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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025/02/14/londonmetric-elbit-palestine-action/">thecanary.co</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Victory for Palestine Action as Elbit's landlords SELL its drone factory</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">The Canary</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">February 14, 2025</div>
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<p><a href="https://www.thecanary.co/topics/palestine-action/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Palestine Action</a> has claimed another victory in the fight against <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/topics/israel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Israel’s</a> weapons supply chain – as the landlord of Elbit System’s drone factory, LondonMetric, has sold up.</p>
<h2>LondonMetric: dumping Elbit Systems</h2>
<p>LondonMetric, the landlords of Elbit’s ‘UAV Tactical Systems’ drone
factory, has sold the site on after a targeted direct action campaign
calling on them to cut ties with Israel’s largest weapons company.</p>
<p>After struggling to find a buyer, LondonMetric have now relinquished
their interest in Elbit Systems, despite what it claims is a strong
commercial potential of the site. Business at ‘UAV Tactical Systems’ has
been regularly disrupted and prevented due to its <a href="https://caat.org.uk/data/exports-uk/licence-list?region=Israel&company=Elbit+Systems" target="_blank" rel="noopener">production of Israeli military drones</a>.</p>
<p>The result comes after concerted efforts by Palestine Action, joined
by the Youth Front for Palestine (YFFP), against the offices and
premises of LondonMetric, a FTSE 100-listed company with a property
portfolio worth £6billion. To raise the costs of their doing business
with Elbit, direct action activists smashed windows, <a href="https://palestineaction.org/londonmetric-bham/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">painted premises blood-red</a>, and <a href="https://palestineaction.org/london-metric-again/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blockaded the entry to their offices</a>. YFFP have crashed LondonMetric’s offices and staged demonstrations outside, to condemn their profiteering from genocide.</p>
<p>The estate agents for the U-TacS site readily admit the difficulties of sale due to “<a href="https://singervielle.com/property/investment-property-leicester-industrial-le191qp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">political activity at the property</a>“, which led to <a href="https://singervielle.com/journeys/journey-of-a-sale-instruction-leicester/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple top-bidders</a> pulling out, inevitably leading to a cut-price sale in order for LondonMetric to cut ties.</p>
<p>After an initial <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/21/pro-palestine-activists-shut-down-uk-drone-factory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">six-day occupation</a>
of the U-TacS site in May 2021, actions have escalated at the Israeli
murder drone factory, which has been subjected to regular raids,
blockades, and more occupations. These actions have sought to, and
succeeded in, preventing the manufacture and export of military drones
used to murder Palestinians.</p>
<p>The resultant cutting of ties between tenant and landlord of the
‘U-TacS’ site demonstrates the continued successes of an expansive
strategy of direct action.</p>
<h2>Palestine Action: direct action works</h2>
<p>By economically disrupting those who work with or invest in Elbit
Systems, like LondonMetric, Palestine Action are making it an
unattractive business prospect to partner with Israel’s weapons
industry.</p>
<p>The outcome of the campaign mirrors that of the previous campaign
against Fisher German, former landlords of Elbit’s UAV Engines site in
Shenstone, who wrote to Palestine Action in December 2023 to confirm
that <a href="https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/04/25/palestine-action-law-firm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">they had cut ties</a> with their former client.</p>
<p>A Palestine Action spokesperson has said:</p>
<blockquote><p>Alongside LondonMetric, other complicit companies
including Elbit’s landlords, suppliers, and hauliers have all been
forced to cut ties. All those continuing to do business with
Elbit should know: facilitating Israel’s weapons production will invite
resistance against complicity in genocide.</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Featured image via Palestine Action</em></p>
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