[News] Recruiters Drop Elbit Systems After Campaign

[Anti-Imperialist News]

popularresistance.org
<https://popularresistance.org/recruiters-drop-elbit-systems-after-campaign/>
Recruiters Drop Elbit Systems After Campaign
By Palestine Action.
December 2, 2023
------------------------------
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After weeks of action, the sole recruiters for the British operations of
Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, have confirmed via email
to Palestine Action that they ended their association with Elbit on the
evening of the 29th November. For two months, activists in the Palestine
Action network had disrupted iO Associates at their premises across the
country, to impede their ability to recruit roles for Israel’s war machine.

iO Associates recruited the likes of engineers, software developers, and
finance staff for positions across the sites of the British branch
<https://elbitsites.uk/company/1> of Israel’s largest weapons company,
Elbit Systems. Elbit are the largest supplier to the occupation
military, providing
the vast majorities of its drones
<https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/>, munitions,
surveillance gear, and parts for its tanks, jets, and precision missiles.
>From Britain specifically, they manufacture parts for Israel’s killer drones
<https://waronwant.org/sites/default/files/Killer%20Drones,%20War%20on%20Want.pdf>,
along with weapons sights, tank parts, and more, exporting these
technologies to Israel in great volume yearly
<https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/licence-list?region=Israel&company=Elbit+Systems>.
This is the nature of the business that IO was Associates with, and were IO
Associates biggest client.

In response to their facilitation of Elbit’s criminal activities, iO’s
offices were stormed and occupied in Manchester on the 1st September
<https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1697999277186850945>, and again on
the 7th October <https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1710565118625419454>.
Activists painted iO offices red on October 9th in London, Reading, and
Manchester
<https://www.palestineaction.org/io-associates-nationwide-actions/>. They
were forced to vacate their Manchester offices from the 11th October
<https://www.palestineaction.org/express-building/>, after the premises
were also stormed by the Youth Front For Palestine, and then finally
targeted in Edinburgh twice, on the 11th and 17th October. After being
forced to vacate their offices, having their online presence tarnished, and
(as confirmed to us by former employees) losing their staff who resigned in
opposition to their arms trade partnership, iO Associates have finally cut
ties with Israel’s weapons trade.

This is part of an expansive strategy by Palestine Action, by disrupting
the suppliers and facilitators of Elbit’s presence in Britain. It has seen
Elbit’s accountants
<https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1660254509887811587> (Edwards), haulage
providers <https://www.palestineaction.org/arms-traffickers/> (Kuehne +
Nagel), landlords (JLL
<https://www.palestineaction.org/actions-against-jll/>) and many other
complicit companies targeted, alongside the hundreds of actions at Elbit
sites themselves, continuing to resist the presence of Elbit warmongers in
Britain, and constantly reminding those associated with them that they have
blood on their hands.

As a result of iO Associates dropping Elbit Systems, the recruiters have
been removed as a target of Palestine Action’s campaign. All targets who
still facilitate Israel’s weapons trade are listed on elbitsites.uk
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