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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://popularresistance.org/palestine-action-on-day-ten-of-the-siege/">popularresistance.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestine Action On Day Ten Of 'The Siege' <br></h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Palestine Action - May 11, 2023<br></div>
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<img src="cid:ii_lhkn27dg0" alt="image.png" width="392" height="261"><br><p>Above Photo: Images and videos from The Siege can be accessed via <a href="http://bit.ly/SiegeMedia" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">bit.ly/SiegeMedia</a>.</p>
<h2>Locks Down Leicester’s Israeli Weapons Factory.</h2>
<p>Yesterday the Israeli occupation bombarded densely populated areas of
Gaza, murdering 13 Palestinians including 4 children. Not willing to
tolerate British complicity in these sort of abuses, two actionists
retaliated, this morning, against the British roots of Israeli aerial
domination over Palestinians.</p>
<p>Palestine Action drove a car through the inner perimeter of
Leicester’s Israeli drone factory, UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS),
blockading the only entrance for the site. Two activists are using a
lock on device to maintain the block in place, which immediately stopped
a delivery from entering the premises. The action was completed despite
enhanced security by the company and a permanent police operation put
in place to protect the factory.</p>
<p>This comes on Day 10 of Palestine Action’s declared siege, which has
seen U-TacS operations undermined and severely disrupted. The lock-on,
the second such action in one week, has compounded the disruption for
the Leicester subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons company [1]. Last
week, four activists blockaded the factory, using lock-on devices to
connect themselves to each other – lying across the factory’s access
roads, they put their bodies on the line to keep the factory shut down [<a href="https://www.palestineaction.org/siege-lock-ons/">2</a>].</p>
<p>Today’s action, and the continued mass action in Leicester generally,
has seen hundreds turn up to mobilise against the weapons factory, with
dedicated actionists maintaining a camp outside the factory since May
1st. They have persisted despite police desperation to shut down the
siege, with police measures including the forceful removal of tents,
mass arrests and seizure of property. Since the beginning of the siege,
police have arrested over 41 people using disproportionate measures, and
yet people remain defiant, and the siege is well into its 10th day of
disruption caused to Elbit operations.</p>
<p>UAV Tactical Systems, is majority owned by Israel’s largest arms
firm, Elbit Systems. In Leicester and across Elbit’s other 7 remaining
sites in Britain, military technologies are manufactured for export
directly to Israel. The UAV Tactical Systems site regularly sends drones
and drone technologies to Israel [<a href="https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/licence-list?index=date®ion=Israel&company=Elbit+Systems" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">3</a>], where Elbit’s drone products brutally enforce the Israeli occupation of Palestine. UAV Tactical Systems’ flagship drone, the <em>Watchkeeper</em>,
has been used by the British military in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the
English Channel – but is itself modelled on the notorious and deadly <em>Hermes</em> drone, after it was ‘battle-tested’ on Palestinians [<a href="https://waronwant.org/sites/default/files/Killer%20Drones%2C%20War%20on%20Want.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">4</a>].</p>
<p>This <em>Watchkeeper</em> program, through being funded by the
British Army, effectively funnels British taxpayer money to the
development of the occupation’s military power. This is because profits
made here are sent, as dividends, to Elbit’s parent company in Israel [<a href="https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05241592/filing-history/MzM1MzE2NTg2N2FkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf&download=0">5</a>].
Even in years when a loss is declared, their financial reporting
reveals that this site sends millions to Elbit’s other arms through
purchases. Elbit supplies 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land
based weaponry [<a href="https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">6</a>]. It’s products, including the <em>Hermes</em>, have been linked to documented attrocities by the Israeli military occupation [<a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/08/11/israel-palestine-drone-strike-operation-protective-edge/?comments=1#comments" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">7</a>, <a href="https://whoprofits.org/company/elbit-systems/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">8</a>].</p>
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