Overnight on Thursday 12 September, Palestine Action targeted more than ten Barclays sites including branches, call centres, and offices. The bank has been marked with symbols of its complicity in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
Palestine Action smashing up banks again
Bank premises from Edinburgh to Kent have had their windows smashed, and covered in blood-red paint, in actions which Palestine Action have vowed will continue until Barclays cease their investments in Elbit Systems – Israel’s largest weapons firm, and Palestine Action’s primary target:
BREAKING: Palestine Action target over 10 Barclays sites across the country, from management centres to local branches.
The bank continues to invest in Israel's biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems — our primary target. pic.twitter.com/R30hxci9mN
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) September 12, 2024
These actions follow those of June 2024, when nearly 20 branches of the arms-investing bank were smashed.
This was Barclays in Edinburgh:
A branch of the bank in Liverpool got similar treatment by Palestine Action:
This was a Barclays in London:
And in Islington:
While this was Manchester:
Confirmed sites targeted by Palestine Action include:
- 3 Hardman St, Manchester
- Royal Tunbridge Wells, TN1 2TB
- Islington, London, N1 8EH
- Whitechapel, E1 1BJ
- Mayfair, W1J 8NL
- Hammersmith, W6 9HY
- Oxford, OX1 3HB
- Edinburgh, EH2 2AN
- London, E6 2HW
- Edinburgh, EH3 7LU
- Liverpool, L7 9PQ
11 months into the genocide in Gaza, in which Elbit plays a central role, Barclays still holds Elbit shares. In fact, it has more than tripled its Elbit shareholdings. Elbit provides 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bombs, missiles and other weaponry, which it markets as “battle-tested” after they are developed during bombardments in occupied Palestine.
Additionally, Barclays holds over £2billion of investments, and underwrite loans worth £6billion, in other firms involved in arming Israel.
Barclays: stop making excuses
When Barclays last saw nationwide resistance, its CEO, CS Venkatakrishnan, claimed that the the bank is “deeply sympathetic about the overall suffering in the region”, but pleaded that Barclays’ property ought to be protected.
Palestine Action stated in response:
Barclays’ investments are contributing to the wholesale destruction of Gaza, the erasure of Palestinian life and property.
These banks choose to invest in manufacturers of genocide. They have evaluated that the continued returns on investment generated by Elbit Systems and Israel’s war machine are worth more than the moral or political cost of dealing in war crimes.
Palestine Action will continue to take action to re-calibrate that cost-benefit analysis: reducing the profitability of any operation doing business with Israel’s arms trade.
Featured image via Neil Terry and additional images via Neil Terry, Milo Chandler, and Palestine Action
