PRESS RELEASE
31/05/2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- Activists have closed the doors to 77 Kingsway, the London headquarters of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company – manufacter of drones, bullets and tear gas
- A team of activists are preventing access to the site, having attached themselves to a body lock-on outside the building doors. The headquarters have also been coated in symbolic red paint, in reference to the bloodshed that comes with Elbit’s business.
- As violence in Palestine mounts, activists have again taken the fight to Elbit Systems, seeking to put a stop to the killing at its roots – the company supplies the Israeli occupation military with a staggering 85% of its drone fleet, including the Hermes 450/900 drones
Today’s action has taken place at 77 Kingsway, host to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company. The company’s London headquarters were again targetted by Palestine Action activists, in the ongoing campaign to Shut Elbit Down. Four activists, two of whom are Palestinians, have pulled the shutters on Elbit for the day after they secured themselves to the site entrance using a body lock-on, preventing worker-access. Marking the human cost of Elbit’s business, activists also doused the building in red paint, representing the blood of the Palestinians and other peoples killed by Elbit weaponry. The headquarters plays an important role in facilitating Elbit’s operations in Britain, and have been hit with direct action for the sixth time in two months.
Elbit’s British operations take place across 3 RAF Sites, 4 factories and 2 headquarters, amounting to 9 sites. The company, notorious for its production of arms destined for Israel, also holds extensive contracts with the British military. Just this month it was revealed that Elbit have been contracted by the Royal Navy to aid in providing training technologies for the Dreadnought nuclear submarine program. It’s plain to see that Elbit hold a firm stake in the business of warfare whether in Britain or in Palestine, Elbit describing its weapons as ‘battle tested’ on Palestinians.
In January, Palestine Action successfully shut down an Elbit factory in Oldham, Manchester. The success of the campaign has seemingly sparked a wave of repression inflicted on the group’s activists, with numerous examples of violent responses from Elbit security, and most notably the case of the 9 activists who, after occupying the company’s state of the art Bristol headquarters several weeks ago, were placed on remand and jailed.
Two activists – Stavit Sinai and Ronnie Barkan (both foreign nationals) are still being held and await trial on June 15. A campaign for their release is ongoing. One of the duo, commenting on their imprisonment, stated: “The body might be incarcerated, but the soul is ever free”. Palestine Action have commended the ‘unbreakable spirit’ of the two political prisoners, whilst condemning the frantic repression the campaign has faced in recent months.
A Palestine Action spokesperson said the following:
“The century plus campaign of terror and settler-colonialism inflicted on Palestinians is today enabled by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company. For Palestine, the ongoing occupation is tantamount to a constant, bloody war. Drones crawl the skies, clouds of tear gas rain down, sprays of bullets are fired – ceaseless colonial violence backed by Elbit. We’ve struck at Elbit’s London headquarters yet again, because whilst the British-backed military occupation continues, so do we. No more hollow promises for Palestine, only this promise for Elbit: Our activists and supporters will work day and night until we’ve shut you down for good.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Photos are free to use, with credit to Guy Smallman
If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please conact info@palestineaction.org
Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against Elbit Systems’ UK locations at grassroots level, calling for them all to be shut down and for the British government to end its complicity in Israeli apartheid.
For previous actions please see: https://www.palestineaction.org/news/
ELBIT SYTEMS
Elbit Systems awarded £160 million training contract for dreadnought submarines: https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/elbit-systems-wins-training-contract-for-dreadnought-submarines
Company profile on Elbit Systems: https://whoprofits.org/company/elbit-systems/
Bombardment of Gaza: Israel strikes Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket as tensions soar in Jerusalem – CBS News
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 the death and destruction inflicted by Elbit’s drones upon Gaza: https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/