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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220926-palestine-action-charges-dropped-again/">middleeastmonitor.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestine Action charges dropped again</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">September 26, 2022</div>
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<img src="cid:ii_l8izfluf0" alt="image.png" width="454" height="302"><br><p>Charges have been dropped against five Palestine Action activists
concerning alleged criminal damage and aggregated trespass for causing
the shut-down of the Shenstone factory of Israel's largest arms company.
The activists had been due in court last week for a plea hearing for
protesting against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in Shenstone
in July, but they have been allowed to walk free. The charges were
dropped due to an "unrealistic chance of conviction," said Palestine
Action.</p>
<p>The Elbit factory in question makes engines for UAVs — drones — which
are used against Palestinian civilians. The five had been charged with
criminal damage and aggravated trespass on 22 August, following their
arrest in July when they locked themselves to the gates of the factory
which was shut down as a result. Red paint used by the group to
symbolise the blood of Palestinians killed and wounded by Elbit drones
was sprayed over the factory premises and gates, and inside the gate
security office.</p>
<p>This is not the first time that an "unrealistic chance of conviction"
has led to charges being dropped against Palestine Action activists.
Four walked free in February after shutting down Elbit's Shenstone
factory. The charges were dropped after three activists were acquitted
at Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211211-palestine-action-acquitted-in-first-trial-hope-for-anti-drone-protest-strategy/">in December 2021</a> for locking themselves to the gates and throwing paint at the same factory in January of the same year.</p>
<p>Elbit is said to supply over 85 per cent of Israel's drone fleet. It
uses the Shenstone site for the manufacture of drone engines and parts,
including the Watchkeeper drone sold to the British government for use
in foreign military interventions. Palestine Action says that the drones
are also used for surveillance and repression of migrants and others by
the UK's Border Force and police agencies.</p>
<p>"Even though they were discourteous enough to drop the charges
'after' I booked my train tickets," said an activist called Randeep,
"this further confirms what we already knew: we are not the criminals,
and frustrating Israel's colonisation of Palestine is not only a moral
duty but a legally sound one."</p>
<p>The group's statement confirmed that, to date, no Palestine Action
activist has been convicted for shutting down an Elbit Systems site; all
have been either acquitted, seen their charges dropped or had their
cases thrown out by judges. While the Crown Prosecution Service, police
and Elbit's lawyers have been working to get activists imprisoned, and
thus silence those standing up to the company whose products are used in
contempt of international law, both Palestine Action and the courts
have demonstrated that the "crimes" of the activists pale in comparison
with the war crimes committed by Israel using Elbit's drones.</p>
<p>Another Palestine activist is due to appear at Manchester Magistrates
Court today, 26 September, charged with "highway obstruction".</p>
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