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Late afternoon, seven were arrested after they attached themselves to two vehicles and blockaded the only road into the British headquarters of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, for 9 hours. Police had to drill through concrete within the vehicles in order to remove and arrest the activists.
The action successfully grounded Elbit’s operations to a halt today, disrupting an integral part of the genocidal arms company which Palestine Action vows to see forced out of Britain.
Elbit’s Bristol premises, at 600 Aztec West, Almondsbury, is used to oversee all British operations – including their drone-parts factories in site in Staffordshire and Leicester, and their weapons sights factory in Kent, all of which have found their activities severely disrupted by Palestine Action activists [1, 2, 3]. By managing all of these operations, the factory is a key operational hub for ‘Elbit Systems UK Ltd’ and its contributions to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, not least by processing the immense volume of arms that Elbit exports to Israel from Britain [4].
From across their global presence, Elbit manufactures munitions, combat vehicles, missiles and other Israeli arms and weapons components [5], and their British sites are used particularly for drones parts – with Elbit overall providing up to 85% of Israel’s drone fleet [6].
Palestine Action have shut down the Bristol HQ numerous times, by various means including person-to-person lock-ons [7], vehicular lock-ons [8], and occupations of the factory [9]. Activists have also frequently targeted Somerset council, the landlords of Elbit’s Bristol HQ [10]. This action, as with every one undertaken by direct action network Palestine Action, has been taken to cease the operations at the premises, and to cease their contributions to Israel’s occupation and genocide in Palestine.
A spokesperson has stated:
“Elbit Systems uses Gaza as a laboratory to develop their weaponry, a business model which has no place in any society. By arming Israel and allowing Elbit to operate in this country, our political establishment have failed to abide by their legal and moral obligations to end complicity in the Gaza genocide. That’s why it’s up to ordinary people to take direct action and shut Elbit down.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact media@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 and genocide, calling for all such sites to be shut down.
[1] https://palestineaction.org/shenstone-blockaded/
[2] https://palestineaction.org/elbit-leicester-blockade/
[3] https://palestineaction.org/break-in-at-instro-and-blockade-at-scotiabank/
[4] https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/licence-list?region=Israel&company=Elbit+Systems
[5] investigate.afsc.org/company/elbit-systems
[6] www.whoprofits.org/home/search?keyword=elbit+systems
[7] https://www.palestineaction.org/blockade-elbits-bristol-hq/
[8] https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2024/05/03/palestine-action-van-elbit-bristol/
[9] https://palestineaction.org/palestine-action-shut-down-elbits-bristol-hq-and-shenstone-weapons-factory/
[10] https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/04/24/israel-lib-dem-elbit-leasehold/