A Bermudian pressure group has issued a “statement of solidarity with the people of Palestine” that spotlighted companies it believes has connections with allegedly illegal actions by Israel.

Social Justice Bermuda, which came to prominence in 2020 in solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement, issued the statement to the backdrop of the Israel Defence Forces invasion and bombardment of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

The group declared itself allied with global social justice movements and human rights groups calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The territory has been subjected to a punishing military campaign in the wake of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the militant Islamic group that has governed Gaza since 2007.

Social Justice Bermuda highlighted three companies with “a Bermuda-based presence that are complicit in the occupation, war crimes and maintenance of apartheid in Palestine”.

The group singled out the internet giant Google, which is investing in a submarine cable network that includes Bermuda, expected to be completed by 2026.

They pointed to the international construction equipment firm Caterpillar Ltd, which has an offshore presence in Bermuda.

SJB also cited the insurance and reinsurance firm Axa XL.

Google is part of the $1.2 billion contract, Project Nimbus, to provide cloud services for the Israeli military and Government.

The technology has been criticised for the surveillance of Palestinians as well as assisting Israeli settlers in occupying contested land.

Caterpillar (Bermuda) was accused of providing “specialised equipment used in the destruction of Palestinian homes, villages and farmland in the West Bank”.

Amnesty International has blamed Caterpillar for supplying heavy machinery used in home demolitions and forced evictions from occupied land.

Axa XL was implicated by the Palestinian-led pressure group Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, which launched a “Stop AXA Assistance to Israeli Apartheid Campaign” in 2015, accusing the firm of investing in Israeli banks involved in the Israeli settler movement on occupied territory.

The Royal Gazette sent queries to all three companies offering a chance to respond to the statement, which also went online at the weekend on SJB’s Facebook page.

None of the companies responded by press time.

SJB’s statement branded the Gaza campaign “a genocide”.

The group said that the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 “do not, in any way, justify atrocities in kind by the Israeli state against Palestinian civilians”.

“The conflict between Palestine and Israel occurs within the context of a brutal 56-year occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel, the implementation of an apartheid regime in Israel towards Palestinians, and the provocations over the last 12 months of the most far-right Israeli Government of recent times, one that includes (as Cabinet ministers) outright fascists who have advocated for genocide of the Palestinian people.”

SJB’s unattributed statement reiterated that it did not “in any way to condone the actions of October 7”.

The group said its statement gave context, adding that “the events did not happen in a vacuum”.

The latter remark echoed comments made last Tuesday by António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, which have been denounced by Israeli officials.

SJB further stated that it had “strong concerns about the media sharing unverified and inflammatory stories”, called Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory “illegal”, and said military strikes that have hit civilians and civil infrastructure during Israel’s Gaza campaign “constitute war crimes”.

“We call on the people of Bermuda to join us and stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their pursuit of self-determination and freedom from apartheid and human rights abuses.”

Bermudian activists have often taken vocal stances on international issues in the past.

The community demonstrated prominently against South Africa’s apartheid regime in the 1980s and 1990s, and the Bermudian Government joined other Commonwealth countries on the 1977 Gleneagles Agreement, which discouraged sporting contact with South Africa.

The late Walton Brown, a former Progressive Labour Party minister, went public on the Gaza issue in August 2014, calling for the Bermudian Government to show solidarity with the Palestinians during that year’s Gaza war.

Mr Brown, who died in 2019, often wore the flag of Palestine as a lapel pin in Parliament, and supported the Bermuda Palestinian Solidarity Committee.

Jonathan Starling, an activist who set up the committee with Mr Brown, said: “I am grateful for the statement of SJB. I completely back their statement.”

Mr Starling said the aim of the Bermuda Palestinian Solidarity Committee had been to raise awareness about “Palestinian issues, as well as cultural events”.

The group went on the “back burner” after Mr Brown’s death.

“However, the recent events unfortunately demonstrate the need for the committee.”

Mr Starling added: “There's quite a bit of misinformation, often originating from Israel itself, being repeated by international media, which is unfortunate.

“It is challenging responding to the avalanche of Israeli propaganda, as well as Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism that this conflict has triggered.

“Despite this, I am grateful that so many throughout the West have expressed solidarity with Palestine in the face of genocide and Israeli war crimes. Especially in the light of a new McCarthyism that has emerged in the USA and Europe.”

Mr Starling said there were “many” in Bermuda, whether Bermudian or expatriate workers, who were “wary of expressing solidarity with Palestine out of fear of retaliation at work”.

“Of course, our Human Rights Act should protect people, but I understand the fear.”

He added that he did not believe the community could “afford to be silent”.

“In many ways, silence is complicity. The US and the UK are directly complicit in the genocide and war crimes we're seeing Israel doing. And any company that is actively involved in illegal settlements, supporting the apartheid regime in Israel or supplying weapons for these war crimes is also directly complicit, too."