Palestine Action have shut down arms manufacturer Elbit System’s Bristol HQ for two days running – along with damaging the factory of one of its suppliers in the process. Once again, the group has shown direct action can actually make an impact; here, disrupting the supply of arms to Israel amid its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Action: shutting Elbit for two days
From 6.30am on Tuesday 16 July, three activists from Palestine Action locked themselves to a vehicle blocking the only access point to the UK headquarters of Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems. Police have arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area:
As of 12pm on 16 July, the cops were still scrabbling around trying to stop Palestine Action:
Police operation to stop Palestine Action blocking Israel’s biggest weapons firm.
Haven’t they realised we won’t stop until Elbit does? pic.twitter.com/IMBzi3DZd8
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) July 16, 2024
Yesterday, another three activists similarly blocked the entrance, forcing the site to close:
So, for the second day in a row, Palestine Action have shut down Elbit’s Bristol HQ at Aztec West 600, Bristol:
They also broke inside Hydrafeed’s central premises in Milton Keynes, damaging the company who provide machinery for Elbit’s Instro Precision factory in Sandwich, Kent:
BREAKING: Actionists climb down a rope ladder from Hydrafeed’s factory roof, to break inside the supplier of machinery for Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems.
The contents inside was dismantled before they all left without detection👇 pic.twitter.com/6yuNGxYtZB
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) July 15, 2024
Supplying Israel’s war machine
Hydrafeed’s machinery is used to produce arms by Elbit’s Instro Precision factory which have had over 80 separate licenses to export weapons to Israel since 2016.
Hydrafeed’s involvement in the production of Israeli arms was confirmed during a break in of the Instro factory by Palestine Action last month. By dismantling the inside of the machinery maker’s central premises, activists have prevented the company’s ability to provide Elbit Systems with “a rapid response for breakdowns, repairs, spares and replacement parts”.
They have also disrupt the supply of machines to be used for arming the Gaza genocide.
Meanwhile, according to Elbit’s CEO Bezhalel Machlis, Elbit Systems weaponry is “currently being used extensively by the Israeli military”. The Israeli weapons maker produces 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, ammunition, missiles, digital warfare and training simulators.
During the onslaught of Gaza which the ICJ has ruled is a plausible genocide, Elbit have “ramped up production” to meet the increased demand of the Israeli military for munitions.
Elbit Systems are the majority provider of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bullets, bombs, missiles and digital warfare.
Palestine Action ‘will not stop’
Over the weekend more than a hundred Palestinians were massacred by the Israeli military. On Saturday, Al-Mawasi refugee camp which was an Israeli designated safe zone was targeted by Israeli air strikes killing over 90 Palestinians. The next day Israeli missiles struck a UN school sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, killing 16 of them and injuring many more.
The Bristol HQ which activists have once again shut down is owned by Somerset Council.
In April 2024, a motion was passed by councillors calling for Somerset Council to explore all legal routes to evict Elbit before disposing of the Bristol premises. The council also received legal advice from Palestine Action’s lawyers, Public Interest Law Centre, setting out a clear route to remove Elbit as a tenant[6]. Despite this, the council continue to fail their legal and moral obligations to evict Elbit.
A Palestine Action spokesperson said:
Under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention, parties are obliged to prevent the commission of genocide and punish those responsible. When our government remains complicit in genocide and allows Israel’s Elbit Systems to operate in this country, it’s the responsibility of ordinary people to take direct action.
Anyone who remains a partner of the Israeli weapons maker has done a serious moral and financial miscalculation as Palestine Action will break every link of Elbit’s supply chain, which involves targeting Elbit’s suppliers and of course, shutting Elbit down. We will not allow any institution to continue facilitating the bloody massacres of the Palestinian people.
We will not stop until Elbit is shut down.
Featured image and additional images and video via Martin Pope Photography
