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The offices of property firm ‘LondonMetric’ have been shut down by Palestine Action, with activists targeting the firm for their complicity in Israel’s arms manufacturing in Britain. The company owns the land and building of Elbit Systems’ UAV Tactical Systems drone factory in Leicester, from which military technologies are produced for the Israeli weapons market. As a result of their criminal association with Elbit, LondonMetric’s offices have been disrupted by activists: using a lock-on device on their arms to prevent entry to the building at 1 Curzon Street, W1J 5HD, and dousing the building in red paint to mark it with a symbol of the Palestinian blood which soaks LondonMetric’s profits.
By hosting Israel’s largest weapons company at the Meridian Business Park, Leicester, LondonMetric have established that they are content to collect a rent paid for through the manufacture of Israel’s military drones. The site makes millions annually through its sale of drones and/or drone components for Israel. The Hermes range of drones, in particular, parts for which the Leicester site is known to manufacture, are central for Israel’s aerial surveillance and bombardments of Gaza – the likes of which have claimed the lives of over 15,000 Palestinians over the past 8 weeks.
Today’s office closure comes just a week after Palestine Action took similar action against LondonMetric’s Birmingham offices. It is also not the activist group’s first visit to 1 Curzon Street, having two years ago drenched it red in opposition to the tenancy of Jones Lang LaSalle, a property firm that had previously leased Elbit their London headquarters. Regular action against Elbit’s 77 Kingsway offices, against JLL, and against their subsidiary LaSalle Investment Management, eventually led to Elbit’s vacating the premises and JLL ending their relationship to the weapons firm.
This strategy sees the group attempting to make Elbit’s position in this country increasingly unstable, jeopardising its ability to form and maintain commercial links to the industries they rely on for their manufacture of weapons for Israel. Last week, it was confirmed that regular action against recruiters IO Associates has led to their cutting of ties with Elbit, and Palestine Action have stated that action will continue against all firms facilitating Israel’s criminal operations in Britain.
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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.