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On 1st July, Judge McKone at Bradford Crown Court granted bail for an activist from Palestine Action after they were imprisoned for nearly 3 months. They are expected to be released later today from HMP Doncaster where supporters are now gathering.
The activist, alongside three others, originally took action on April 3rd to occupy the roof of Teledyne’s Shipley weapons manufacturer. From the roof, the four managed to pull roof tiles out and dismantle the factory, leading to disruption and ultimately halting the production and export of weapons parts to be used in the Gaza genocide.
Following the action, two of the four were remanded to prison, with the third activist being released after one month inside. One of the reasons the fourth activist was held for much longer than the others was in part due to them being charged for a previous action taken in August 2022 whilst arrested for the action taken in Shipley.
The site, between 2009 and 2014, was granted at least 86 licenses for the export of weapons to Israel – mostly for ‘ML11’-category military electronics equipment, and ‘ML4’ category explosive weapons, munitions, or parts therefor. After 2014, the company’s sales and licensing was handled by the parent company ‘Teledyne UK’, which continued to export vast quantities of ML4 and ML11 weapons to Israel as part of its 48 export licenses granted between 2014 and 2020.
The American company Teledyne has a $5.6bn yearly turnover and is, along with its subsidiary ev2, the largest exporter (by volume of licenses granted) of weaponry from Britain to Israel. A significant proportion of the company’s almost 200 export licenses for weapons and weapons parts to the US, 2009-2020, will also form into finished products ultimately exported to Israel.
Teledyne Defence and Space, Shipley, manufactures key components for missile systems – specifically missile filters – which will comprise the ML4 exports made yearly from the site. Teledyne Defence and Space boasts of its involvement with missile products procured by Israel including the AGM-Harpoon, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles deployed by Israel against Gaza – the latter reportedly being used to strike Al-Shifa hospital. Teledyne Defence and Space also produces components for the American’s Tomahawk and Patriot missiles, deployed by US forces against Yemen.
The site also produces parts, including filters and multi-function assemblies, for UAVs (drones) and aircraft, along with radar systems including the AN/APG-81 (AESA) type fitted in Lockheed Martin F-35 Fighter jets. Teledyne Defence and Space, which is solely based in Shipley, has sales representatives in Tel Aviv. Shipley-made products can be seen advertised by Ormic Components, the sales company, for the Israeli military market.
Teledyne, the parent company, also produces image sensors for military applications, and radar technologies around the borders of the occupied West Bank and Gaza, while also providing armed UAVs to Israel as far back as 1973. This is not the first time that Palestine Action have struck at a Teledyne site, having dismantled its Presteigne, Wales, ‘Teledyne Labtech’ factory in 2022 and causing £1m in losses.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact media@palestineaction.org
Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking action against the sites of Elbit Systems and other companies complicit in Israeli apartheid, calling for all such sites to be shut down.