UK Politics

For over a decade, the UK has been a safe haven for Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems. Before embarking on direct action, I believed that, with facts, reason and a popular movement behind us, we would be able to shift our government and public bodies into divesting from and imposing sanctions on Israel’s apartheid regime.

The issue wasn’t just that our pleas were falling on deaf ears – it was that we were appealing to the very institutions which were responsible for driving the colonisation of Palestine. With the “democratic process” failing to create change, and with Elbit continuing to manufacture Israeli weapons on British soil, I was left with two options: continue with tactics which were failing or take direct action to shut Elbit down.

I, and many others, chose the latter option. That’s what led to the formation of Palestine Action and, ultimately, to me being sat in a dock for six weeks on trial in Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Not only were our actions effective in disrupting Elbit’s weapons production and building a global movement – it allowed us to expose Elbit’s crimes in court. To top it off, three companies ended their links with Elbit during the trial. It took a two year campaign for Fisher German to end their property management of UAV Engines, two months for iO associates to stop recruiting Elbit staff and a day for Naked Creativity to end their web hosting services for Elbit’s Leicester factory.