CAMPAIGNERS have hailed Carmarthenshire County Council’s vote not to be associated with companies complicit in the conflict in Gaza and potential war crimes.

Last week’s council decision followed Cardiff County Council in calling for divestment of pension investments complicit in the oppression of Palestinians.

Carmarthenshire Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s Bob Clay welcomed the council’s decision.

“This is only the start. It is perfectly possible that Wales can be seen as a country where there is almost universal divestment from Israel,” he said. “That’s still only a little pin prick, but I tell you it’s a bloody good one: from tiny acorns mighty oak trees grow.”

The council vote will put pressure on the Dyfed Pension Fund and the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) not to make investments that fund war, rights violations or the potential breaking of international law.

Carmarthenshire, along with Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire county councils, support the Dyfed Pension Fund. The fund, which manages the pensions of thousands of local government workers, invests £235 million in business interests that support alleged Israeli war crimes.

At a demonstration outside the meeting, pensioner Lynda Lumb spoke of watching with horror the livestream of the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

“I worked for Carmarthenshire County Council for 14 years and I do not want my Dyfed pension to fund genocide in Gaza,” she said.

At the meeting, Labour councillor Shelly Godfrey-Coles urged the council to write immediately to the pension partnership before its next meeting on Wednesday.

PSC Cymru’s Zahid Noor added that a new legal opinion the organisation has received states that it is not a choice but an obligation on local authorities to divest.