[News] Palestine Action strike Israeli weapons trade facilitators

Wed Jan 17 17:18:36 EST 2024

freedomnews.org.uk 
<https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/01/17/palestine-action-strike-israeli-weapons-trade-facilitators/#> 

  Palestine Action strike Israeli weapons trade facilitators

January 17, 2024
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Palestine Action struck Mileway, the landlords of Elbit Systems’s UAV 
Engines Ltd (UEL) factory, with two actions at separate locations in 
London and Glasgow. Actionists smashed glass, sprayed paint and left 
messages such as ‘Evict Elbit’ and ‘Free Gaza’ on the company offices.

Mileway, part of the asset management company Blackstone, advertises 
itself <https://mileway.com/local_markets/uk-mileway/> as ‘the largest 
last mile real estate company in the UK’. In 2021, it reported 
<https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/aBpcU2y8H9_mVB6pxNQHTN9o2cZQ6Xfsb_X_PfbN9-I/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3BEKS7SHE%2F20240116%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240116T144327Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEPn%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIQCUIon6k3Doy%2Fg0xAUZxYo9uPc7UVq%2BfYkZfKL0AKuexwIgZYhfzU%2BAHZUOFzuwqIC9douskk4prhFHK98hZ1U0%2FtQqxAUIov%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAEGgw0NDkyMjkwMzI4MjIiDFkHnwvEtAMk2JIq6SqYBTeQWtX0qJUhZbiZ%2F6RVZU%2BtF%2FFLBbUj5jBmriNxFNFTqncvsbmtAs6gKSkW4xAa0q6rcehyzEkLEVubHuOGJBtdd56lBUVgZGZz%2FRkwVVatY0DFnHTBA7tuwtSROEqSYgFGNIcXbqpRrFVpkzL%2FMvINiRNLlhUpgaYoP%2FmYfjacc52FDnmiGtb1Zbag2HLTKg3o88Y3aSugMFrpcRYy2oIVRaMataK7SCi5qkcEJAuAV9CjPYw%2Bo3bow85m2Zv4Vp73%2F%2BgiGTy233bzjppfbvfe%2BKZ7X1FguFflhwaJcs1zaTXjtAvtXf4n6TYDXmLfVjpYCWr1DoUaU02UwFpMgmL56vTjROqfImlKrbTyvmxD72QcLqXhHbo4CJ%2F3HBPKHVS0nqiELX5xzU9KrA2Ny%2Bfbiuv2o09GY57ff5JJANaSNuraQ%2BdBeXuwhFzu48bp%2Bzn1K%2FbJ5DeqRpvnWPgI45BR5ryhFddUx4uo9q1QR98reqzPGXVSpubzsPDrq2aZh%2B%2FOSLVt0bx9fD8uE8DIz%2F3AeKjUFc8%2BK5r1Nudaq%2FP0UQAlAS2VwWGtuoS5%2BRKYUBuqmLOGWKWwIraE%2FhvGPznhyFBntZOA3MLLALiW8th05aDQO19GmL%2BLYYGTGc9qc656gTuHii9hq5%2BWEBsr7qGTN4in1vLLJ%2B%2FmmnHfb%2F6b06v5kthOkKl6yWJvbr5meZPcopFrXcbZasL%2B57Ljesaky6PPxGQ1QS91JhozZN7RubYIg8tLOOUACis0zzb7gjXlskFIFPlGmwsGCVNMib8v2e%2BtEcrjZ8r4n6OTl9oEIWfwwYTGXXek%2BnXP4XiWP7cSX7BDl4pEKKzz1nNZXJlB%2FcAP8obhAj583zO%2FqN4ogKObATq44Gcw0YeZrQY6sQEcMHKX9wBQo0e1%2BS9iTFMkIZJGs8NJ6FJIQOE4x1l8LZnXaeCo3JWF4uu1BfNEpZaxZnabocIN3DkFr35KKykn7NEC7PGRWgFxEbwugtALcfDQRU%2FrCBJoPfBQgfgb6B3vdX2K8P9bCOVhXp7BUpYuruu1rtZSDwGyt%2BdIznOG0DiI6F7oIEIwH3bhadQI7lUqCRD8vJaUCN1RzHcFXL64FbS1lkivFysPl41jKPvChpA%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%22companies_house_document.pdf%22&X-Amz-Signature=17e663c61eaf5592af9b29341c1ac1a1287a143b1f4e62d7d66729033e3be10f> a 
total equity of £2.9 million.

UEL designs and makes drone engines, describing its products 
<https://uavenginesltd.co.uk/products/> as “engines for various size 
tactical UAVs, target drones and single mission platforms.” The factory 
is a crucial subsidiary of Elbit because it produces 
<https://armadainternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/1.3UAV-poster-2016.pdf> 
the engine 
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/09/armstrade-gaza> for 
the Hermes 450 drone. Whilst once a surveillance drone which provided 
the Israeli military with targeting information, the Hermes 450 has 
since been equipped to carry missiles. It is said to be the ‘backbone’ 
of Israel’s spying and targeting missions. Long a part of the zionist 
entity’s arsenal, the Hermes 450 is still in use 
<https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-779130> in Gaza 
today, a vital part of reinforcing Israel’s aim to commit genocide with 
impunity.

“The Israeli weapons industry, which is responsible for the massacre of 
over 30,000 Palestinians, the destruction of 70% of Gaza and 
displacement of more than 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, is 
maintained by these same financial institutions which operate across 
Britain. These actions have struck at the heart of this blood-soaked 
industry, participants who gladly make millions through their 
investments in and loans for Israel’s deadly arms trade.”

/~ Palestine Action spokesperson/

201 Bishopsgate action, City of London 15/01/24

In the past, Mileway had contracted fellow real estate company Fisher 
German to act on their behalf as property managers for UEL. Palestine 
Action maintained a direct action campaign against Fisher German until 
they dropped out 
<https://www.palestineaction.org/fisher-german-victory/> of managing the 
lease at the end of last year, as they revealed to Palestine Action.

These are not the only actions undertaken in solidarity with Palestine. 
Yesterday, several Barclays sites across Britain were targeted with 
protests & actions. This is due to Barclays’ investments 
<https://waronwant.org/news-analysis/barclays-bankrolling-genocide-apartheid> of 
over £ 1 billion and £ 4 billion in loans for arms companies supplying 
Israel, which includes Elbit. Red spray paint covered the Manchester 
site, and the front doors were glued shut in Birmingham.

Manchester activists, including Youth Front for Palestine, stormed BNY 
Mellon and occupied the lobby of their building, telling those present 
and the world that BNY Mellon had invested 
<https://itsgoingdown.org/global-day-of-action-against-elbit-systems-a-report-back-on-houston-actionists-blockade-of-bny-mellon/> $13 
million in Elbit. Alongside this, Palestine Action sprayed the London 
office of Scotia Bank, symbolising the Palestinian blood which the 
Canadian Bank profits from due to its investments of $ 500 million in 
Elbit Systems. This move has globalised the campaign against the Bank, 
which was already a prominent target for activists across Canada, as it 
is the largest foreign shareholder 
<https://actions.eko.org/a/scotiabank-needs-to-divest-from-a-corporation-implicated-in-war-crimes-now> in 
the Israeli weapons maker.

The group has pledged that ‘business-as-usual’ will continue to be 
disrupted until those targeted end their ties to the brutal colonisation 
of Palestine. A list of companies and institutions, including those in 
the finance industry, which are tied to the Israeli weapons trade, are 
listed on elbitsites.uk <http://elbitsites.uk/> – while a guide for 
those seeking to take anonymous direct action can also be found on the 
Palestine Action website 
<https://www.palestineaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Pal_Manual_2.pdf>. 

_____________________________________________
freedomnews.org.uk 
<https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/01/17/palestine-action-smash-elbits-cargo-contractors/> 

  Palestine Action smash Elbit's cargo contractors - Freedom News

January 17, 2024
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overnight actions by Palestine Action have targeted the logistics 
companies servicing the operations of Israel’s arms trade in Britain, 
disrupting their operations and exposing their role in arming the 
ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

“/In the past 100 days, over 25,000 Palestinians were killed, and for 
the last 75 years, they’ve remained under an apartheid regime enabled by 
the British government. Whilst our pleas for sanctions on apartheid 
Israel are ignored, it’s up to ordinary people to take direct action and 
end the complicity in genocide./

/Companies assisting in the delivery and shipment of Israeli weaponry 
and essential equipment for Elbit facilitate and profit from the 
genocide of the Palestinian people. Thus, Palestine Action remains 
determined to target all those who remain associated with Elbit.”/

Palestine Action targeted logistics companies belonging to Kuehne+Nagel 
(K+N) and Palletline as part of a widespread direct action campaign 
against Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, and the 
companies which facilitate their weapons manufacturing in Britain and 
their arms exports to Israel 
<https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/overview?company=Elbit+Systems>.

K+N’s Milton Keynes branch and their subsidiary in London, Nacaro Cargo 
Insurance, were targeted overnight. At the company’s Milton Keynes 
industrial site, which specialises in road transportation, activists 
sprayed the entire front of the building with blood-red paint and 
shattered windows. Others took similar action against Nacora in London, 
leaving the office drenched in paint.

Action Kuehne+Nagel, Milton Keynes 17/01/24

In Scotland, activists from Palestine Action struck Palletline’s Glasgow 
site, breaking their windows and spray painting messages such as “Drop 
Elbit” and “Free Palestine”. Palletline frequently transports items in 
and out of Elbit’s drone factory, U-TacS, In Leicester.

K+N provide transportation and logistics services for Elbit’s UAV 
Tactical Systems (U-TacS) factory in Leicester, facilitating the 
manufacture and delivery of Israeli drone technologies. Along with 
partnerships held with Elbit, the company supplying 85% 
<http://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/> of Israel’s 
drones and land-based military equipment, K+N played a historical role 
in trafficking weapons to Apartheid South Africa, bolstering the regime 
in the 1980s 
<http://www.aamarchives.org/archive/history/1980s/arm28-how-britain-arms-apartheid.html>. 
According to the Anti-Apartheid Movement, these shipments were even sent 
to South Africa /via/ Israel.

They are one 
<http://www.crowncommercial.gov.uk/agreements/RM6171:5/lot-suppliers> of 
only six companies licensed for the secure collection, delivery, and 
disposal of firearms and weapons in Britain and have expansive aerospace 
operations 
<http://home.kuehne-nagel.com/documents/20124/72169/aerospace-white-paper-december-2022.pdf/>. 
They are currently involved in a 13 year logistics improvements 
programme 
<http://ttps//www.gov.uk/government/news/mod-announces-contract-to-run-military-logistics> with 
the MOD and have partnerships and contracts with arms manufacturers, 
including Leonardo 
<http://www.reuters.com/article/brief-kuehne-und-nagel-international-sig-idUKFWN1I60WG> and 
Thales 
<http://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/aerospace/press-release/simmad-assigns-supply-chain-market-aeronautical-consumables-thales>, 
both of whom Palestine Action has shut 
<http://www.scotsman.com/news/people/three-arrested-after-palestine-action-scotland-target-edinburgh-factory-of-leonardo-uk-3992862> 
down 
<https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/07/11/palestine-action-scale-up-occupy-and-dismantle-thales-weapons-factory-in-glasgow/> previously 
in its determined disruption of British supplies to Israel.

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