Pictures and videos are available via this Dropbox, free to use with relevant credit
Palestine Action have this morning taken down the Bedford premises of the world’s largest weapons company, Lockheed Martin, with a double blockade which has seen both factory entrances locked off, with activists secured to vehicles to prevent removal. The two groups of activists have since been joined by a demonstration, with Bedford residents mobilising to maintain the Lockheed blockade. The action, as with all by Palestine Action, has been taken in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who have experienced almost seven straight weeks of unrelenting bombing – bombing reliant on Lockheed Martin fighter bombers.
As such, the action today has rendered the high-security premises in Ampthill inoperable, preventing its ability to manufacture weaponry for Israel. The site has been covered in red paint to symbolise the Palestinian bloodshed for which Lockheed’s operations are directly responsible. This campaign of genocide against Palestinians has now claimed the lives of 15,000 people in Gaza, along with over 200 in the West Bank. The vast majority of Palestinians slaughtered in Gaza have been murdered by airstrikes – airstrikes largely committed by Lockheed Martin’s F-16 class of fighter jets, the ‘workhorse’ of the current onslaught [1]. The cruelty of the Israeli occupation cannot be divorced from the weapons companies which enable its violence – Lockheed Martin not least of all.
Lockheed Martin provide the deadly ‘Hellfire’ used in the levelling of Gaza [2], including the new Hellfire R9X seeing their first battle deployments. The R9X’s effective targeting of the Al-Shifa hospital [3] promises to be a lucrative advertisement for Lockheed. Lockheed further boast that Israel’s F-35 jets have the “fingerprints of British ingenuity” on “dozens of the aircrafts key components” [4].
Palestine Action have stated:
By taking action to interrupt the flow of these aircraft and weapons to Israel, these activists’ intervention specifically aimed to preserve life and protect property in Gaza. Israel is not the only entity which is guilty of genocide – the arms companies which make this violence possible all have blood on their hands. Palestine Action will react where the government has failed, to prevent such abhorrent activities from taking place in Britain.
If we want no part of Israel’s murders, then we ought to shut Elbit, Lockheed, Rafael and all other complicit companies down for good.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact info@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.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/3/analysis-israels-gaza-bombing-campaign-is-proving-costly-for-israel
[2] https://investigate.afsc.org/company/lockheed-martin
[3] https://www.trtworld.com/video/digital/gaza-al-shifa-hospital-reportedly-hit-with-r9x-hellfire-missile-15767486
[4] https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/20/a-herd-of-independent-minds/