[News] Elbit Cambridge to close following months of pro-Palestine protests

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/elbit-cambridge-to-close-following-months-of-pro-palestine-p>
Elbit Cambridge to close following months of pro-Palestine protests
Al Mayadeen English
August 22, 2024
------------------------------

While there are several Elbit jobs advertised on LinkedIn, there are none
available in Cambridge.
[image: 4e12a6f8-38d0-4fb2-9d68-2c73336d2bd4.png]

   - Palestine solidarity activists shut down the Elbit Systems office in
   Cambridge Massachusetts in October 2023. (X photo)

The Cambridge headquarters of KMC Systems, a subsidiary of Israeli defense
firm Elbit Systems
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-s-palestine-action-forces-closure-of-israeli-elbit-system>,
is mostly vacant with "99.9 percent" of staff working from home, according
to police.

Other signs indicate that the company is leaving the city.

For months, pro-Palestine demonstrations have targeted the building that
housed KMC. Despite workers going remote, protesters turn up every
Wednesday, Cambridge Police Superintendent of Operations Pauline Wells
told *Cambridge
Day *on Thursday.

It is worth noting that Elbit Systems is known for supplying the Israeli
occupation forces with drones, munitions, combat vehicles, missiles, and
various other types of weaponry. According to the British newspaper *Morning
Star*, "The majority of their arms are marketed as 'battle-tested
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fLbvyL9UQQ&rco=1>,' meaning they have
been deployed in bombardments against the Palestinian people."

According to BDS Boston, “We will continue organizing until Elbit Systems
leaves Cambridge
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-s-palestine-action-blocks-elbit-systems--bristol-hq>,"
warning real estate companies that Elbit is a "difficult tenant" as
disruptive protests will follow wherever the firm goes.

This Monday, some 25 to 30 people got there, yelling chants like "Elbit is
not welcome here" and "Palestine will be free." Police have stated that
their policy is to stop traffic and safeguard persons participating in
peaceful protests.

Other building tenants, including Reed Hilderbrand landscape architects,
HMFH Architects, and Workbar coworking space, have allegedly informed
demonstrators that the Cambridge Elbit facility is no longer in use and
that the firm is seeking a new location.

KMC's website currently lists employment vacancies for Merrimack, New
Hampshire. While several Elbit jobs are advertised on LinkedIn, none is
available in Cambridge.

Back in March, Palestine Action
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-s-palestine-action-blocks-elbit-systems--bristol-hq>
compelled Elbit Systems, "Israel’s" largest arms company, to permanently
close yet another weapons factory in the UK, despite facing arrests, raids,
and imprisonment
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-s-palestine-action-blocks-elbit-systems--bristol-hq>
.

The group announced that its efforts have led to the permanent closure of
Elbit Systems' Elite KL factory in Tamworth, Staffordshire, marking the
third Elbit Systems site in the UK to be forced to shutter permanently
by Palestine
Action
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/pro-palestine-protests-renewed-outside-elbit-hqs-in-bristol>
.
French insurance giant AXA cuts ties with major Israeli banks: BDS

In another win for the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ihrc-launches--boycott-genocide-supporters--campaign>
(BDS) in Europe, French insurance giant AXA has reportedly divested from
all major Israeli banks
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/french-insurance-giant-axa-cuts-ties-with-major-israeli-bank>
.

The move comes as part of ongoing efforts by BDS to pressure companies
complicit in supporting the Israeli occupation's settler-colonial regime,
as announced in a new report published on Wednesday by the corporate
accountability organization Eko.

Israeli banks are considered the backbone of the Israeli colonial project,
providing substantial direct support for the expansion and maintenance of
illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

The global campaign against AXA targeted the company's investments in these
banks and in Elbit Systems
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-s-palestine-action-forces-closure-of-israeli-elbit-system>,
a leading Israeli defense contractor implicated in various human rights
violations against Palestinians.

Under pressure from the campaign, AXA had previously partially divested
from Elbit in December 2018 and March 2019. By the end of 2022, it had also
withdrawn its investments from two Israeli banks,
<https://english.almayadeen.net/videos/protests-against-a-canadian-banks-investment-in-elbit-system>
Mizrahi-Tefahot and First International Bank of Israel.

Eko, which is part of the broad coalition pushing AXA to cease its
complicity in Israeli crimes against Palestinians, commissioned independent
research by Profundo, revealing that as of September 2023, AXA still held
over $20 million in shares in three Israeli banks: Hapoalim, Discount, and
Leumi. However, by June 24, 2024, amid escalating global pressure, AXA had
divested from these banks as well.

The report confirms that AXA has no longer invested in Mizrahi-Tefahot or
First International Bank of Israel since at least the end of 2022, and it
has now sold its remaining investments in the other Israeli banks, with
only a few shares left in Bank Leumi.
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