’s Sa’ar warships and Israel’s Merkava battle tanks. It has also supplied Israel with screening technologies through which it operates its illegal military checkpoints in occupied Palestinian territories in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

–     Leonardo has extensive links to the Israeli military. It makes components for Apache helicopters and has supplied the Israeli Ministry of Defence with training helicopters. It also makes the Oto Melara 76/62 Super Rapid 76mm naval guns that are installed on the Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar warships. In December 2023, it was given a US government contract to manufacture tank trailers for Israel.

–     Lockheed Martin, as the world’s largest arms manufacturer, supplies Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has deployed regularly across the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to carry out airstrikes. It also manufactures the C-130 Hercules transport plane; CH-53K King Stallion heavy lift helicopter; AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for Israel’s Apache helicopters; and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) that Israel has used in its genocidal war. Since the war started, it has been awarded new contracts for F-35 jets and its CEO, Jim Taiclet, has stated that conflicts in Israel and Ukraine will continue to increase the company’s revenue for years to come.

–     Meggitt earns roughly 40% of its revenue from military aircraft subcomponents, munitions handling and weapon scoring systems. It has played a major role in manufacturing components for the Apache helicopters that have been regularly used by Israel in its wars on Palestine and Lebanon.

–     Northrop Grumman, as the world’s sixth largest military company, has a long history of providing parts for the F-15, F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has used extensively. It manufactures the Israeli Air Force’s Longbow missile delivery system for its Apache helicopters and laser weapon delivery systems for fighter jets. It has also supplied the Israeli Navy with Sa’ar 5 warships (through its subsidiary Huntington Ingalls) and was awarded a $8.9 million contract by the US government to build MK44 Stretch cannons for Israel in December 2023.

–     QinetiQ has exported several military goods to Israel and therefore is also directly implicated in the country’s ongoing genocide.

–     RTX (formerly Raytheon) is the world’s second largest arms manufacturer and has a deep and longstanding relationship to the Israeli military. It provides it with air-to-surface missiles, cluster bombs, “bunker busting” bombs and interceptors for the Iron Dome system (with Israeli company, Rafael). It also produces engines for the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. In late October 2023, its CEO, Greg Hayes, said that the company will see benefits because of the US’ ongoing military support for Israel.

–     Rolls-Royce are the world’s 17th largest arms company and manufactures the “LiftSystem” fan propulsion system for the F-35 jets that Israel uses to conduct airstrikes.

–     The Smiths Group is part of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II programme, supplying parts for the fighter jets that Israel uses. It has also reportedly supplied Israel with checkpoint lanes, which it uses to maintain its apartheid system across Palestine.

–     Thales has long cooperated with Israeli weapons manufacturers such as IAI and Elbit Systems and provides electric transponders for the Hermes-900 drone, which Israel uses for surveillance and airstrikes. Thales has provided at least two of these transponders in 2024 and the drone has been responsible for strikes across Gaza and the West Bank.

Where possible, the information from FOI requests was supplemented by open-source research from university and funding institutions’ websites.

Links to Israeli Universities

Each university was also sent a FOI request to detail their links to Israeli universities. The questions asked in these were:

–     What Israeli universities does the university have links with, including, but not limited to, exchange programmes, joint research projects and information exchanges?

–     What is the nature of these links with Israeli universities and what agreements underpin these?

While some universities asked for clarification on certain terms within our request or refused it outright (see individual institutions for details), their responses to these questions were generally more straightforward. A small minority were only able to provide information on research projects where they were the lead organisation, while some provided additional information, such as individual research papers co-authored with academics at Israeli institutions.

We chose to focus on Israeli institutions because of their deep complicity in upholding Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israeli (PACBI) called for the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions in 2004, explaining that “these institutions are deeply complicit in planning, implementing, justifying and/or whitewashing the Israeli system of oppression that has denied Palestinians their basic rights guaranteed by international law, or has hampered their exercise of these rights, including academic freedom and the right to education.”

Furthermore, Omar Barghouti, a founding committee member of PACBI, called Israeli universities “one of the pillars of its oppressive order”. As a result, the academic boycott calls on institutions to refuse any form of academic and cultural cooperation with Israeli universities; divestment from Israeli academic institutions; institutional condemnation of Israeli policies and direct support for Palestinian academic and cultural institutions.

While Israeli academics and universities claim to be “innocent bystanders” to the state’s policies and have manufactured an international reputation for pluralism, they are deeply complicit in Israeli settler colonialism and occupation and often work closely with its military machine.

These universities are deeply complicit in war crimes, human rights abuses and violations of international law. Some examples of each university’s contemporary and historical role in the dispossession of the Palestinian people are given below:

–     Ariel University is built entirely within an Israeli settlement in the Occupied West Bank, which is illegal under international law. It was accepted into the Association of Heads of Israeli Universities and seen by the Israeli state to solidify control over the West Bank, for example through illegal archaeological digs in Palestinian territory. Additionally, it has partnered with Israeli arms manufacturers, including Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems.

–     Bar Ilan University has a long history of working Shin Bet, the Israeli internal intelligence agency, that gathers intelligence in Palestine to aid Israel’s ongoing illegal occupation. Bar Ilan’s Engineering Faculty has also run “hackathons” in collaboration with the Israeli military and Elbit Systems. It also established the College of Judea and Samaria in 1982, which later became Ariel University – located in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is therefore directly implicated in the Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, widely accepted as a violation of international law.

–     Ben-Gurion University (BGU) is located close to the Gaza Strip and hosts the Homeland Security Institute, which works with Israel’s top military companies and the Ministry of Defence. It also hosts BGN Technologies, a technology transfer company that develops unmanned ground vehicles and climbing robots that have been adapted for military use. In early 2024, BGU’s president, Daniel Chamovitz, denounced its own faculty members for labelling Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide.

–     Bezalel Academy of Art and Design is the oldest higher education institution in Israel, predating the founding of the state. It has produced uniforms and gear for the Israeli military and student accommodation for its French Hill Campus is located within illegal settlements in East Jerusalem.

–     The University of Haifa hosts three military colleges and holds courses on Glilot military base, which has been described as an “extension of the university” by Israeli media. During the current genocide, they have supplied the Israeli military with bulletproof vests and orchestrated a propaganda campaign to undermine the global pro-Palestine movement and promote the Israeli state’s genocidal narrative.

–     The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) was built by the Zionist movement on the strategic location of Mount Scorpus to solidify its control over Jerusalem before the Nakba. Built on land partially illegally expropriated from Palestinians, HUJ has deep ties to the Israeli military – it has a military base on its campus, which offers academic training to Israeli soldiers and has hosted the IDF’s Talpiot programme since 1979. Part of its Mount Scopus campus accommodation is also built within an illegal settlement in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem – a violation of international law.

–     The Open University of Israel has been running the Academic Commandos programme with the Israeli military since 1999. It is designed to provide university degrees to combat soldiers while they serve and is the only institution at which IDF soldiers on active duty can enrol.

–     Reichmann University is Israel’s only private university and runs a “Public Diplomacy” programme that is designed to train pro-Israeli voices in online activism to combat pro-Palestinian narratives.

–     The Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art has been making and mending military equipment, including grenade holsters, since the beginning of the genocide. A press release on the College’s website in October 2023 stated that “Shenkar has enlisted” in what became widely accepted as a genocidal campaign by the Israeli Defence Forces.

–     Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has deep connections to the Israeli state, military and arms companies. The Institute has multiple partnerships and scholarships with Israeli weapons manufacturers, such as Elbit Systems and Rafael, and has developed a course specifically for marketing the Israeli weapons industry abroad. It also has several joint academic programmes with the Israeli military, for example the Alonim Programme. It also developed the remote control capabilities of the Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozer, which the Israeli military has used extensively to destroy civilian infrastructure in the West Bank and during the Gaza genocide, as well as surveillance capabilities for the Israel’s illegal apartheid wall. Its students and professors have also created an “army of AI-driven bots” to push pro-Israeli propaganda since October 2023.

–     Tel Aviv University (TAU) runs several joint centres with the Israeli military and arms industry. The Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) plays a prominent role in developing military doctrines (such as the infamous Dahiya Doctrine) and looks to justify violence against Palestinians through distorted readings of international law. In November 2024, TAU bragged about running a “war room” within the University through which it supported the IDF. Among its recent developments have been dog-mounted livestreaming cameras, with rights groups saying that the Israeli army has systematically used dogs to attack Palestinians. TAU also invests in military companies and works closely with the Israeli Air Force.

–     Tel Hai Academic College, like other Israeli universities, has built a two-tier system that discriminates against Palestinian students and solidifies the social marginalisation that Palestinians within Israel face, for example by sharing information about their own Palestinian students with the police. During the current genocide, they have provided facilities to the army and provided psychological training to teams preparing for combat.

–     The Weizmann Institute has a long history of collaborating with Israel’s military, even supporting the Haganah terrorist militia before the establishment of the state to refine its military capabilities. Rafael and IAI were developed out of infrastructure from the university and it continues to collaborate with Israel’s top weapons manufacturers, such as Elbit Systems and IAI, and the Israeli military through a pre-military academy that prepares high school students for “meaningful military service”. During the current genocide, it has introduced benefits for its students that serve in the IDF in Gaza.