Palestine Action pulled alongside Elbit UAV Engines in Shenstone in a large van on Sunday 27th November. Activists leapt from inside the vehicle to begin spraying the building’s outer bricks with indelible ink, while the driver locked-on to the vehicle itself to hold the space for as long as possible and facilitate the action. Police forced the site’s security guards, behaving aggressively and unprofessionally, to retreat from the area.
Equipped with paint, one of the activists was able to secure a position on the roof of the van and use it as a platform to display an anti-arms-trade banner, set off green and red flares, and importantly raise the Palestinian flag for a considerable length of time.
Shortly after, in a separate action, others struck the property agents of UAV Engines Ltd, Fisher German. The activists sprayed the Stafford branch with blood-red paint and proceeded to smash the windows.
The double action comes after an eruption of Israeli colonial violence against the indigenous Palestinian population.[1][2] Elbit has also recently unveiled its new suicide ‘Lanius’ drone — which translates as ‘the butcher’ — an autonomous mothership carrying several micro-bombs designed to fly up staircases and inside homes before self-detonating.[3] In retaliation, today’s activists have sought to amplify the popular Palestinian resistance, concentrating their efforts on disrupting the manufacture of Israeli weapons on British soil.
UAV Engines in Shenstone is owned by Elbit Systems — Israel’s largest arms company. It specialises in making engines for combat drones, which the company openly market as ‘battle-tested’ on the Palestinian population. The Hermes 450 aircraft has been used to surveil and attack the people of Gaza for over a decade, decimating thousands of lives.[4] This October, they were used to strike the heart of Nablus, terrorising an entire city.[5] Only recently has the Israeli military fully admitted that its Hermes, are indeed, armed — Israel’s worst kept secret, says Israeli TV Channel i24 News.[6]
“As long as the Israelis continue to shatter Palestinian communities, we’ll continue to knock down the factories that perpetuate these crimes,” says a Palestine Action spokesperson. “Elbit has recently spent thousands reinforcing its premises to keep Palestine Action out, but all their new razor wire, cctv surveillance equipment and fortified fencing has failed yet again. We will continue to seek all routes in and out of the factory until Elbit is permanently disabled. The resistance will not stop until we are victorious and the company is forced to retreat from British soil for good.”
ENDS
Palestine Action is a network of groups and individuals established to take direct action against properties owned by Israel’s biggest arms firm Elbit Systems. The mission is to shut Elbit down and end all British complicity in the illegal colonisation of Palestine.
Website: https://palestineaction.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pal_action
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pal_action/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pal_action
Telegram: https://t.me/palaction
NOTES TO EDITORS
Photos free to use, with credit to Martin Pope: bit.ly/ActionMedia
[1] https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-settlers-march-hebron-destruction
[2] https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-israel-school-demolished-masafer-yatta-children-flee
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/18/killer-racing-drone-weapons/
[4] https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/
[5] https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221010-occupation-uses-warplanes-as-a-deterrent-due-to-loss-of-control-in-west-bank/