Literary festivals have been accused of discrimination on the basis of nationality, which is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, over the decision to drop a major sponsor over investment in companies operating in or trading with Israel.
As reported in the Telegraph, Hay Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival cut ties with Baillie Gifford after pro-Palestine activists alleged it had links to the “genocidal” Israel, and authors threatened a boycott.
A campaign against Baillie Gifford has been led by activist group Fossil Free Books, which alleges the investment management firm has interests in companies with ties to Israel’s defence and technology industries, which have a hand in what the group has branded “Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide”.
More than 200 authors supported the group’s threats of “escalation” and “disruption”, including Naomi Klein and Sally Rooney, who signed an open letter calling for the firm to drop investments in companies which profit from “colonial violence”.
However, UK Lawyers For Israel have now submitted a claim to the Charity Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) alleging that the stated charitable aims of the Hay and Edinburgh festivals are undermined by the decision to drop the lucrative sponsorship of Baillie Gifford.
Edinburgh states that its aim is to “promote the reading of, study, appreciation and knowledge of books and all forms of literature”, while Hay’s charitable aims are stated as “to further education and learning of both Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the other countries around the world in the art or science of literature and poetry” and to “promote study and research in literature and poetry”.
In a letter written to charity authorities, lawyers further claim the festivals acted in a discriminatory way by dropping Baillie Gifford over links to a specific nationality, Israeli. This contravenes section 29 of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits discrimination because of a protected characteristic in the provision of a service, in this case providing publicity to a sponsor.
By acceding to activist demands to cut ties over alleged connections to Israel, lawyers claim: “The decision to suspend the sponsorship by Baillie Gifford over links to Israel is, by definition, discriminatory.”
Following pressure from activists, Baillie Gifford has gone on to withdraw sponsorship of all the literary festivals it supported, including the Stratford Literary Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival and Wigtown Book Festival.
An OSCR spokesperson confirmed that the body was looking into the legal claims, saying: “We have received a concern about the charity, and this will be handled in line with our usual policies and procedures to see if there are any regulatory matters for OSCR.”
The Charity Commission confirmed that it was also looking into the legal claims.
According to Philippe Sands KC, who is on the legal team at the International Court of Justice seeking an end to Israel’s 56-year occupation of Palestinian territory, the boycott movement’s case against Baillie Gifford was based on “rather tenuous” evidence.
A Baillie Gifford spokesman has previously said: “The suggestion that Baillie Gifford is a large investor in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is seriously misleading. It is based on conflating two different types of exposure.”
The company said that it invested approximately $19 billion in multinational technology companies such as Amazon, NVIDIA and Meta, which have commercial dealings with Israel “that are tiny in the context of all of their overall business. Practically every consumer and investor in the developed world is using the services of these companies.”
It said it was a “small” investor in three companies that have been identified as having activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – Airbnb, Booking.com, and Cemex – and is “committed to responsible analysing and engaging with the companies in which we invest.”
