For immediate release. 9am, Sunday 9 June 2024
Scottish arts sponsor revealed to hold £61m in arms company linked to Israeli genocide
Asset manager Baillie Gifford has been thrust into the spotlight after dozens of authors refuse to appear at literary festivals under their sponsorship.
The story so far
Greta Thunberg refused to appear at 2023 Edinburgh International Book Festival after sponsor’s holdings were revealed.
Author collective, Fossil Free Books, has been raising awareness about Baillie Gifford’s investments in oil, gas, Israeli occupation and war.
In 2024 dozens of authors cancelled appearances at Hay and Edinburgh Festivals – leading to festivals dropping Baillie Gifford as sponsor.
On Thursday 6th June Baillie Gifford announced it would cancel all sponsorship of literary festivals.
Today – Embargoed until Sunday 9 June, 9am BST
Fossil Free Books & The Herald can reveal that:
- Baillie Gifford held equity worth £61 million in Babcock International as of 5th June.
- Babcock International is a large UK defence company that is ‘significantly involved in arming Israel’.
- The firm works in partnership with Israeli arms companies and applied to the UK government for arms export licence to Israel.
- Comment from Friends of the Earth Scotland, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and People and Planet.
- Caroline Lucas condemns Baillie Gifford, praising the “huge movement of people coming together across our society to demand an end to all UK complicity in possible war crimes, and an end to companies attempting to launder their reputations.”
8 June 2024
New data obtained by Fossil Free Books, published by The Herald, shows that Scottish asset manager Baillie Gifford has £61m invested in Babcock International - an arms company with links to Israel.
Babcock International is a British arms company that is ‘significantly involved in arming Israel’. Babcock International works in partnership with Israeli arms companies and has applied to the UK government for export licences to supply weapons, components, or military technology to Israel.
Babcock has partnered with Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, which reportedly supplies 85% of Israel’s drones and land-based military equipment. In 2021, Babcock awarded Elbit Systems a £73 million contract to provide ‘electronic warfare’ to the Royal Navy.
Elbit Systems has been one of the main targets of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, and its UK factories have been the targets of multiple protests by Palestinian activists.
Babcock has also collaborated with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) on the development of radar and drone technologies. France recently banned IAI from an upcoming defence exhibition in the country amid concerns over Israel’s operations in Rafah.
The value of shares in Babcock International increased following the 7th October attacks in 2023.
This news comes as Baillie Gifford announces that they are ending their partnerships with all UK literary festivals, having been dropped by Hay Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) last week. The Hay and EIBF announcements followed a campaign by authors and other book workers calling on Baillie Gifford to divest which led several high profile authors to withdraw from the festivals.
On 15 May, Fossil Free Books published a statement, now signed by over 800 authors and other book workers calling on Baillie Gifford to divest. The statement identified investments by Baillie Gifford in companies on a UN database due to ‘human rights concerns’ about their activities in occupied Palestine and tech giants providing the core infrastructure for the AI programmes used by the Israeli military in their bombing of Gaza.
However this is the first time investments by Baillie Gifford in arms companies supplying the Israeli military have been identified.
In the last three months Oxfam, Greenpeace, and Amnesty International have all called for a ban on arms sales to Israel. On 28 May, Edinburgh City Council banned all advertising of arms companies on council-owned assets. On 11th June, over 100 artists wrote an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer, asking him to ban the export of arms to Israel should he become prime minister. Campaign Against the Arms Trade have said: “Israel is using UK arms exports in a genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Philippe Sands KC, trustee of Hay Festival, winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize 2016 and lawyer currently representing Palestine at the ICC said previously that he was not convinced that Baillie Gifford was an inappropriate sponsor for Hay, however that were it “established there is support directly for what is going on now in relation to crimes being perpetrated in Gaza” that would change.
Since 8th October, the Israeli military has killed over 36,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 13,800 children. In January, the ICJ, found it plausible that Israel’s acts in Gaza could amount to genocide and in May the ICJ ordered Israeli to immediately halt its military assault on Rafah, in Gaza.
Fossil Free Books said:
Baillie Gifford’s investments directly fund the missiles, drones and fighter jets at the frontline of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. Bombs are falling on Palestinians sheltering in Rafah right now. We must stop the flow of money to the arms companies complicit in genocide.
Baillie Gifford is not, and has never been, a sustainable or ethical source of funding for the arts - as their withdrawal from all UK festivals shows. Baillie Gifford has been aware of its investments in arms companies supplying Israel throughout our campaign asking them to divest from all companies complicit in Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.
We hope it is now clear that the claims they have made against authors, which have sadly been repeated by festival management, are disingenuous. The vilification of authors who have called on Baillie Gifford to divest must stop. We call on the UK literary industry to put aside the ‘culture wars’, and build a literary culture with human life and freedom of expression at its core
Caroline Lucas said:
In the UK, we have a Government refusing to end arms export licences to Israel. We have defence companies manufacturing equipment and parts for the IDF on our doorsteps. We have finance companies like Baillie Gifford making profits from financing those weapons. Together that amounts to systematically and actively condoning, funding and supporting the IDF strikes and the horrific and desperate mass suffering of people in Gaza.
And at the same time we also have a huge movement of people coming together across our society to demand an end to all UK complicity in possible war crimes, and an end to companies attempting to launder their reputations. They will be held to account.
Friends of the Earth Scotland divestment campaigner Sally Clark said:
It's long past time for Bailie Gifford to turn the page and end its huge investments in weapons of war and fuelling climate breakdown.
The arms and fossil fuel industries have repeatedly shown they have no respect for either human rights or a safe climate.
Financial institutions like Baillie Gifford must not be allowed to try to artwash their reputations with sponsorship deals for cultural festivals when they are continuing to invest in these destructive industries that are driving suffering and injustice around the world.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:
This research uncovers Baillie Gifford's substantial investments in companies supplying weapons and military technology used by Israel in its genocidal assault on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. We join calls for Baillie Gifford to end its complicity and divest NOW.
People and Planet said:
In supporting companies producing deadly, destructive and divisive technologies, institutions such as Baillie Gifford are driving an incessant cycle of violence and profit which perpetuates suffering and injustice across the globe. From students to artists to civil servants, it is impossible to ignore the momentum of the movement demanding an end to genocide, border violence and climate breakdown. Baillie Gifford must divest.
ENDS
Notes to editors
About Babcock International
Babcock International is a British arms company. In 2022, it was the world’s 39th largest arms-producing/military services company, with 56% of its turnover being military.
Babcock works in partnership with Israeli arms companies including Elbit Systems, Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Between 2008 and 2021 Babcock applied to the British government for 12 arms export licences to supply weapons, components, or military technology to Israel.
About Fossil Free Books
We are a collective of workers in the books industry, this means authors, illustrators, booksellers, publishing staff, anyone whose labour contributes to the writing, production, selling or distribution of books. We are unfunded and all share the organising work involved. We’re all giving up our time – around lots of other commitments – to make this campaign as successful as possible.
We share the belief that it is entirely possible and necessary to have literary events that are not funded by institutions that profit from human rights abuses.
We started organising together around last year’s Edinburgh International Books Festival (EIBF), when 50 authors came together to call on EIBF sponsor, Scottish asset manager Baillie Gifford, to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
We made a similar call, with 200 authors, and launching as ‘Fossil Free Books’, in September 2023 around Cheltenham Books Festival, which is also sponsored by Baillie Gifford.
In October 2023, we joined calls from Art Workers for Palestine Scotland, for Baillie Gifford to divest from holdings linked to Israeli cybersecurity, technology and surveillance. In December 2023, a coalition of 24 civil society groups released a report naming Baillie Gifford one of the main European investors in companies on a UN database due to ‘human rights concerns’ over their activities in Illegal Israeli settlements.
As of the 15th May 2024, we renewed our call for Baillie Gifford to divest from all companies that profit from fossil fuels and Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.
Why is Fossil Free Books campaigning for Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuels, and companies profiting from Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide?
Baillie Gifford is a Scottish asset manager. It is one of the biggest 10 asset managers in the UK with assets under management worth £223bn at the end of 2022. Until recently, Baillie Gifford has been a prominent sponsor of ten literary festivals in the UK and one prize. Baillie Gifford also sponsors art galleries and other cultural institutions in Scotland, including the National Galleries of Scotland and the Scottish Ballet.
Research has shown that Baillie Gifford currently has between £2.5–£5bn invested in the fossil fuel industry. Research published last year by the Ferret, estimated that Baillie Gifford has investments worth £5bn in the fossil fuel industry. A separate piece of research by Urgewald, a German environmental and human rights NGO, identified that, as of January 2023, Baillie Gifford holds shares worth £2.5bn in specific fossil fuel companies.
In December 2023, a coalition of civil society groups named Baillie Gifford one of the main European investors in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in a report. Research by Art Workers for Palestine Scotland, shows Baillie Gifford has investments worth more than £10 billion in companies with links to Israeli occupation, security apparatus and genocide of Palestinians. This includes shares worth [information correct as of May 2024]:
- $7.1bn in Amazon and $849M in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, both partners in Project Nimbus, the $1.2 bn project providing AI and cloud services to Israel, including its military
- $3bn in Meta, parent company of WhatsApp
- $9.3bn in US chip manufacturer Nvidia
- $404m in Cemex, a construction company which provides materials for the construction of illegal settlements in occupied Palestine
- $53m in US tech firm, Cisco Systems
- $14m in online travel company, Booking Holdings, which advertises accommodation in illegal settlements in occupied Palestine
Michael Kwet, a fellow of the Yale Law School, said in an article last week that we can say with certainty that US tech giants provided the core infrastructure for the AI programmes used in the bombing of Gaza, the programme that targets whole families in their homes and has resulted in such a devastating civilian death toll.
FFB’s response to Baillie Gifford’s claims our original statement is ‘misleading’
If Baillie Gifford do want to show leadership and be regarded as a responsible investor, they should sell their holdings in the fossil fuel industry and companies that profit from Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide. Baillie Gifford’s ‘investment philosophy’ is said to focus on ‘long-term sustainable growth’, and its ‘stewardship principles’ include commitments to prioritise ‘long-term value creation’ and ‘sustainable business practices’. As the tide turns on fossil fuel extraction and on Israel’s assault on Gaza, in particular following the ICC and ICJ rulings, there is a strong case that these holdings are too risky to be considered responsible investments for an asset manager committed to long-term, sustainable stewardship on behalf of its beneficiaries.
As for their claims that our ‘statement’ is misleading, so far Baillie Gifford has not denied that they hold investments in any of the companies listed in our statement. They have claimed that only a ‘tiny fraction’ of the business activities of US tech giants such as Alphabet or Amazon that they invest in can be linked to Israel. To this we say, Michael Kwet, a fellow of the Yale Law School, said in an article last week that we can say with certainty that US tech giants provided the core infrastructure for the AI programmes used in the bombing of Gaza, the programme that targets whole families in the their homes and has resulted in such a devastating civilians death toll.
Therefore, it is not misleading at all – in fact it’s morally imperative – to point out the links between Baillie Gifford’s investments in US tech giants and the Israeli military.
FFB’s response to EIBF’s claims we have used ‘coercion and misinformation’, are ‘anonymous activists’ and refused to meet
We met with EIBF management last year and on the 31st May met with Jenny Niven, Director of EIBF and others.
We are not an anonymous campaign. We are a collective of workers – including many authors – who have organised proudly and publicly as FFB. Many authors supportive of our campaign have appeared at festivals as FFB organisers, and shown their solidarity by reading statements and taking creative action. There is ample evidence of this from the videos on our Instagram page, the many quotes we have given from named spokespeople, and from our correspondence with authors and EIBF, to our successful Society of Authors campaign to back fossil fuel divestment in the literary industry.
Our engagement with authors has always been friendly and inclusive, never coercive. Our role has been to contact authors with publicly available information and ask them whether they would like to either withdraw or use their appearances to call for divestment. In our communication we have always made clear that we support their individual choices, and that they can rely on our support however they choose to respond to our approach.
We have not spread misinformation. Our statement refers to research by reputable international NGOs, we have simply made this information public.
False allegations of coercion and physical intimidation stemming from Edinburgh International Book Festival’s joint statement with Baillie Gifford has led to several authors affiliated with Fossil Free Books being subjected to racist, threatening and transphobic attacks via email and on social media. We implore EIBF and other festivals no longer receiving funding from Baillie Gifford to create safe spaces for authors as well as for their own staff, and to encourage constructive dialogue and conversation so that we can all move forwards together towards a books industry that is not dependent on fossil fuel or the profits of genocide.