The Israeli government has no desire to reach a ceasefire/hostage-release agreement with Hamas and is leading the Middle East into ‘a comprehensive, multi-front confrontation with no reasonable timetable for ending it’. That’s not some Western peace activist’s view; that’s the opinion of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, writing in an Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, on 25 August.
Olmert wrote: ‘Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want the hostages back. There is no chance…
The British public want to ban arms sales to Israel by a majority of three to one, of those who have an opinion. That’s according to a Deltapoll survey carried out at the end of June for the online UAE news site, the National.
Worryingly, the poll also found that 36 percent of Britons thought Gaza ceasefire protests should not be allowed to go ahead in future, compared to only 41 percent who think they should be allowed. Freedom to protest does not have majority support, at…
It is hard to keep up with Palestine Action, who have carried out over 35 actions since our last issue. The following is an incomplete list of their actions, mostly targeted at the British subsidiary of the giant Israeli weapons maker Elbit Systems.
On 9 June, around 20 branches of Barclays bank across England and Scotland had their windows shattered or painted with red paint in a joint campaign between Palestine Action and Shut the System, a new climate direct action group.
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On 26 June, a group of peace activists in Southampton blockaded the entrance to the Leonardo factory in the Millbrook Industrial Park, near the docks. The entrance was closed for an hour before police arrived and forced an end to the protest. Campaigners say the factory ‘produces parts for missiles very likely being used by the IDF to commit atrocities in Gaza, Palestine and the wider region’. Leonardo UK is a subsidiary of a major Italian arms manufacturer.
The sudden appearance of a ‘National Security Act 2023’ warning sign outside the Bristol offices of Israeli-owned arms manufacturer Elbit was a reminder to campaigners that as well as expanding public order laws, the government has also introduced sweeping changes to espionage laws that cover places where protests regularly take place.
Although this legislation was presented as necessary to counter hostile threats from foreign intelligence services, Netpol warned in 2022 that new…
It’s difficult to report on Palestine Action (PA), partly because they have carried out so many actions (at least 24 since our last issue), and partly because their website has suffered from sabotage.
The big victory the direct action group has claimed since our last issue is the closure of a Tamworth factory owned by Elbit Systems, the Israeli drone manufacturer.
On 28 March, PA said ‘the Israeli weapons maker was forced to sell due to increased security costs which cut their…
Yemen continues to be one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, on the edge of famine, with something close to a frozen war and a feeble peace process which is not getting much international support – but which has just produced a helpful prisoner release.
Britain could be ending arms sales to both Saudi Arabia and Israel for their war crimes. Those would be the most useful ways of supporting the peace process in Yemen and pressing for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, which is…
A majority of British people want to end arms sales to Israel, two recent polls have found.
A YouGov poll for Action for Humanity in early April found that 56 percent of people want to end the export of weapons and parts to Israel, with only 17 percent wanting them to continue: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews4237
Another YouGov poll in early May for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the Council for Arab-British Understanding (…
International peace group World Beyond War rented eight bus stop advert slots around the White House in Washington DC (6 May – 5 June), to present this message. It took a lot of fundraising and a lot of pressure on companies to allow ‘political’ advertising.
On 5 and 6 March, Bristol PSC and Bristol Stop the War blockaded the Future Indirect Fires arms fair at the Ashton Gate stadium.
On 3 April, dED_UCATION and CAAT are releasing Don’t Buy a Bomb, a 28-minute documentary following CAAT’s six-year legal battle with the UK government over the legality of arms sales to Saudi Arabia – for the Saudi war in Yemen. The film will be on YouTube: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews4211
On 7 December, a new Palestine solidarity group, Workers for a Free Palestine, organised 1,000 trade unionists and other protesters to blockade four sites connected to the Israeli war machine: Eaton Mission Systems in Bournemouth, Dorset; the L3Harris factory in Brighton, East Sussex; BAE Systems’s Samlesbury Aerodrome just outside Blackburn in Lancashire; and the BAE Systems Govan site in Glasgow.
All four arms company sites are linked to the manufacture of the F-35 warplane…
On 22 January, Richmond and Kingston Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Kingston Peace Council and other campaigners protested outside the International Armoured Vehicles arms fair at the Twickenham rugby stadium in West London. Arms companies present included BAE Systems and Leonardo and two Israeli firms: Elbit Systems and Rafael. Palestine Action had sprayed part of the stadium front in blood red paint earlier in the day.
Rishi Sunak’s government has supported Israel’s criminal war on Gaza, both diplomatically and in practical terms: weapons including spare parts, surveillance missions and intelligence gathering through US spy bases hosted by the UK on Cyprus.
A War on Want report in December called for a ‘two-way arms embargo on Israel without delay to end [the government’s] complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.’
Yasmine Ahmed, the UK director of Human Rights Watch,…
Over the last two months, Palestine Action (PA) has continued its direct action campaign against Elbit Systems UK, the British subsidiary of the Israeli drone manufacturer. PA has also opened up a US branch (which has taken action in Massachussetts and New Hampshire), supported several activists on trial (still ongoing at the time of going to press) and taken action in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
On 5 October, PA added to its acquittals score when one of its activists was…
