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On Wednesday 6th September at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court, five activists from Palestine Action were scheduled to be sentenced after being convicted for ‘possession of items with intent to commit criminal damage’. Judge Michael Chambers stated he would sentence them as though they would have committed over £30K of criminal damage, and rescheduled the sentencing for one of the activists.
Palestinian activist Ibrahim Smadi and Alex Waters, were sentenced to 9 months suspended for two years, 20 rehabilitation days and 150 hours unpaid work. Tony Greenstein was sentenced to 9 months suspended for two years, 20 rehabilitation days and 80 hours unpaid work. The fourth, Jeremy Parker, was sentenced to 12 months suspended sentence for two years, 20 rehabilitation days and 150 hours unpaid work.
Initially, there were six activists who were stopped in a van on the way to an Israeli weapons factory in Shenstone. On May 15th 2023, after a 7 week trial, four out of the six were convicted by a jury. This came after the Judge refused to allow any justification defences for the activists actions, including preventing the greater crime, Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people committed by Elbit’s weaponry. One other pleaded guilty, and the jury was hung on the sixth activist. They sixth will be retrialed in January 2024 [1].
There were continual delays before the sentencing, leaving the activists waiting for over 3 months after conviction. The six were on their way to UAV Engines, a factory owned by Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems. The factory specialise in making engines for combat drones, which Elbit 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[2][3].
The factory also manufactures parts for the Watchkeeper [4], used to surveil migrants seeking refuge in the UK, and the Shadow drone, which forms part of the US military arsenal, notably used in the American invasion of Iraq and likely to be used in ongoing attacks on Yemen [5].
Commenting on the sentencing, Palestine Action say:
“We are pleased to see the activists were not imprisoned. Although for taking action against Israel’s weapons trade, they should be applauded and heralded as heroes, not face conviction or sentencing of any kind.”
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
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] https://www.palestineaction.org/statement-sentencing/
[2] https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/
[3] https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/3794?elbit-systems