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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2024/07/01/palestine-action-manchester-cdw/">thecanary.co</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Manchester company forced to close as Palestine Action overwhelm its offices</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">The Canary</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">July 1, 2024<br></div>
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<p><a href="https://www.thecanary.co/topics/palestine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestine</a> Action targeted another link in Britain’s chain of complicity with <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/topics/israel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel’s</a> genocide in Gaza, as the Manchester offices of ‘CDW UK’ were forced to close by an activist blockade.</p>
<h2>Palestine Action: CDW shut down</h2>
<p>Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, are facilitated in
their British presence by support from CDW’s software and technology
services.</p>
<p>So, as part of a nationwide campaign against complicity in Israeli atrocities, on Monday 1 July <a href="https://www.palestineaction.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestine Action</a> activists used a vehicle and lock-on device to blockade the back entrance:</p>
<p>Another one occupied the ledge at the building’s entry:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/signal-2024-07-01-082255_002-scaled.jpeg"><img alt="" width="394" height="263" src="https://b600544.smushcdn.com/600544/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/signal-2024-07-01-082255_002-scaled.jpeg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p>
<p>The Manchester building was also sprayed with blood-red paint – to
serve as a reminder to CDW of the Palestinian bloodshed from which their
firm profits:</p>
<p>CDW provide supply chain management, IT solutions, cyber security and
eProcurement services to the British operations of the Elbit brand,
part of the global Israeli arms firm.</p>
<p>CDW are contracted for IT services for ‘Elbit Systems UK Ltd’,
headquartered in Bristol, from which Elbit oversees drone and arms
production nation-wide. This is not the first time the company has been
targeted, with activists spraying a site in Peterborough with red paint
and shattering their windows.</p>
<p>This action in Manchester follows on the heels of others taken to target Elbit’s partners & suppliers.</p>
<h2>Stopping Israel’s supply chain</h2>
<p>As the <em>Canary</em> previously reported, last week <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2024/06/27/palestine-action-high-wycombe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestine Action activists occupied the GRiD Defence Systems</a> site in High Wycombe, barricading themselves inside and proceeding to destroy hardware and unfurled banners.</p>
<p>This came after activists destroyed dozens of boxes of GRiD
processors found inside Elbit’s Kent factory during an action, the total
damage-caused estimated by police to be worth over £1m.</p>
<p>GRiD manufactures a range of military computers, processors, and
similar electronic equipment, either for direct battlefield use or to be
integrated into other systems.</p>
<p>Since 7 October, Israel has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, injured
more than 86,000, and displaced the majority of people in Gaza. Elbit
Systems supply the majority of Israel’s military drone fleet, land based
equipment, bullets, munitions and missiles.</p>
<p>Their weaponry is often marketed as “battle-tested”, after deployment
against the people of Gaza. The genocide of Gaza would not be possible
without Elbit’s weaponry – and those firms, including CDW and GRiD, are
made complicit by their facilitation of Elbit’s deadly business.</p>
<p>CDW is not the first to be targeted. After similar actions, five
other companies have ended their association with Elbit’s deadly trade
in the past two months. These include Elbit’s weapons transporters
Kuehne+Nagel, recruiters iO associates, property managers Fisher German,
website designers Naked Creativity, and legal firm MLL Legal.</p>
<p>Palestine Action says it will continue to target all those who allow
Elbit to continue their business of genocide, until they declare they’ve
cut all ties.</p>
<p><em>Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action</em></p>
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