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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.palestineaction.org/ads-group/?link_id=1&can_id=a577c7e36f3ba8229d2b8249813f271f&source=email-palestine-action-shut-down-ads-group-agents-of-global-murder-industry&email_referrer=email_1860604&email_subject=palestine-action-shut-down-ads-group-agents-of-global-murder-industry">palestineaction.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestine Action shut down ADS Group: agents for the global murder industry</h1>March 28, 2023</div>
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<img src="cid:ii_lfsdd4hi0" alt="image.png" width="452" height="301"><br><p><em>Images and videos available for free with relevant credit at <a href="http://bit.ly/ADSgroupaction">bit.ly/ADSgroupaction</a></em></p>
<p>Palestine Action have shut down the premises and operations of ADS
Group, representatives and advocates of the world’s largest arms
dealers. ADS’ business is the promotion of companies such as Elbit
Systems within government and at arms fairs. Acting to facilitate the
business of Israel’s largest weapons company – and promoting them with
lobbying – ADS Group are deeply complicit in the crimes committed by
Elbit weapons.</p>
<p>At their offices on Salamanca Pl., SE1, London, ADS Group have
been locked-off, with activists positioned on scaffolding to increase
the disruption of the weapons trade. Premises have been sprayed red by
paint from a repurposed fire extinguisher, to represent the
business-of-bloodshed that ADS Group conducts. A banner is displayed
making the aim of the action clear: Shut Elbit Down. The central London
offices, in the vicinity of the Ministry of Defence and Houses of
Parliament, have since been put under a police cordon.</p>
<p>Elbit Systems are an advertised member of ADS Group [<a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/elbit-systems-uk-ltd/">1</a>],
with ADS having hosted senior executives of Elbit in prior events. The
Group offer arms companies exclusive access to arms fairs to gain
market and stakeholder access – for the purposes of weapons sales –
along with business and network support and government lobbying and
access to politicians [<a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/membership/ads-member-services/">2</a>]. Their events have been attended by scores of MPs [<a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2020/02/10/the-london-dinner-oiling-the-wheels-of-the-global-arms-trade/">3</a>], with ADS themselves undertaking lobbying and influencing on behalf of their weapons trade members.</p>
<p>The ‘government access’ offered includes not only the Ministry of
Defence but also Home Office, Business Energy and Industry Strategy and
other departments of state [<a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/about/who-we-work-with/">4</a>].
In Parliament and in political circles, ADS work to represent
profiteers of death: not only Elbit Systems, but also Raytheon, Thales,
MBDA, Airbus, BAE Systems, Babcock, and Lockheed Martin [<a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/b/">5</a>].</p>
<p>These companies fuel oppression and international aggression: all of
the major firms arming Saudi Arabia, including products directly used in
air strikes on Yemen, are members benefiting from ADS lobbying [<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-firms-linked-alleged-war-crimes-tout-weapons-uae">6</a>].
At their events, including the Farnborough Air Show – an international
aerospace arms fair – ADS have exhibited the aircraft and missiles used
to assault Yemen. Farnborough itself has been described as the “oil in
the machinery” of the global arms trade [<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/farnborough-airshow-oil-drives-global-arms-trade-say-campaigners-1572943760">7</a>].</p>
<p>By representing and lobbying on behalf of Elbit Systems, Israel’s
biggest weapons firm, ADS Group are complicit in the crimes committed at
the hands of Elbit weaponry – from Palestine, to Kashmir, to the US
Border [<a href="https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/">8</a>].
Elbit supplies 85% of Israel’s drones and land-based equipment, and ADS
serve to increase their reach and secure government contracts within
this country. ADS’ website can be seen in 2019 advertising the £123m
Royal Navy contract [<a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/news/member-news/elbit-systems-uk-awarded-pound-123m-royal-navy-training-contract/">9</a>] that Elbit were later ejected from, following Palestine Action’s two year direct action campaign [<a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221201-after-340m-in-lost-contract-this-could-be-the-end-of-israel-arms-manufacturer-in-uk/">10</a>].</p>
<p>The action has taken place ahead of Palestine Action’s siege against
Leicester’s Israeli weapons factory, a mass action from May 1st, where
thousands will join an open action against Elbit’s UAV Tactical Systems,
staying put through day and night, not leaving the site until Elbit
does. The siege has been named such to parallel the decades-long siege
against Gaza – a siege maintained with Elbit technologies.</p>
<p>Palestine Action have stated the following:</p>
<p>“We have already shown that we will disrupt Elbit at their factories,
at their fancy dinners, at their arms fairs, and through the companies
that facilitate their business-of-bloodshed. ADS Group have blood on
their hands – the blood of Palestinians, Yemenis, and the millions of
dead who would still be alive if not for their members’ abhorrent
weapons trade. The days that arms companies and their running dogs can
operate freely in this country are numbered, and Palestine Action will
continue this disruption until Elbit cease to exist”</p>
<p><strong>ENDS<br>NOTES TO EDITORS</strong></p>
<p>If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact <a href="mailto:info@palestineaction.org" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">info@palestineaction.org</a></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The ‘siege’ against UAV Tactical Systems: <a href="https://www.palestineaction.org/">https://www.palestineaction.org/siege</a></p>
<p>[1] <a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/elbit-systems-uk-ltd/">https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/elbit-systems-uk-ltd/</a><br>[2] <a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/membership/ads-member-services/">https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/membership/ads-member-services/</a><br>[3] <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2020/02/10/the-london-dinner-oiling-the-wheels-of-the-global-arms-trade/">https://bylinetimes.com/2020/02/10/the-london-dinner-oiling-the-wheels-of-the-global-arms-trade/</a><br>[4] <a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/about/who-we-work-with/">https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/about/who-we-work-with/</a><br>[5] <a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/b/">https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/members/b</a><br>[6] <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-firms-linked-alleged-war-crimes-tout-weapons-uae">https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-firms-linked-alleged-war-crimes-tout-weapons-uae</a><br>[7] <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/farnborough-airshow-oil-drives-global-arms-trade-say-campaigners-1572943760">https://www.middleeasteye.net/fr/news/farnborough-airshow-oil-drives-global-arms-trade-say-campaigners-1572943760</a><br>[8] <a href="https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/">https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/</a><br>[9] <a href="https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/news/member-news/elbit-systems-uk-awarded-pound-123m-royal-navy-training-contract/">https://www.adsgroup.org.uk/news/member-news/elbit-systems-uk-awarded-pound-123m-royal-navy-training-contract/</a><br>[10] <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221201-after-340m-in-lost-contract-this-could-be-the-end-of-israel-arms-manufacturer-in-uk/">https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221201-after-340m-in-lost-contract-this-could-be-the-end-of-israel-arms-manufacturer-in-uk/</a></p>
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