Activists from Palestine Action used a makeshift wrecking ball (a hammer attached to a rope) to smash the windows of the Elbit factory headquarters near Bristol and threw red paint onto the walls, they revealed in an Instagram post last month.
“You just got Palestine Action-ed,” one activist shouted from the top of the vehicle.
Another video published by the organization showed the activists standing on top of a cherry picker, as police attempted to break through the vehicle.
Four people were charged with conspiracy to damage property during a protest at a premises in Aztec West Business Park in north Bristol, on March 15, according to Avon and Somerset police.
They were arrested by officers and taken into custody before being charged on March 17 and appearing at Bristol Magistrates’ Court.
הצגת פוסט זה באינסטגרם
The people arrested were: Rosa Garland (28) from Southwark, London; Aleksandra Hobson (36) from Halifax, near Leeds; Sana Kamal (19) from Liverpool; and James Williams (34) from Easton, Bristol.
Palestine Action
The group are affiliated with the organization Palestine Action, a British pro-Palestinian activist organization which seeks to dismantle “British complicity in Israeli apartheid,” according to its Instagram biography. It aims to get rid of all Israeli weapons factories in Britain.
“What Palestine Action do is the embodiment of love to me,” said another activist as she stood wearing a keffiyeh and filmed the police trying to break into the van.
This is not the organization’s first attempt to take down Elbit Systems. They have recently vandalized Allianz offices in London and Manchester, which insures Elbit, as well as Barclays, which invests in the company.
“They sacrificed their liberty for the people of Palestine,” said the organization in an Instagram post detailing their arrest. Palestine Action encouraged its supporters to attend the court hearing in order to show solidarity with the activists.
Elbit Systems is an Israel-based defense technology company which “develops, manufactures, integrates and sustains a range of next-generation solutions across multiple domains,” according to its website.
The company works closely with the UK Ministry of Defence to provide Israeli technology for British defense in all three branches of the British Armed Forces to ensure that the UK remains protected. Elbit Systems UK does not supply weapons to Israeli Ministry of Defense or the Israeli Defence Forces.