PRESS RELEASE
20/04/22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- Activists from XR Youth, taking action under the Palestine Action banner, have shut down the London headquarters of Israel’s largest arms firm: Elbit Systems
- The activists have used fire extinguishers to spray the premises in blood-red paint, and are locked-on to the entrance, preventing access or operations at the building
- Action taken in solidarity with the victims of Israeli brutality in Occupied Palestine, with the past week having seen Elbit products used against worshippers and civilians
Today, several members of XR Youth collaborating with Palestine Action, shut down the London headquarters of Elbit Systems, at 77 Kingsway, Holborn. Activists have sprayed the site in blood-red paint, symbolising the bloodshed facilitated with Elbit-manufactured weaponry, and have locked-on to the entrance of the building, forcing its closure for the day. This action has been taken to show solidarity with the people of Palestine, who during Ramadan and Passover, have been crushed by renewed onslaughts of violence by Israel — violence which has escalated even since last May’s attacks on the Al-Aqsa mosque and other sites of Palestinian cultural importance and public life.
This past Saturday and Sunday, heavily armed Israeli police officers began a brutal attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque, breaking windows, throwing grenades, and deploying tear gas, which were used on peaceful worshipers who had come to the mosque to mark the holy month of Ramadan. Video of officers beating children and targeting families have been widely circulated on social media. It is also alleged that officers locked worshipers inside the mosque. Meanwhile, within the last 24 hours, Israel has been bombarding the Gaza strip and its captive population of Palestinian civilians.
The people of the UK, and notably its young people, are therefore taking action to hit the Israeli arms industry and its flagship company Elbit Systems where it hurts. Elbit Systems, Palestine Action’s primary target, are a weapons manufacturer with 9 sites in the UK. Their products are instrumental to the escalation and growing fatalities of a number of international conflicts. Crucially, they have been incredibly successful by marketing their weapons products as “battle-tested”. In their marketing, they omit the fact that their weapons are “tested” on Palestininan civilians before ever being sold commercially — civilians who are used as cannon-fodder so that Elbit can corner the market. Through its subsidiary IMI Systems, Elbit manufacture the vast majority of small arms and munitions, including baton rounds, used by Israeli forces in attacks such as those seen this week. The Israeli-owned firm also supply the Israeli military with 85% of its drones, including the Hermes, directly facilitating the constant bombardment of Palestinians.
This is just the latest in a sweep of actions undertaken by Palestine Actionists. Just 5 days ago, the group shut down Leicester’s UAV Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of Elbit’s, where actionists have confirmed sightings of Hermes drones in stages of manufacture. Palestine Action believes that Elbit has no right to manufacture its weapons of mass murder in the UK, nor the right to sell them in the wider world. Palestine Action’s mandate — and that of the young people who have acted today — is to keep resisting and taking direct action until Elbit Systems has been shut down.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Please Credit Attached Photos to Calum Ford (Free to use)
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 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.
ELBIT SYSTEMS/SOURCES
Detail on Al-Aqsa mosque attacks: Israel storms Al-Aqsa, beats Palestinian worshipers to make way for Jewish settlers – Mondoweiss
Bombardment of Gaza: Israel strikes Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket as tensions soar in Jerusalem – CBS News
Company profile on Elbit Systems, including quote by Israeli military general: https://whoprofits.org/company/elbit-systems/
More on the death and destruction inflicted by Elbit’s drones upon Gaza: https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/
Elbit surveillance technology for Israel’s apartheid wall: https://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/elbit-systems-surveillance-system-torch-for-the-separation-barrier-in-israelpalestine/