[News] Israel's Elbit sells UK arms factory targeted by Palestine activists

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israels-elbit-sells-uk-arms-factory-targeted-activists>
Israel's
Elbit sells UK arms factory targeted by activists
January 10, 2022
------------------------------
[image: A man in handcuffs being removed by fire fighters gives the victory
sign]

Activists repeatedly targeted the Oldham branch of Elbit Systems with
direct action.
Palestine Action

Members of the group Palestine Action
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/palestine-action> celebrated victory
on Monday as Israeli arms giant Elbit Systems
<https://electronicintifada.net/tags/elbit> sold off one of its UK
factories.

The group has carried out a sustained direct action campaign at the site
since August 2020.

Activists have protested, occupied, blockaded and generally disrupted
business as usual, the group explains
<https://www.palestineaction.org/victory-in-oldham/>.

“This news vindicates our long-term strategy,” Palestine Action said on
Monday.

“Direct action works - the brave individuals who occupied the factory over
the past year can proudly say that drone technologies are no longer in
production in Oldham.”

Activists regularly smashed windows at Elbit’s Ferranti facility in Oldham.
They have even broken into the premises and caused damage inside. The site
has been forced to close for days at a time and Palestine Action claims it
has caused “millions in damages.”

The group says 36 of its activists have been arrested at the site since
last year. But to date none has been successfully prosecuted.

The Ferranti components
<https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2022/01/10/tt-electronics-buys-ferranti-arm-for-9m/>
factory in Oldham, near Manchester in the north of England, was one of 10
sites <https://www.palestineaction.org/stop-elbit/> Elbit owned in the UK.

Elbit announced
<https://elbitsystems.com/pr-new/elbit-systems-reorganizes-uk-activities/>
on Monday that it had sold the main part of Ferranti to TT Electronics, a
British company, for approximately $12 million in cash.

The deadly drone maker made no mention of Palestine Action’s campaign,
claiming the sale was a “reorganization” which would help “focus activities
on certain areas.”

Elbit UK claimed in a second press release
<https://www.elbitsystems-uk.com/media-events/recent-news/elbit-systems-uk-consolidates-market-position>
that the sale was merely the company “consolidating its market position.”
[image: A man with a microphone]

UK rapper Lowkey is among Palestine Action’s celebrity supporters.
Palestine Action

But Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori told The Electronic Intifada on
Monday that the sale was “an absolutely tremendous victory” which she said
“shows the power of the people when they come together.”

Ammori said that while Israel’s arms trade benefits from being partly based
in Britain, this would “also be their biggest downfall because the people
here will not stand for it.”

She said her group plans to “continue our direct action campaign, targeting
all of Elbit’s sites until they’re forced out of Britain for good.”

Elbit did not reply to emails requesting a response.

Its press releases on Monday said that the remaining parts of Ferranti not
sold to TT Electronics would be integrated into Elbit Systems UK, whose
registered office
<https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05241591>
is in Bristol, in the southwest of England.
[image: Police watch two activists occupy a rooftop]

Activists have frequently occupied Elbit rooftops in the UK.
Palestine Action

As recently as November, the Ferranti factory appeared to be facing an
abrupt shutdown and job losses.

Oldham council listed
<https://web.archive.org/web/20211124173154/https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200694/development_opportunities/1981/featured_properties>
Ferranti’s building on its website as one of “the commercial properties
currently available” in the town, touting it as “the perfect location for
businesses wanting flexible office space.”

Reached by The Electronic Intifada via phone, a council spokesperson in
November denied the business was shutting down, saying that the listing was
“an old link” from around six years ago.

Soon after the phone call, the page was deleted
<https://www.oldham.gov.uk/info/200694/development_opportunities/1981/featured_properties>
from Oldham council’s website.

Palestine Action says that the same month anonymous sources revealed to the
group “that mass redundancy notices had been issued to staff working at the
factory, and that premises were being cleared in preparation for Elbit
leaving the site.”

Last month a jury acquitted
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/not-guilty-palestine-action-acquitted-first-trial>
three Palestine Action activists of criminal damage at another Elbit site
in Shenstone near Birmingham.

The activists successfully argued that while their actions constituted
damage to the factory, it was not criminal damage.

Rather, they argued that their actions were proportionate to prevent a much
bigger crime – that of Israeli violence against Palestinians such as
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in May.

Elbit is responsible <https://www.palestineaction.org/stop-elbit/> for more
than 80 percent of Israel’s drone fleet.
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