[News] Landlords for Israel's arms trade shut down, LondonMetric's Mayfair offices re-decorated

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestineaction.org <https://www.palestineaction.org/london-metric-again/>
Landlords for Israel's arms trade shut down, LondonMetric's Mayfair offices
re-decorated - Palestine ActionDecember 5, 2023
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[image: signal-2023-12-05-112625_009-1536x1026.jpeg]

*Photos and videos can be accessed here
<https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/3nmz4mk6zw6gearvfqg3m/h?rlkey=3bkk704jypqec8xaymgwazkd1&dl=0>,
free to reproduce with relevant credit*

The offices of property firm ‘LondonMetric’ have been shut down by
Palestine Action, with activists targeting the firm for their complicity in
Israel’s arms manufacturing in Britain. The company owns the land and
building of Elbit Systems’ UAV Tactical Systems drone factory in Leicester,
from which military technologies are produced for the Israeli weapons market
<https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/overview?company=Elbit+Systems>. As a
result of their criminal association with Elbit, LondonMetric’s offices
have been disrupted by activists: using a lock-on device on their arms to
prevent entry to the building at 1 Curzon Street, W1J 5HD, and dousing the
building in red paint to mark it with a symbol of the Palestinian blood
which soaks LondonMetric’s profits.

By hosting Israel’s largest weapons company at the Meridian Business Park,
Leicester, LondonMetric have established that they are content to collect a
rent paid for through the manufacture of Israel’s military drones. The site
makes millions annually through its sale of drones and/or drone components
for Israel
<https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230726-uk-elbit-factory-protest-enters-87th-day/>.
The *Hermes* range of drones
<https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/>, in
particular, parts for which the Leicester site is known to manufacture, are
central for Israel’s aerial surveillance and bombardments of Gaza – the
likes of which have claimed the lives of over 15,000 Palestinians over the
past 8 weeks.

Today’s office closure comes just a week after Palestine Action took similar
action against LondonMetric’s Birmingham offices
<https://freedomnews.org.uk/2023/11/27/elbits-drone-factory-landlords-targeted/>.
It
is also not the activist group’s first visit to 1 Curzon Street, having two
years ago <https://www.palestineaction.org/actions-against-jll/> drenched
it red in opposition to the tenancy of Jones Lang LaSalle, a property firm
that had previously leased Elbit their London headquarters. Regular action
against Elbit’s 77 Kingsway offices, against JLL, and against their
subsidiary LaSalle Investment Management, eventually led to Elbit’s
vacating the premises <https://www.palestineaction.org/london-hq-shut/> and
JLL ending their relationship to the weapons firm.

This strategy sees the group attempting to make Elbit’s position in this
country increasingly unstable, jeopardising its ability to form and
maintain commercial links to the industries they rely on for their
manufacture of weapons for Israel. Last week, it was confirmed that
<https://www.palestineaction.org/recruiters-drop-elbit/> regular action
against recruiters IO Associates has led to their cutting of ties with
Elbit, and Palestine Action have stated that action will continue against
all firms facilitating Israel’s criminal operations in Britain.

*ENDS*
*NOTES TO EDITORS*

If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please
contact info at 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, calling for all such
sites to be shut down.
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