UK's Labor Party boycotts security firm with business ties to Israel

The company has come under fire in recent years due to what pro-Palestinian activists say is its role in facilitating Israel's control over the Palestinian territories.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Protesters gather outside G4S security company's annual general meeting in London (photo credit: REUTERS)
Protesters gather outside G4S security company's annual general meeting in London
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Britain's Labor Party has voted to cut ties with a well-known security firm which has extensive business ties with Israel, media outlets in the United Kingdom reported over the weekend.
The party's national executive committee approved a resolution boycotting G4S, a Crawley-based multinational corporation that employs over 620,000 workers in over 120 countries.
G4S has reportedly provided security services to Labor events in recent years. The company has come under fire in recent years due to what pro-Palestinian activists say is its role in facilitating Israel's control over the Palestinian territories.
The company has been accused by activists of providing security systems to prisons within Israel and in the West Bank where Palestinians, including minors, are held, often without charge or trial. G4S has also been said to provide equipment and maintenance services to Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank which severely restrict Palestinian freedom of movement.
The firm's ties with Israel have prompted activists to protest its board and shareholder meetings.
In 2013, G4S announced plans to quit key contracts in Israel amid protests against its involvement in settlements within "occupied Palestinian territories."
The company employs 6,000 people in Israel, where it provides and maintains screening equipment for several West Bank military checkpoints. It also manages security systems at the controversial Ofer Prison in the West Bank.
But with sporadic international protests continuing both outside the FTSE 100’s headquarters in London and internationally, the company said it would exit the contracts covering Ofer, the checkpoints and the West Bank police headquarters when they terminate in 2015.