On 13 November eight members of Palestine Action went on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London. They included co-founders Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard and face charges of criminal damage and burglary against Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems. BRUNO ANTONIO reports.
Elbit’s war crimes
Elbit provides up to 85% of the military equipment used by the Israeli occupation forces, including missiles, bombs, gun systems, combat vehicles, cybersecurity technology and surveillance systems. In particular, it provides 85% of Israel’s armed drones, which are used by the Israeli army in daily surveillance and attacks in Gaza and the West Bank. Elbit is one of the main providers of the electronic detection fence system for the West Bank separation wall and their Skylark drone is employed to spy on Palestinian civilians.
Elbit’s weapons and combat systems have been used in every Israeli aggression against Palestine since 2008, including the current genocide. Its Hermes drones were used to attack Gaza during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, and its now ‘battle-tested’ equipment was used against in the 2014 ‘Operation Protective Edge’. Those killed included four young Palestinian playing on a beach in Gaza: the drone’s operators claimed to have mistaken them for ‘Hamas militants’.
In 2018 Elbit acquired the state-owned Israeli Military Industries, the sole provider of small calibre munitions to the Israeli military, which have been used with devastation effect against Palestinian protesters.
Britain and Israel – the Elbit connection
Britain imports not just pharmaceuticals, plastics, machinery, and fruit and vegetables from the Zionist state, but spends hundreds of millions of pounds each year on arms and military technology from Israeli companies. Over 300 Israeli companies operate in Britain.
- In 2005 Britain announced that it would purchase new drones based on Israel’s Hermes 450 design. As a result, Elbit formed the U-TacS partnership with French company Thales to supply 54 Watchkeeper drones to the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) with a contract worth over £500m. Meanwhile Britain leased Hermes drones off Israel via Thales to use against Iraq and Afghanistan between 2007 and 2014.
- British soldiers undergone training in Israel as part of the Watchkeeper programme. In 2010 Elbit signed a $70m deal with the MoD to provide maintenance and logistical support for Watchkeeper.
- Since 2016 Elbit has run a joint venture called Affinity Training with US company KBR. Affinity has a flight training school at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire and partners with the MoD to train British pilots. Affinity’s contract with the MoD is worth £500m over 18 years.
- In 2017 Elbit formed another joint company with Babcock International, a British multinational, to deliver training programs to the MoD to train the Royal Air Force over a 15-year period.
- Between 2018-2020 the MoD bought £46m worth of military equipment from Elbit.
- In 2020 The British Maritime and Coastguard Agency awarded Elbit a contract worth almost £1m to develop drones for coastal surveillance operations with the purpose of tracking migrants on British coasts.
- Britain also exported $445m worth of weapons to Israel between 2015-2020.
Direct action!
Palestine Action has campaigned for over three years against Elbit Systems, targeting its head office in London as well as multiple manufacturing sites across Britain. The charges relate to actions in 2019 and 2020 against Elbit subsidiaries Inspro Precision in Kent, Ferranti in Oldham and UAV Engines in Shenstone, the London office and its landlord, Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL).
Instro Precision products include optical systems for drones, scopes on guns and surveillance systems. The activists targeted the Kent factory in July 2019: they put D-locks on access gates, climbed on top of a shipping container and sprayed graffiti on the building. Activists also occupied the Ferranti site in Oldham, shutting it down for three days. Sustained action against the Oldham site resulted in Elbit selling it in January 2022.
Activists targeted Elbit’s London office 15 times from 2020, with activists occupying the building, throwing red paint across the doors and locking on to the front doors. Palestine action also targeted JLL demanding that they evict Elbit. These actions, which resulted in 60 arrests, forced Elbit to close the office in 2022 – the second Elbit site to be forced out of business by Palestine Action.
UAV Engines in Shenstone manufacture engines for Elbit’s Hermes drones and those used by Britain’s Watchkeeper programme. The site was shut down for two days in September 2020 after activists occupied the building, locking-on to gates and smashing windows, CCTV cameras, lighting and air conditioners. UAV Engines has been the target for multiple rooftop occupations since.
Global resistance to arms sales
Palestinians have called for an international embargo on the weapons trade with Israel. Since the latest Israeli onslaught on Gaza, grassroots groups, workers and trade unions around the world have heeded that call. Spanish dockworkers refused to load ships in Barcelona transporting military equipment to Israel. Activists in Tacoma, US blocked an arms shipment after a multi-hour protest involving hundreds of people. On 7 November members of Palestine Action US targeted three of Elbit’s subsidiaries. In Australia, people staged a demonstration on land and sea to prevent a ship leaving Sydney Harbour loaded with weapons for Israel.
Solidarity with all who take principled action in support of the Palestinian liberation struggle and against the racist Zionist state!
Free the Elbit Eight!
Stop British Arms to Israel!
