Elbit Systems cannot operate in isolation. Our hometowns and cities across the UK host their death factories, which requires complicit landlords and local complacency. Meanwhile, manufacturing munitions requires willing suppliers, who must be stopped, too. We need everyone to join us in disrupting Elbit’s kill chain; join the resistance to #ShutElbitDown!
Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms provider, has 10 sites in the UK. This includes five arms factories, two headquarters, and three RAF sites. Elbit Systems owns some of their factories and offices outright, but some are rented from complicit landlords.
The offices of their landlords and the lethal suppliers of weapons elements are scattered across the country… but so is Palestine Action! We’re calling on everyone to target Elbit’s landlords and suppliers, until they make a public declaration to stop enabling Elbit Systems.
Read on to find out more about Elbit’s landlords and suppliers, and the tactics people like YOU can use to #ShutElbitDown!
Landlords
Complicit landlords get rich off Elbit Systems’ headquarters in London and Bristol, as well as from the massive arms factory, Instro Precision, in Kent. The three main real estate culprits who harbour these war criminals and make building Israel’s weapons in the UK possible, are:
Lasalle Investment Management (subsidiary of JLL real estate)
Sedgemoor District Council
Discovery Park in Kent.
LaSalle Investment Management / Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL)
Elbit leases its London headquarters from LaSalle Investment Management. LaSalle are well aware of Elbit’s criminal activity but decline to break their complicity. In recent months, our campaign and activists have targeted LaSalle offices across the country; their parent company, JLL, are quaking in their boots. Now, it’s time to escalate! We encourage everyone to target each and every JLL site, until they stop housing war criminals and #ShutElbitDown!
It’s simple enough to find a local JLL target, they list all their offices on their website: https://www.jll.co.uk/en/locations.
JLL’s real estate portfolio also includes various empty properties waiting to be occupied by activists. A simple internet search for these properties in your areas will suffice and get you on your way to forcing JLL to #EvictElbit so we can #ShutElbitDown for good.
Sedgemoor District Council
Elbit rents its Bristol HQ from Sedgemoor District Council. Yes, that’s right, a local council are directly enabling war criminals and facilitating the construction of weapons of mass destruction. We encourage you to make your outrage known by demonstrating outside Sedgemoor District Council’s offices:
Sedgemoor District Council, Bridgwater House, King Square, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 3AR, United Kingdom
Discovery Park
Elbit’s brand-new, “state of the art” arms factory wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of their landlords – Discovery Park. Discovery Park is a huge industrial business site, and a sponsor of local benches, parks and more. They have repeatedly ignored our requests to evict Elbit, while they count their blood money. Our goal is to make Discovery Park’s decision to house Israel’s arms trade their biggest regret.
Discovery Park brag that they “can be reached easily and quickly from anywhere in the world”, so why not stop by and demand they end their complicity in terrorism?
Discovery Park Limited, Innovation House, Ramsgate Road, Sandwich CT13 9FF, United Kingdom
Direct Action Tactics
Take direct action today to help us #ShutElbitDown. Read our suggestions below or vent your disgust in any creative way you like. Don’t forget a camera to document your action so we can amplify your activism on our platforms.
Occupation
Occupations can be as simple or as complex as you like; we suggest you keep it simple. All you need are willing participants, a couple of banners, and a plan to take the site and occupy. In some sites, this can be as simple as walking through the front doors, sitting down and refusing to leave!
Block the front doors
Blocking doors and entry points for workers can force a site to close. For best results, we suggest you arrive early, before any workers. Here are three different ways you can forcefully close a location:
- Chain the front doors
- Chain yourselves to the front doors.
- Hold a banner and make a human chain of people across the doors. Make it fun: bring flares and music!
- Use a ladder to climb onto the roof or the overhang. If you throw paint as well, they will probably shut the whole site down.
Drown the Business of Bloodshed
Dowsing buildings in red paint is a visceral and symbolic way to evoke the civilian blood spilt in war. If you don’t want to get arrested, leave immediately after you take action and don’t leave any evidence. (Read our ‘How to take direct action and not get nicked guide here’)
Here are some tips for paint distribution:
- Fire extinguishers
- In the past, we have repurposed old fire extinguishers by filling them with red paint, and spraying it all over Elbit and their landlords. To make your own, read our guide.
- Throw a bucket of red paint
- Simple, easy, effective.
- Spray paint
- Get creative and spray messages all over the target. These can include “Shut Elbit Down”.
Expose the Business of Bloodshed
- Order posters, stickers, and war crime scene tape to stick all over the buildings! (email us at info@palestineaction.org)
What are you waiting for? Do the right thing today, and help us #ShutElbitDown.
Email your footage and pictures securely to actions@palestineaction.org, and we’ll publish it alongside our wider campaign to #ShutElbitDown.