Israhell's spy-drone company attacked in London

[yankeedoodle]

  ACTIVISTS WITH PALESTINE ACTION AND EXTINCTION REBELLION NORTH OCCUPY AN ISRAELI ARMS FACTORY IN OLDHAM, UK (PHOTO: PALESTINE ACTION) 

Palestine Action and Extinction Rebellion activists shut down Israeli arms factory
Eight activists from Extinction Rebellion North and Palestine Action were arrested yesterday after blockading three entrances to an Israeli arms factory in Oldham, UK.
http://theinfounderground.com/smf/index.php?action=post;board=4.0

Editor's Note: The following press release was issued on February 2, 2021 by Palestine Action https://palestineaction.org/ . Mondoweiss occasionally publishes press releases and statements from organizations in an effort to draw attention to overlooked issues.

Eight activists from Extinction Rebellion North and Palestine Action were arrested yesterday after causing £20,000 worth of damage after shutting down an Israeli arms factory in Oldham, UK. The activists stormed the factory in the early hours of Monday morning, February 1, with six blockading three entrances and another two climbing onto the roof.

The Ferranti Technologies plant, owned by Israel's largest arms firm Elbit Systems, was left emblazoned with red paint, smashed windows and missing its "Cairo House" sign. The action received widespread support including from Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters and the national Extinction Rebellion group.

 
THE REMAINS OF THE "CAIRO HOUSE" SIGN OUTSIDE THE FERRANTI TECHNOLOGIES PLANT (PHOTO: PALESTINE ACTION) 

During the 16-hour occupation of the factory, police officers prevented legal observers from being at the scene by using Covid-19 regulations to threaten them with fines and arrest if they did not move on. The two on the roof were the last to hold the factory, after refusing police requests to come down from their rooftop siege. The pair, draped in Palestinian flags, shouted "Free Palestine" as they were brought down and arrested at around 6pm – 16 hours after the factory was seized and the production of weapons halted.

In the wake of the protest, Palestine Action's Facebook page was taken down on Tuesday, February 1, under the pretext that the group "goes against our community standards." Palestine Action has accused Facebook of discriminatory targeting Palestine human rights activism given that its only posts on Monday were those sharing live stream videos from XR North's page, which has not been affected.

The eight activists continue to be held in custody.  The factory siege was the first collaboration between Extinction Rebellion and Palestine Action. The two direct action groups have vowed to escalate their actions until Elbit Systems is shut down for good and all systemic injustice ends.

Commenting on the Oldham factory blockade and Facebook's censorship of Palestinian human rights activism, a member of Palestine Action said:

Yesterday's action was a huge success and demonstrates the strength in building alliances across movements especially when humanity and the world we live face the biggest challenges to its existence. This is only the beginning of such an action, and we will honour our commitment to continue to escalate with XR and shut Elbit down for good."

Facebook has routinely censored our posts, saying that we promote harm, when in fact we promote direct action against an arms company, which is guilty of extreme violence through testing its weapons on Palestinian children and then exporting them to other oppressive regimes across the world. Facebook will not succeed in silencing us, nor stop our vital work to stop Elbit.   

Speaking from the roof yesterday, Extinction Rebellion North activists spoke out against Elbit's production of "illegal" weapons, the role of its surveillance drones against refugees and the sinister simulation technology produced at the Oldham factory, which teaches pilots how to bomb targets by using simulations from the Israeli military's shelling of Gaza.

He said:

"This isn't just about the West Bank, this isn't just about Gaza, this is about all of the innocent lives and all of the innocent civilians who have been killed by the company that runs this building.

"So we're here as part of a collaboration between those two groups, recognising that we need to work together as a direct action movement in order to fight for social change and social justice and that includes fighting the system that allows both fossil fuels and arms companies to exist."

Elbit Systems UK has established an extensive presence in the UK over the last 16 years opening 10 sites in England and Wales, including four weapons factories. Ferranti Technologies in Oldham was bought by Elbit Systems in 2007 for £15 million. Weapons parts produced by Elbit Ferranti include intelligence gathering systems for drones.

Palestine Action aims to shut down Elbit's UK operation and has hit the firm's sites, and those of their landlord LaSalle Investment Management, around 40 times since launching in August 2020. These actions include shutting down UAV Engines in Shenstone on three occasions (the most notorious of which allegedly cost the company £145,000), and a series of occupations and public protests at Elbit's London HQ.

Extinction Rebellion is an international apolitical network using non-violent direct action to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency. Extinction Rebellion North's overall mission is to mobilise 3.5% of the population to achieve system change. The group connects and builds resilient communities by working and supporting one another across the region, aiming to create a world that is fit for generations to come.

[yankeedoodle]

Berlin joins Palestine Action in the fight to Shut Elbit Down globally
https://palestineaction.org/berlin-palestine-action/

- Berlin-based activists join forces with growing UK
movement Palestine Action to take direct action against
DIEHL BGT Defense, Berlin

- DIEHL BGT Defense is a German arms manufacturer
working with Elbit Systems

- A multinational movement is growing against the Israeli
arms industry and its brutal reign of apartheid

On 6th February, under the banner of Palestine Action, Berlin-based activists spray painted DIEHL BGT Defense in Berlin's business and governance center. The slogans, reading "Palestine Action" and "Shut Elbit Down" were carried out in broad daylight. The action has been described by the group as "the first of many".

DIEHL BGT Defense works in collaboration with Elbit Systems, Israel's largest privately-owned arms company, to develop and supply infra-red drone technology.

Elbit Systems provides the Israeli military with 85% of its drones, as well as ammunition and surveillance technology – all of which are used and tested on Palestinian civilians before being sold on to some of the world's most repressive regimes.

Elbit-equipped Israeli fighter jets have been repeatedly used to attack civilian areas, homes and refugee camps in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, resulting in thousands of casualties.

Elbit is also a main provider of the electronic detection fence system for the West Bank apartheid wall, and was contracted to make the new underground wall around the blockaded Gaza Strip.

A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:

"By using the Palestinian population as its testing ground for daily attacks, Elbit enhances its profits and literally turns civilians' blood into money: its profits skyrocketed after its equipment was used in the brutal 2014 assault on Gaza, helping the country to export its "products" globally and become one of the world's biggest arms industries.

From a tiny seed, a multinational movement is growing against the Israeli arms industry and its brutal reign of apartheid. Berlin is the first international region to take direct-action but interest from other countries is on the rise, turning what was a national movement into an international network determined to take direct action to end complicity with Israeli apartheid and its war industry."

Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against Elbit Systems at grassroots level, calling for all their sites all to be shut down. The network was first established in the UK in August 2020, but activists from across the globe are beginning to join the movement and affiliate national branches.

A spokesperson for Berlin activists joining Palestine Action:

"The infra-red drone technology developed by DIEHL BGT Defense and Elbit Systems poses an imminent threat not only to Palestinians lives – but to humanity altogether. This collaboration must therefore be put an end to.

"As activists residing in Berlin, we can no longer remain bystanders as we witness the Israeli arms industry further expand its deadly reach. We will not be silenced and we will not let an arms company that works in the service of a supremacist apartheid state that commits crimes against humanity to operate from among us without resistance.

"We shall do whatever is in our ability to expose the true essence of Elbit as an arms company that develops and sells human-tested weapons, we shall disturb its activity, and work to shut Elbit down! This is the true face of Israeli apartheid and it will not be tolerated. Expect direct action." ​​​​​​​

Elbit Systems

Elbit surveillance technology for Israel's aparthied wall: https://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/elbit-systems-surveillance-system-torch-for-the-separation-barrier-in-israelpalestine/

Role of Elbit drone in killing of four children paying on Gaza beach in 2014: https://theintercept.com/2018/08/11/israel-palestine-drone-strike-operation-protective-edge/

More on Elbit's drones in Gaza: https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/

Elbit Systems wins $73 million defence contract from Germany's Diehl: https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/19/elbit-systems-wins-73-million-defence-contract-from-germanys-diehl

[yankeedoodle]

Palestine Action Occupy the Roof of UK-based Israeli Arms Factory Again
https://palestineaction.org/action-roof-shenstone/

- On Tuesday morning, activists from the direct-action network climbed on to the roof of Elbit's UAV Engines factory in Staffordshire, smashed the windows and prevented the site from opening

- Activists chained the factory gates shut to block off all access and splattered the building in blood-red paint

- Palestine Action has vowed to continue targeting the Israeli arms company until it shuts down and vacates the UK

Several activists from Palestine Action are occupying the roof of an Israeli-owned arms factory based in Shenstone, Staffordshire, and have blocked the entrances from the ground; forcing the site to halt its production of deadly weapons.

Arriving before dawn on Tuesday, activists took over the Elbit Systems factory, which is covertly branded as UAV Engines. They chained its gates shut, stormed the factory grounds, poured blood-red paint down the front of the building, smashed windows, sprayed the car park red, and displayed banners reading 'Shut Elbit Down' and 'Elbit Arms: Israel Kills'.

Police have arrived at the scene but as of yet, no arrests have been made. Activists continue to keep the factory closed, preventing the workforce from accessing the building.

The action comes after a three-day rooftop occupation last September that cost the company an estimated £145,000 in damages. There have been other similar 'shutdowns' by Palestine Action in November 2020 and January 2021.

Today's factory closure is the group's second large-scale action this month: on 1st February, Palestine Action joined forces with Extinction Rebellion North to occupy Elbit-Ferranti in Oldham for 16 hours, in what was described as the "first of many" collaborations.

A member of Palestine Action said about today's occupation:

"We're back, and this is once again, a clear and unwavering message to the immoral profiteers of war and the perpetrators of crimes against humanity that we're not going away until Elbit's lethal chain of weapons factories are hounded out of the UK. Petitioning and protests don't work, so it's our moral obligation to take matters into our own hands and use direct action to shut these death factories down for good."   

Elbit Systems produces surveillance technology for Israel's illegal apartheid wall and the engines for 85% of its military drones, among other weapons components. Its drones, which include the Hermes 450 and its later 900 model, were employed extensively during the 51-day attack on Gaza in 2014, which killed over 2,200 Palestinians, including 551 children.

Elbit markets its products as "battle-tested" and claims "outstanding capabilities" based on "operational experience" gained from the experimental use of its weapons on the population of Gaza, around 50% of whom are children.

Over the last 16 years, Elbit has established a large presence in the UK, opening 10 production sites across England and Wales, including four factories. Since 2018, the UK government has bought £45m worth of military equipment from the company despite its role in aiding and escalating Israel's war crimes in order to maintain its illegal occupation of Palestine and sustain its brutal system of apartheid.

In January, Britain's Ministry of Defence gifted the company with a £102 million contract to develop new surveillance technology to enable "frontline" soldiers to detect and accurately fire on alleged "enemy" targets in a matter of seconds.

Palestine Action, which launched in August 2020, is working to shut Elbit's UK-based war industry down and has collectively hit the firm's sites around 50 times in just 6 months, also targeting its London landlord, LaSalle Investment Management.

Actions have caused Elbit's factories to close on five separate occasions, while a series of occupations and well-attended public protests at its London HQ has disrupted the company's business-as-usual complacency and raised considerable public awareness.

[abduLMaria]

Good News, there's still some people-with-a-conscience & compassion left in England.

Silicon Valley has been very different since about 9-11.

One old friend I used to share an office with has been working for Israeli psycho's at "Sela Systems" for about 10 years.

I think the $1 Trillion that was stolen from the Pentagon, announced on 9-10-11, went into a slush fund to fund post-9-11 Jewish favoritism.

e.g. to help Israeli families buy property in Palo Alto next to Stanford.

Palo Alto has degenerated into a Little Israel.

[yankeedoodle]

Palestine activists who defaced Israeli arms company in England found not guilty
The "Elbit Three", a group of British activists who defaced the site of an Israeli arms company, have been acquitted.
https://mondoweiss.net/2021/12/palestine-activists-who-defaced-israeli-arms-company-in-england-found-not-guilty/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-email-mailpoet

The "Elbit Three", a group of British activists who defaced the site of an Israeli arms company, have been acquitted.

In February of 2021 three activists affiliated with the group Palestine Action locked onto the gates of the Elbit subsidiary UAV Engines in Shenstone, Staffordshire and threw red paint on the building. The group targets companies that are "directly complicit in Israel's ongoing military occupation and subsequent colonization of Palestine." Elbit is Israel's largest private arms supplier.

Elbit, and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), attempted to hit the group with criminal damage charges, but on December 3 Judge Marcus Waites ruled that the disruption was limited and that the action posed no threat to public order. Notably, Waites ruling also cites Palestine and the arms trade as important issues.

https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1467848050530000904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1467848050530000904%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmondoweiss.net%2F2021%2F12%2Fpalestine-activists-who-defaced-israeli-arms-company-in-england-found-not-guilty%2F

"This trial was the first time that activists have actually gone to trial for direct action taken against Elbit Systems," Palestine Action told Mondoweiss in an emailed statement. "All other charges – from many different actions – had been dropped in the run-up to the trials themselves, and this shows why. Elbit and the CPS must've been confident that this trial would be one that they can bank on winning, and the fact that they haven't is a huge win for Palestine Action and for the right to protest in the UK. Importantly, it also provided us our first opportunity to put Elbit on the dock for the atrocities committed with their products."

"The judgement will obviously inspire activists going forward, however, even if it had gone the other way, the campaign of direct action would've continued," the group continued. "The British state is complicit in Israel's war crimes and has significant partnerships with Elbit Systems, and so resistance from the the state is to be expected. Even so, this victory is huge, not least for the activists involved – who bravely put their bodies and liberties on the line in an attempt to undermine British complicity in Israel's war crimes and to disrupt the manufacturing of drones."

In May, Palestine Action activists occupied and shut down the drone factory of an Elbit subsidiary for multiple days. A few months later the group occupied Elbit System's London headquarters and temporarily shut down operations. According to Palestine Action, Elbit has had to hire 24/7 security in response to the ongoing protests.

https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1396761867868049410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1396761867868049410%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmondoweiss.net%2F2021%2F12%2Fpalestine-activists-who-defaced-israeli-arms-company-in-england-found-not-guilty%2F

Palestine Action made it clear that potential legal ramifications won't deter the group from continuing to target the defense company. "[We] continue to act to end the flow of drones, armaments, military technologies and surveillance equipment to Israel's military, to stop the use of these products against Palestinians," said the group. "Our actions will continue – and so will a number of other trials, providing another opportunity to expose Elbit's faciliation of war crimes committed against Palestinian civilians and against civilians across the world."

[abduLMaria]

That's not an attack.

If it was a real attack, there would be at least one dead Israel supporter.

[yankeedoodle]

Palestine Action Permanently Shut Down Israeli Arms Firm's London HQ
https://www.palestineaction.org/london-hq-shut/

PRESS RELEASE

20/06/22

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

- After relentless direct action and a number of arrests, Palestine Action has made business in Britain's capital inoperable for Israel's largest weapons company, Elbit Systems. The firm has abandoned its office at 77 Kingsway, leaving Elbit's London Headquarters permanently closed.

- Since 2020, activists have taken action 15 times at the site, disrupting business by blockading, occupying and defacing the property. The campaign culminated in 60 arrests for which activists continue to face trial. Elbit's exit in London comes just 5 months after it was forced to shut Elbit Ferranti in Oldham.

- Elbit leased the London site from real estate giant Jones Lang Lasalle (JJL), which sparked a sister campaign calling on them to 'Evict Elbit'. Activists carried out dozens of actions targeting JLL premises across the country.

- Palestine Action: "We've slammed the doors of Elbit's London HQ shut, as direct action has once again permanently closed an Elbit Systems site in Britain. Thanks to our brave and spirited activists, we are ever closer to the end of Israel's arms trade in Britain."

Recently, police told Palestine Action activists who were under arrest, that Elbit was abandoning its London Headquarters at 77 Kingsway. Security at the company's entrance told Samantha Asumadu, a freelance journalist, working for the Big Issue, that Elbit was not at the site and they had never heard of them. The front desk also confirmed that the Israeli arms firm were not there and even denied the company ever was, despite it being well known that Elbit was leasing the sixth floor for many years. A separate security guard confirmed to another source that Elbit had indeed left the building.

This makes 77 Kingsway the second Elbit site permanently shut down by Palestine Action, in less than 2 years of sustained direct action. Behind closed doors, war criminals have been facilitating Elbit's British-based operations — no more! Palestine Actionists have worked tirelessly, but successfully, to shut its London site.

Palestine Action's inaugural action saw activists storm the company's former central London office, trashing site facilities and spray painting 'Shut Elbit Down' and 'We will be back' across the walls. As the campaign continued, tactics included disruptive entry, outdoor & indoor occupations, paint throwing and chain-and-lock blockades. The 15 separate actions at Kingsway and simultaneous sister actions against its landlords, have culminated in dozens of arrests — 60 in total, for which many activists still face trial. Elbit's closure comes after weeks of dramatically-intensified action targeting their Kingsway headquarters.

In August 2020, a sister campaign against Elbit's London landlord, Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), was also launched. It demanded that JLL 'Evict Elbit'. Multiple & systematic actions took place against the real estate firm, who knowingly leased the site to an Israeli company making weapons used to suppress captive populations. JLL's sites have been routinely defaced, smashed and doused in the Palestine Action iconic red paint, as activists continued to demand that the landlords "Evict Elbit" and cease profiting from the genocide of the Palestinian people. Three members of Palestine Action, including two co-founders, Richard Barnard and Huda Ammori, still face fictitious charges of blackmail, in response to the campaign demanding Elbit's eviction.

Excellently, Palestine Action have finished what they started at 77 Kingsway, which was the first Elbit Systems site the movement targeted upon launching. Nearly two years on, Elbit have once again been forced to shut down operations and leave another of their British sites — and this comes only five months after the business sold its factory in Oldham at a loss. Palestine Action will continue to throw a spanner in the works of apartheid, military occupation and dispossession until Palestine is free.

"Elbit's London Headquarters once played an important role in coordinating the firm's bloodstained network of British operations, but not anymore," says a spokesperson for Palestine Action. "After ceaseless direct action at 77 Kingsway and JLL, we have brought Elbit's London operations to an end. Palestine Action has yet to reach its two-year anniversary, and already we have permanently shut down two sites belonging to Israel's largest arms company.

"We will build on the success of this closure and we won't stop until all eight remaining sites follow suit. It's a victory for all those who sacrificed their liberty and to all those who supported the movement, but most importantly the Palestinian people. It brings us another step closer to the day Israel's arms trade is out of Britain for good."

[yankeedoodle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dj6hYmfOYc