Finally, on May 17th, we have the opportunity to put Elbit on trial, when the 5 Palestine Actionists who occupied Elbit’s factory for 3 days last year, go to Stafford Crown Court. Their crime? — they poured blood-red paint over Elbit’s premises and caused £181,000 in company losses. But, like the Raytheon 9, the Elbit 5 will stand as the “accusers, not the accused”.
Elbit’s export licences specifically state that its weaponry ‘cannot be used for the purposes of internal repression’. Yet, the company’s drones, munitions, military hardware and flechettes have no other purpose. Clearly, investigating Elbit for breaking the law is being ‘shredded’ to shield its war crimes from accountability.
Elbit is currently supplying the Burmese Junta with weaponised drones and military hardware in its war against the people of Burma and aiding the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people. Its drones are also being rolled out to surveil and stop migrants seeking refuge in the UK.
However, instead of charging Elbit with aiding and facilitating Israel’s war crimes, it is 5 integrous activists who are charged with “criminal damage”. The Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service are refusing to acknowledge the real criminals. They are, instead, trying their hardest to indict the ones who are working to halt the carnage this factory creates and save the lives of thousands. Astonishingly, as if in some sort of alternative, backward reality, opposing war and seeking justice, peace and humanitarian values carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Up to now, every direct action against the factory chain has failed to lead to any prosecution. Elbit have, and for obvious reasons, never wanted to have their war crimes scrutinised in public. But now, after sustained direct action, they are pursuing those who have successfully disrupted their criminal activities.
Join us on May 17th from 9AM to see this this vile company in the dock; let the war criminals be prosecuted, not those who oppose them. Bring placards, banners and voices to express solidarity and support for the defendants and take a collective stand against war criminals profiting from death, human suffering, injury and destruction.
Location: Stafford Crown Court, The Combined Court Centre, Victoria Square, Stafford ST16 2QQ