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This morning, Palestine Action returned to shut down Elbit Systemsโ Bristol headquarters for the 17th time, using a modified cherry picker to damage the operational hub of Israelโs largest arms firm.
To halt operations, stopping the Aztec West siteโs contributions to genocide in Palestine, an activist has locked-on inside the vehicle of the cherry picker, whilst others from inside the bucket have begun dismantling the factory. They have sprayed red paint across the building and from their high vantage point, theyโre swinging a sledgehammer on rope to smash the windows of the weapons site.
The Bristol site is Elbitโs main operational hub in Britain, overseeing the activities and exporting of all โElbit Systems UKโ subsidiaries. Recently published arms export license data show that โElbit Systems UKโ received one quarter of all the arms export licenses for Israel granted by Starmerโs government [2]. Since the commencement of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, it has in total been granted at least 24 licenses for exports to Israel, and has made dozens of military cargo shipments [3]
According to Israeli media, Elbit provides up to 80% of the Israeli militaryโs land based equipment [3] and 85% of its killer drones [4], supplying huge numbers of munitions and missiles including the โIron Stingโ, which was first deployed in the Gaza Genocide [5]. Elbit famously advertises its weapons as having been โbattle-testedโ โ against Palestinians.
Palestine Action first shut down Aztec West site on the 13th April 2021 with a rooftop occupation. Since then it has been relentlessly targetted in high-profile actions [6, 7] with the clear aim of ending the British manufacture of weapons used in the genocide and occupation of Palestine. In the past week, Palestine Action has struck numerous times at Elbitโs insurers Allianz [8, 9] and Aviva [10], and have rejected calls for ethnic cleansing by Donald Trump by wrecking his Ayrshire golf resort: โGAZA IS NOT FOR SALEโ [11]
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:
โWhile Elbit weaponry is used for massacres in Gaza and the West Bank, twenty Palestine Action members, including the Filton18, are imprisoned without trial. Elbit, Starmer, and those facilitating war crimes are the criminals โ not those taking action to stop the slaughter in Palestine.
Activists are shutting down Elbit Bristol, making clear that we will not back down against a company whose sole purpose is to profit from the destruction of Palestinian life.โ
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.
[1] https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025/02/25/elbit-palestine-protest-bristol/
[2] https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/overview?region=Israel&date_from=2024-07
[3] https://www.declassifieduk.org/vindicated-how-palestine-action-hit-weapons-factories-exporting-to-israel/
[3] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/2018-03-12/ty-article/elbit-systems-to-buy-imi-in-major-israeli-defense-merger/0000017f-ef5d-df98-a5ff-effdd2fd0000
[4] https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/#sdendnote2sym
[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/17/israels-weapons-industry-is-the-gaza-war-its-latest-test-lab
[6] https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/54688/1/palestine-action-on-shutting-down-an-israeli-arms-company-elbit-bristol-hq
[7] https://palestineaction.org/bristol-nakba/
[8] www.instagram.com%2Flowkeyonline%2Fp%2FDHB7KvGIGJC%2F%3Fhl%3Dbg&is_from_rle
[9] https://palestineaction.org/allianz-city/
[10] https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/palestine-action-occupies-entrance-avivas-manchester-office-over-ties-israeli-weapons-manufacturer
[11] https://palestineaction.org/trump-golf/