At the full council meeting on 23 April 2024, Lib Dem-led Somerset Council voted to explore ways to legally evict Elbit UK or otherwise to dispose of the property. The motion was proposed by Brian Smedley, Labour councillor of Bridgwater South and seconded by Shane Collins, Green Party councillor of Frome East. It comes after months of pressure from Palestine Action over the council’s support for the arms company, which is complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Lib Dems finally cave in over Israel genocide support
The full voted motion reads:
Full Council notes, that in the light of calls for an end of UK Arms sales to Israel, Somerset Council has been reviewing its interest in the Aztec West property in its commercial portfolio with a view to immediately disposing of the property or securing a means to legally evict the tenant Elbit UK, a major UK based provider of weapons to the Israeli Defence Forces, used in the current Gaza catastrophe.
Somerset Council resolves:
- to explore all ways of legally evicting Elbit UK or otherwise, to dispose of the property;
- to ensure that moral and ethical considerations are fully appraised in addition to financial advantage in any future commercial property investments for yield.
This vote came after a nearly three month campaign by Palestine Action to demand the council evict Elbit from their commercial premises at Aztec West 600, Bristol.
Residents have disrupted three previous meetings demanding the council evict Elbit. Most recently on 16 April, as the Canary previously reported, during a meeting a local resident submitted a question demanding the immediate eviction of Elbit. This was followed by locals handing out pictures of injured and killed Palestinian children during Israel’s ongoing Gaza genocide.
Residents also held a banner with the names of dozens of Palestinians who’ve been killed by the Israeli military using Elbit’s weaponry, whilst taking it in turns to disrupt the meeting to make their demands heard.
Somerset council has also been sprayed with red paint on three occasions over the past month, to symbolise their complicity in Palestinian bloodshed:
Evict Elbit without delay
The council property is listed as the UK headquarters of Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, who supply the majority of Israel’s military drone fleet, land based equipment, bullets, munitions, and missiles. Elbit’s CEO Bezhalel Machlis stated himself how crucial the company is to the ongoing genocide.
Palestine Action’s lawyers at the Public Interest Law Centre have already disclosed to the council legal routes to evict Elbit from the premises.
Now, the council has the democratic mandate to ensure it takes the appropriate route to evict the Israeli weapons maker from Aztec West 600.
Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action
