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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2024/07/16/palestine-action-elbit-bristol-israel/">thecanary.co</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Palestine Action shut down Elbit for TWO DAYS and break into another arms manufacturer's factory</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">The Canary</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">July 16, 2024<br></div>
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<p><a href="https://www.thecanary.co/topics/palestine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestine</a>
Action have shut down arms manufacturer Elbit System’s Bristol HQ for
two days running – along with damaging the factory of one of its
suppliers in the process. Once again, the group has shown direct action
can actually make an impact; here, disrupting the supply of arms to <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/topics/israel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel</a> amid its ongoing genocide in Gaza.</p>
<p>From 6.30am on Tuesday 16 July, three activists from <a href="https://www.palestineaction.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestine Action</a>
locked themselves to a vehicle blocking the only access point to the UK
headquarters of Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems.
Police have arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area:</p>
<p>As of 12pm on 16 July, the cops were still scrabbling around trying to stop Palestine Action:</p>
<p>Yesterday, another three activists similarly blocked the entrance, forcing the site to close:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image08-5-scaled.jpg"><img alt="" width="394" height="263" src="https://b600544.smushcdn.com/600544/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image08-5-scaled.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p>
<p>So, for the second day in a row, Palestine Action have shut down Elbit’s Bristol HQ at Aztec West 600, Bristol:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image04-5-scaled.jpg"><img alt="" width="394" height="257" src="https://b600544.smushcdn.com/600544/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image04-5-scaled.jpg?lossy=2&strip=1&webp=1" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></a></p>
<p>They also broke inside Hydrafeed’s central premises in Milton Keynes,
damaging the company who provide machinery for Elbit’s Instro Precision
factory in Sandwich, Kent:</p>
<h2>Supplying Israel’s war machine</h2>
<p>Hydrafeed’s machinery is used to produce arms by Elbit’s Instro
Precision factory which have had over 80 separate licenses to export
weapons to Israel since 2016.</p>
<p>Hydrafeed’s involvement in the production of Israeli arms was
confirmed during a break in of the Instro factory by Palestine Action
last month. By dismantling the inside of the machinery maker’s central
premises, activists have prevented the company’s ability to provide
Elbit Systems with “a rapid response for breakdowns, repairs, spares and
replacement parts”.</p>
<p>They have also disrupt the supply of machines to be used for arming the Gaza genocide.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, according to Elbit’s CEO Bezhalel Machlis, Elbit Systems
weaponry is “currently being used extensively by the Israeli military”.
The Israeli weapons maker produces 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet
and land-based equipment, ammunition, missiles, digital warfare and
training simulators.</p>
<p>During the onslaught of Gaza which the ICJ has ruled is a plausible
genocide, Elbit have “ramped up production” to meet the increased demand
of the Israeli military for munitions.</p>
<p>Elbit Systems are the majority provider of Israel’s military drone
fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bullets, bombs, missiles and
digital warfare.</p>
<h2>Palestine Action ‘will not stop’</h2>
<p>Over the weekend more than a hundred Palestinians were massacred by
the Israeli military. On Saturday, Al-Mawasi refugee camp which was an
Israeli designated safe zone was targeted by Israeli air strikes killing
over 90 Palestinians. The next day Israeli missiles struck a UN school
sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, killing 16 of them and
injuring many more.</p>
<p>The Bristol HQ which activists have once again shut down is owned by Somerset Council.</p>
<p>In April 2024, a motion was passed by councillors calling for
Somerset Council to explore all legal routes to evict Elbit before
disposing of the Bristol premises. The council also received legal
advice from Palestine Action’s lawyers, Public Interest Law Centre,
setting out a clear route to remove Elbit as a tenant[6]. Despite this,
the council continue to fail their legal and moral obligations to evict
Elbit.</p>
<p>A Palestine Action spokesperson said:</p>
<blockquote><p>Under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention, parties are
obliged to prevent the commission of genocide and punish those
responsible. When our government remains complicit in genocide and
allows Israel’s Elbit Systems to operate in this country, it’s the
responsibility of ordinary people to take direct action.</p>
<p>Anyone who remains a partner of the Israeli weapons maker has done a
serious moral and financial miscalculation as Palestine Action will
break every link of Elbit’s supply chain, which involves targeting
Elbit’s suppliers and of course, shutting Elbit down. We will not allow
any institution to continue facilitating the bloody massacres of the
Palestinian people.</p>
<p>We will not stop until Elbit is shut down.</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Featured image and additional images and video via Martin Pope Photography</em></p>
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