‘End complicity in Gaza genocide’, almost 1,000 business leaders tell UK government

The UK government should to take immediate action to uphold international law and prevent further acts of genocide in Gaza, almost 1,000 UK business leaders have demanded.

An open letter was published online by the Business Leaders for Peace campaign in June 2025 detailing the actions it believes the UK government should take to protect human rights in Gaza. 

UN data shows more than 60,000 people, many of them women and children, have now been killed in Gaza. Essential systems, including hospitals, schools, water and communications, have been deliberately targeted or destroyed.

In just the past week the UN has called for justice following Israel’s “double-tap” bombing of the Nasser hospital in Gaza, tens of thousands of people across Israel took part in demonstrations against the war and UN-backed body the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared a man-made famine in Gaza City.

Human rights are not a luxury; they are the foundation of stability, prosperity, and peace

Louise Kjellerup Roper is CEO of Volans, a think-tank and advisory firm and the first British company to certify as a B Corporation. In a statement issued as a signatory to the open letter, she said: “As a business leader, I know that lasting success is founded on empathy, trust, and the protection of the most vulnerable – values that are directly under attack in Gaza. 

“The devastation there is not only a humanitarian tragedy, it represents a challenge to the very principles that underpin fair societies, strong economies and democracy. Human rights are not a luxury; they are the foundation of stability, prosperity, and peace. We must all stand up, speak out, and take action and urge the UK government to act immediately and bring peace to Gaza.”
 

UK government must take business-related actions to uphold international law

Actions the Business Leaders for Peace campaign calls on the UK government to make include enabling the full and unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the cessation of all UK arms transfers to Israel and the introduction of targeted sanctions. These actions have previously been called for in an open letter signed by more than 1,000 UK lawyers and judges published in May 2025 and humanitarian aid NGO Choose Love.

The Business Leaders for Peace campaign argues that business can only thrive in a world where international law holds weight and that a failure to act in Gaza could undermine global order, trade stability and collective human dignity. 

To that end, it calls on the UK government to take a number of business-related actions. Those actions are: the suspension of all export licences for goods that could be directly or indirectly implicated in military operations in Gaza, without exception; broadening financial sanctions and investment screening to stop UK financing of companies complicit in violations of international law; and enforcing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights across all UK-linked supply chains and financial systems to ensure no business – whether through products, services, or supply chains – is contributing to the suffering of the population of Gaza, directly or indirectly.

The campaign’s letter welcomed the joint statement issued by the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Canada of 19 May 2025 condemning both the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 –  including the deliberate targeting of civilians and the taking of hostages in violation of international law –  and the Israeli government’s disproportionate military offensive, the withholding of aid to the Palestinian people and the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
But, the letter said, the UK Government must now take immediate, concrete action to uphold its legal obligations and prevent further atrocity. 

When asked by Pioneers Post for a response to the Business Leaders for Peace letter, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) replied with a statement issued last week by foreign minister David Lammy, alongside foreign ministers from 25 other countries and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, condemning Israel’s plans for settlement construction in the E1 area of East of Jerusalem. The FCDO did not respond to a request for further comment by the time of publication.

Mission-driven business leaders at forefront of campaign

The letter has now been signed by 958 business leaders, founders and professionals (at the time of publication). The majority have signed in a personal capacity and not on behalf of their businesses. The campaign expects to reach 1,000 signatures in the coming days. 

Mission-driven business leaders are at the forefront of the campaign. Signatories include former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, founder and former CEO of People Tree Safia Minney, Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson, social enterprise and charity consultant Adrian Ashton, 2023 WISE100 environmental champion Camilla Marcus-Dew, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Erinch Sahan, Re-Action Collective founder Gavin Fernie-Jones, director of Responsible 100 and Pioneers Post contributor Michael Solomon, founder of creative agency Livity Sam Conniff and founder and On Purpose CEO Tom Rippin.

As responsible business leaders, we must stand up for peace and accountability as prerequisites for fair, safe and healthy societies

Adam Garfunkel, partner and chief impact officer at Junxion Strategy and Pioneers Post contributor (pictured), said: “I have signed this letter because the lessons I draw from my Jewish family history of fleeing the Holocaust are that human rights are the basis of a civilised society. Our government must not be complicit in compromising them. And as responsible business leaders, we must stand up for peace and accountability as prerequisites for fair, safe and healthy societies.”

• Read Adam Garfunkel’s opinion article: Why the UK responsible business movement needs to grow up

The campaign, which has been coordinated by volunteers, invites all business leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals across the private sector to “add to the chorus of UK voices calling for immediate action” by signing its letter.
 

Image: A protest in London against the war in Gaza, 7 September 2024 (credit: Alan Denny, Flickr)