The University of Cambridge has said it will continue to invest in firms with links to the IDF and Israeli defence industry despite pressure from campus pro-Palestine activists.
Mark Lewissohn, who chairs the board of trustees that manages the institution’s endowment fund of £4 billion, confirmed in a meeting last month that it would continue, and likely grow, its investment positions linked to the defence trade, according to the Cambridge Reporter.
"As more investment in defence is mandated by governments around the world, the proportion of global market capitalisation represented by defence is likely to further increase,” he said.
Around £85 million of the total fund, amounting to roughly 1.7 per cent, is tied up in defence firms, according to the Times.
Recent filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveal that recent investments include £800,000 in AI giant Palantir and £900,000 in GE Aerospace, both of which supply equipment to the IDF, bought as part of a £1.4 million investment in a tracker fund administered by asset management titan BlackRock.
Other defence firms, such as BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce, have funded significant research projects at Cambridge, totalling more than £15 million between 2009 and 2017, according to the Times.
The university’s portfolio has, though, sparked criticism from pro-Palestine campaigners, faculty and students, including the Cambridge for Palestine group.
English professor Jason Scott-Warren said: “Given that it is now commonplace for legal and conventional weapons to be used to commit war crimes, it would be prudent to screen out all arms industry investments, rather than merely to increase monitoring after the fact.”
And a spokesperson for Cambridge for Palestine told Varsity: “Educational institutions must uphold human rights and moral accountability, not profit from systems that fuel occupation, violence, and genocide.
"We urge the university to immediately commit to a full divestment from arms companies, any company complicit in violations of international law, including those connected to the occupation of Palestine.”
However, engineering professor Richard Penty, whose department has worked with defence companies, said: “Investing in defence companies is not ethically wrong or socially irresponsible. The war in Ukraine and the various conflicts in the Middle East show us that our national security demands a strong defence, and this in turn rests on a robust defence industry.
“I, and many of my colleagues, carry out research funded by defence companies, and it is therefore entirely appropriate that the university is also able to invest in them.”
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