[News] Has Britain drafted a law to protect Israel's weapons makers?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

electronicintifada.net
<https://electronicintifada.net/content/has-britain-drafted-law-protect-israels-weapons-makers/35746>
Has Britain drafted a law to protect Israel's weapons makers?
June 24, 2022
------------------------------

Palestine Action has forced Elbit Systems to leave two of the 10 sites from
which it operates in Britain.
VX Pictures

Palestine Action has proven that the merchants of death are not invincible.

Just this week, it was confirmed
<https://www.palestineaction.org/london-hq-shut/> that Israel’s top weapons
exporter
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/has-israels-weapons-industry-really-declared-war-virus>
Elbit Systems is closing down its offices in London.

The decision follows numerous protests against Elbit and Jones Lang LaSalle
(JLL), the letting agent
<https://www.palestineaction.org/actions-against-jll/> for those offices.

It is the second time that Palestine Action, the group organizing the
protests, has compelled Elbit to quit a site in Britain – a country
identified
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/failed-british-politician-hired-leading-israel-lobbyist>
by the firm as a priority for sales and investment.

Earlier this year, Elbit confirmed
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/israels-elbit-sells-uk-arms-factory-targeted-activists>
it had sold Ferranti, its subsidiary based in Oldham, near Manchester.

Palestine Action’s protests – which often involve smashing up weapons
facilities – have angered
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/app-makes-killing-palestinians-easy-ordering-pizzas>
Israel and its supporters.

One of Israel’s most influential backers
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/how-corrupt-british-minister-priti-patel-lied-israel>
in Britain is Priti Patel, the home secretary.

She has effectively declared war on Palestinian solidarity activists by
claiming
<https://cfoi.co.uk/home-secretary-underlines-uk-governments-unflinching-support-for-the-state-of-israel-at-cfi-parliamentary-reception/>
that the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is racist – without
presenting any evidence.

Patel has proposed <https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3154> new legislation
which targets the kind of protests Palestine Action has undertaken.

The National Security Bill
<https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-03/0007/220007.pdf> –
as the legislation is called – gives the police powers to designate as
“prohibited places” areas where an “aircraft, or a part of an aircraft,
used for military purposes” or “equipment relating to such an aircraft” is
located.
Little opposition

Following the sale of its plant in Oldham and the closure of its London
offices, Elbit now operates
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/uk-admits-activists-forced-elbit-sell-factory>
out of eight sites in Britain.

Elbit-owned plants – which make <https://uavenginesltd.co.uk/products/>
engines for drones among other components – could conceivably be given a
protected status once the legislation comes into effect.

Introduced to Britain’s Parliament in May, the bill has so far encountered
little opposition.

Most elected representatives appear to either welcome how it would penalize
direct action against the arms trade or have no concern about its likely
implications.

The bill’s stated objective
<https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9559/> is to
replace “existing counter-espionage laws with a comprehensive framework for
countering hostile state activity.”

The approach being taken is so “comprehensive” that it is questionable
whether the bill is really focused on spying in the conventional sense of
that term. Many of its provisions could be used against ordinary people
seeking to disrupt the weapons business.

The bill enables life imprisonment for anyone who obtains or discloses
“protected information” and behaves in a way deemed “prejudicial to the
safety or interests of the United Kingdom.”

Elbit describes <https://www.elbitsystems-uk.com/about-us/vision-mission>
itself as an “established supplier to the UK Armed Forces” and was recently
awarded <https://www.thedefensepost.com/2022/04/01/elbit-drone-swarms-uk/>
a contract to deliver surveillance drones to the British Army.
Sabotage

A section on “sabotage” in the bill is highly relevant to Palestine Action.

“Sabotage” is defined as “conduct that results in damage to any asset,”
particularly if the purpose of that activity “is prejudicial to the safety
or interests of the United Kingdom.”

Palestine Action is openly committed
<https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/palestine-action-legalizing-smashing-israeli-arms-factories>
to damaging and destroying Elbit’s assets in Britain.

While many people have been arrested for breaking into Elbit’s plants in
Britain, nearly all have been acquitted when cases have gone to court.

The only successful prosecution was against one activist, who was convicted
<https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20029764.activist-pay-just-22-1-000-damage-brighton/>
of defacing a JLL site in the English city of Brighton.

The sentence given in that instance was a fine of less than $30 and
conditional discharge for three months.

Under a conditional discharge <https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps-page/sentencing>,
somebody convicted of an “offense” is released with the “offense”
registered on their criminal record. No further action is taken if no other
“offense” is committed within a stated period.

Elbit has displayed a reluctance to press charges against protesters – no
doubt because the company fears that evidence about the use of its weapons
in attacks on Palestinians will be produced in court.

The new bill could shield Elbit and other weapons makers from scrutiny.

For example, courts would be able to “exclude the public from proceedings”
if doing so is deemed “necessary in the interests of national security.”

A Palestine Action campaigner argued that the British government is
“running scared of the effectiveness of direct action deployed against
Elbit.”

“If this bill is custom built to increase consequences for taking action
against Elbit, as it seems to be, it clearly exposes the alliance between
Britain and Israel’s apartheid regime,” the campaigner, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, added.

“No matter what efforts they take to stop our campaign, we will not be
moved. While the government wastes time legislating against us, Palestine
Action will get on with the job of shutting down the remaining Israeli arms
factories in Britain.”

*Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist exploring the role of
intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. Twitter:
@KitKlarenberg <https://twitter.com/KitKlarenberg/>.*
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