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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestine Action Strike Britain's Foreign Office and Occupy Leonardo On Balfour 106</h1>November 2, 2023</div>
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<p><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/bfylpoqdmgomryrb1e6up/h?rlkey=xk7z0bhz46q8j06qp379xqwap&dl=0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Images and videos are available here</em></a> </p>
<p>Today, on the 106th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, activists
from Palestine Action targeted Britain’s foreign office and are
currently occupying the weapons firm Leonardo at their London HQ.
Leonardo’s London offices have been covered in red paint, to symbolise
the Palestinian bloodshed by their weaponry, whilst one activist remains
on top of the company’s front overhang. Elsewhere, the Foreign Office
in London was sprayed in messages including ‘Britain Guilty’ and ‘Fuck
Balfour. </p>
<p>Written in 1917 by then UK foreign secretary, Lord Arthur Balfour,
the Declaration signed away the land of Palestine to the Zionist
colonial project – a land Britain never had the right to give away [<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/11/2/more-than-a-century-on-the-balfour-declaration-explained" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">1</a>].
After the declaration, until 1948, the British burnt down indigenous
villages to prepare the way for the Nakba; with this came arbitrary
killings, arrests, torture, sexual violence including rape against women
and men, the use of human shields and the introduction of home
demolitions as collective punishment to repress Palestinian resistance [<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/britain-palestine-balfour-colonial-crimes-reparations" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">2</a>] [<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63145992" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">3</a>]. </p>
<p>The Nakba (‘Great Catastrophe’) saw British armed and trained Zionist
militia forcibly displace over 750,000 Palestinians, destroy over 500
Palestinian villages, and massacre many families. The genocide underway
right now in Gaza, which has already claimed the lives of over 8,500
Palestinians, injured tens of thousands more, while the 2.1m in Gaza are
starved, thirsted, and displaced, would not be happening if not for
Balfour and Britain’s ongoing political and military support for the
Zionist project. </p>
<p>Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, are being used in its ongoing bombardment and massacre of Palestinians in Gaza [<a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/weaponry-uk-sold-israel-f35-jets-bomb-gaza-2724324" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">4</a>], using ‘high-energy military laser’ targeting systems produced by Leonardo UK [<a href="https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/finmeccanica-selex-es-receives-advanced-targeting-lasers-order-for-f-35" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">5</a>]. Leonardo furthermore supplies Israel with <em>Aermacchi M-346</em> aircraft and components for its <em>Apache</em> attack helicopters [<a href="https://www.thenational.scot/news/19322575.anger-arms-firms-get-grants-worth-nearly-10m-scottish-enterprise/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">6</a>], which have also been deployed in the violent ethnic cleansing of Gaza [<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/israel-apache-helicopter-hamas-hellfire-missiles-gaza-1833372" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">7</a>]. </p>
<div><p>The deep military-industrial ties between Britain and Israel
show that the Balfour Declaration is not a historic document: instead,
the Declaration is the first proof of Britain’s commitment to the ethnic
cleansing of the Palestinians. This is a commitment they continue to
act on, arming the Israeli regime with the means to commit its genocide
via Leonardo not least of all. </p><p>ENDS<br>NOTES TO EDITORS</p></div>
<p>If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please <a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">contactinfo@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>[1] <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/11/2/more-than-a-century-on-the-balfour-declaration-explained" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/11/2/more-than-a-century-on-the-balfour-declaration-explained</a><br>[2] <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/britain-palestine-balfour-colonial-crimes-reparations" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/britain-palestine-balfour-colonial-crimes-reparations</a><br>[3] <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/britain-palestine-balfour-colonial-crimes-reparations" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63145992" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63145992</a><a href="https://www.f35.com/f35/global-enterprise/united-kingdom.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"><br></a>[4] <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/weaponry-uk-sold-israel-f35-jets-bomb-gaza-2724324" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://inews.co.uk/news/weaponry-uk-sold-israel-f35-jets-bomb-gaza-2724324<br></a>[5] <a href="https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/finmeccanica-selex-es-receives-advanced-targeting-lasers-order-for-f-35" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.leonardo.com/en/press-release-detail/-/detail/finmeccanica-selex-es-receives-advanced-targeting-lasers-order-for-f-35<br></a>[6] <a href="https://www.thenational.scot/news/19322575.anger-arms-firms-get-grants-worth-nearly-10m-scottish-enterprise/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.thenational.scot/news/19322575.anger-arms-firms-get-grants-worth-nearly-10m-scottish-enterprise/<br></a>[7] <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/israel-apache-helicopter-hamas-hellfire-missiles-gaza-1833372" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.newsweek.com/israel-apache-helicopter-hamas-hellfire-missiles-gaza-1833372</a></p>
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