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Palestine Action

Jury Finds Palestine Action Activists Not Guilty Over Elbit Occupation

Two activists from Palestine Action were unanimously acquitted of criminal damage against arms manufacturer Elbit by a jury in Leicester Crown Court after a deliberation of just one hour and 40 minutes. For six days from 19 May 2021, four people from Palestine Action occupied the roof of UAV Tactical Systems, an Elbit drone factory in Leicester. The action was taken urgently in response to the ongoing bombardment of Gaza at the time. Whilst on the roof, the activists spray painted messages including “Shut Elbit Down” and “Free Palestine”, damaged a skylight to reveal a military drone inside and sprayed the building in blood red paint.

Palestine Action Forced Another Company To Cut Ties With Elbit

Palestine Action has just secured another victory in the fight against Israel’s arms trade from the UK. This time, the group has forced a law firm to cut ties with Elbit Systems. In an email to Palestine Action on 23 April, MLL Legal’s partner Dunja Koch confirmed the law firm is no longer working for Elbit Systems and will not do so in the future. This came after a two year direct action campaign which involved repeatedly spray painting the law firm’s London office. MLL Legal formerly listed Elbit Systems as a client of their ‘merger and acquisition’ services. This makes the law firm the fifth company in recent months to end associations with the Israeli weapons maker.

Palestine Action Shows Politicians Up Again By Stopping Arms To Israel

Palestine Action has come up with another way to stop UK arms sales to Israel – which is infinitely better than politicians, who have currently done a total of nothing while the Zionist state murders Palestinians and aid workers without recourse. Anonymous activists from Palestine Action targeted High Peak Steels based at Brookfield Industrial Estate in Glossop on Friday 5 April. The activists covered the premises in red paint, spray painted messages on the premises and trucks including ‘Drop Elbit’, ‘Child killers’ and ‘Free Palestine’.

Success for Palestine Action As Elbit Closes A UK Site For Good

Relentless direct action by Palestine Action has secured another victory in the fight against Israel‘s arms trade, as Elbit Systems are forced to sell their ‘Elite KL’ factory in Tamworth. Once again, it shows that direct action can have results. The company had previously manufactured cooling and power management systems for military vehicles, but was sold on after stating that it faced falling profits and increased security costs resulting from Palestine Action’s efforts. After the sale was completed last month, Elite KL’s new owners, listed as Griffin Newco Ltd, confirmed in an email to Palestine Action that they will have nothing to do with the previous owners, Elbit

Palestine Action US Activists Hit With Felony Charges Over Elbit Protest

Three activists have been indicted for participating in a protest at Elbit Systems of America in Merrimack, New Hampshire last November. Elbit is Israel’s largest private arms supplier. Sophie Ross, Bridget Shergalis, and Calla Walsh are facing charges of riot, conspiracy to commit criminal mischief, burglary, and conspiracy to commit falsifying physical evidence for climbing onto the company’s roof and defacing the building with paint. Each charge is a Class B felony and could carry a three-and-a-half to seven-year prison sentence. A fourth woman, Paige Belanger, was arrested in January over her involvement in the protest.

Palestine Action Target Two Companies At Once, Complicit In Israel’s Genocide

Palestine Action targeted two companies complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza on Wednesday 14 February – shutting down one completely and shaming the other by painting it blood-red.  First, and the group “drenched” the Manchester offices of Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon in red paint, to symbolise the bank’s complicity in Palestinian bloodshed. Activists also sprayed a message calling for Elbit to be shut down: BNY Mellon invest over £10m in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, which provides 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land based equipment, as well as missiles, bullets, and other weaponry. Speaking of Elbit, Palestine Action did actually shut Elbit down too in 14 February.

Palestine Action Disrupts Israel’s Arms Trade In The United Kingdom

First, Palestine Action targeted logistics companies belonging to Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) and Palletline on 17 January, as part of a widespread direct action campaign against Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, and the companies which facilitate their weapons manufacturing in Britain and their arms exports to Israel. K+N’s Milton Keynes branch and their subsidiary in London, Nacaro cargo insurance, were targeted overnight. At the company’s Milton Keynes industrial site, which specialises in road transportation, activists sprayed the entire front of the building in blood-red paint and shattered windows.

Landmark Court Cases See Palestine Action’s ‘Elbit Eight’ Acquitted

In a landmark case, eight Palestine Action activists who used direct action to shut down the Israeli weapons trade have been acquitted of a total 12 charges which included criminal damage, burglary and encouraging criminal damage. The trial, which commenced on 13 November, related to a series of actions taken during the first six months of Palestine Action’s existence from July 2020 to January 2021. Richard Barnard, co-founder of Palestine Action, was convicted by a 10-2 majority of one count of criminal damage, for an action at the now-closed Elbit Ferranti factory in Oldham. At least one member of jury later asked if they could change their verdict, but were prohibited from doing so. Lawyers will be considering appealing this conviction.

Campaign Leads To Fisher German Ending Ties With Elbit

Palestine Action has received confirmation that the property managers for Elbit Systems’ Shenstone drone factory, Fisher German, have cut ties with the Israeli arms manufacturer. Having sent confirmation to Palestine Action by email yesterday, Fisher German’s decision follows on the tail of a similar announcement by Elbit’s former recruiters iO Associates, who dropped Israel’s largest weapons maker after a campaign by the direct action network. The real estate giant confirmed that they no longer hold any ties to Elbit Systems or the site of their subsidiary, UAV Engines Ltd (UEL), in Shenstone. 

Recruiters Drop Elbit Systems After Campaign

After weeks of action, the sole recruiters for the British operations of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, have confirmed via email to Palestine Action that they ended their association with Elbit on the evening of the 29th November. For two months, activists in the Palestine Action network had disrupted iO Associates at their premises across the country, to impede their ability to recruit roles for Israel’s war machine. iO Associates recruited the likes of engineers, software developers, and finance staff for positions across the sites of the British branch of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems.

The Watchdog With Lowkey: Palestine Action On Trial

The British state – and quite possibly its Israeli counterpart – are attempting to shut down Palestine Action. Since its founding in 2020, the activist group has launched hundreds of operations against arms factories across the United Kingdom, especially Israeli ones. Its goal is to break British complicity in the Israeli military-industrial complex. Palestine Action has already caused serious economic damage to companies like Elbit Systems. Joining Lowkey on this edition of “The Watchdog” is returning guest Huda Amori. Born in the U.K., Amori is a Palestinian-Iraqi whose father was chased out of his home by Israeli soldiers in 1967 and forced to flee without even a pair of shoes.

Palestine Action Strikes Three Israel-Supplying Weapons Factories

This morning, three simultaneous actions have targeted weapons factories across Britain, to prevent the production of weaponry destined for use by Israel in their ongoing massacre of the Palestinian people. While Israel’s Instro Precision in Kent has been met with a 100-person-strong blockade, a lock-on and a rooftop occupation disrupted Leicester’s UAV Tactical Systems and Howmet Fastening Systems. At the Instro Precision factory in Sandwich, over 100 people have descended on the site, to blockade the two entrances to the Discovery Park business area. The site, which has faced protests for years and has previously been occupied by Palestine Action, has been forced closed.

Palestine Action Crashes Into Leicester’s Israeli Drone Factory

Just 12 hours after the Israeli regime massacred at least 500 wounded, starving, and displaced Palestinians in Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in a targeted missile strike, activists have breached and shut down the Leicester factory of Israel’s drone supplier Elbit, outfitters of the Israeli military regime. These bombing attacks serve a singular purpose, being designed to remove as much Palestinian life as possible from Gaza, and are made possible with Western-made weapons and technologies. This includes the military drone technologies which Elbit’s UAV Tactical Systems, based in Braunstone Town, Leicester, has regularly exported to the occupation military.

Palestine Action Covers BBC Building In Red Paint

Today, Palestine Action sprayed the BBC’s Headquarters with blood red paint, in response to it’s recent coverage of Palestine, which has been complicit in manufacturing consent for the occupation’s genocide of Palestinians. The action occurred before a protest for Palestine was due to begin at the BBC HQ. Since October 7th, the BBC has given biased and inaccurate reporting on the Israeli massacre of the Palestinian people. It has only ever invited Palestinians to comment when Israelis are killed, with little regard for Palestinians killed by Israel, such as in the case of Palestinian ambassador Husam Zomlot who was expected to condemn Israeli deaths immediately after informing the BBC he had lost 6 family members.

Jury Finds Activist Not Guilty After They Dismantled Arconic

On Thursday 5th October 2023, a jury unanimously found an activist from Palestine Action, Sohail Sultan, not guilty of criminal damage against Arconic at the closing of a trial overseen by Judge S Ward at Wolverhampton Crown Court. They took 3 hours and 25 minutes to deliberate on whether the action taken which cost Arconic over £500K was done to protect property in Palestine and/or in necessity to save lives. The verdict comes after the activist occupied the roof for two days and dismantled the site on the fourth anniversary of the Grenfell fire, in solidarity with the victims of the fire and the Palestine people.

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Online donations are back! 

Keep independent media alive. 

Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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