On Saturday 15 March, Palestine Action returned to shut down Elbit Systems’ Bristol headquarters for the 17th time, using a modified cherry picker to damage the operational hub of Israel’s largest arms firm. The last time the group shut down the site was a matter of weeks ago.
Palestine Action: cherry picking their fights
To halt operations, stopping the Aztec West site’s contributions to genocide in Palestine, an activist locked-on inside the vehicle of the cherry picker, whilst others from inside the bucket began dismantling the factory:
They sprayed red paint across the building and from their high vantage point; swinging a sledgehammer on rope to smash the windows of the weapons site:
Palestine Action breaks down the tools of oppression from the imperial core, to support the fight for Palestinian liberation.
Hear an actionist taking action to do that in Bristol today👇 pic.twitter.com/NK3meFrBe6
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) March 15, 2025
Predictably, cops arrested four of the actionists:
Four actionists arrested after they dismantled Elbit’s Bristol HQ, inflicting economic damage on Israel’s biggest weapons producer.
They sacrificed their liberty for the people of Palestine❤️ pic.twitter.com/DBVZka8Aww
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) March 15, 2025
The Bristol site is Elbit’s main operational hub in Britain, overseeing the activities and exporting of all ‘Elbit Systems UK’ subsidiaries.
Elbit: continuing to support Israel’s genocide in Gaza
Recently published arms export license data show that ‘Elbit Systems UK’ received one quarter of all the arms export licenses for Israel granted by Starmer’s government. Since the commencement of the Gaza genocide in October 2023, it has in total been granted at least 24 licenses for exports to Israel, and has made dozens of military cargo shipments.
According to Israeli media, Elbit provides up to 80% of the Israeli military’s land based equipment and 85% of its killer drones, supplying huge numbers of munitions and missiles including the ‘Iron Sting’, which was first deployed in the Gaza Genocide. Elbit famously advertises its weapons as having been “battle-tested” – against Palestinians.
Palestine Action first shut down Aztec West site on 13 April 2021 with a rooftop occupation. Since then it has been relentlessly targetted in high-profile actions with the clear aim of ending the British manufacture of weapons used in the genocide and occupation of Palestine.
In the past week, Palestine Action has struck numerous times at Elbit’s insurers Allianz and Aviva, and have rejected calls for ethnic cleansing by Donald Trump by wrecking his Ayrshire golf resort: ‘GAZA IS NOT FOR SALE‘.
A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:
While Elbit weaponry is used for massacres in Gaza and the West Bank, twenty Palestine Action members, including the Filton18, are imprisoned without trial. Elbit, Starmer, and those facilitating war crimes are the criminals – not those taking action to stop the slaughter in Palestine.
Activists are shutting down Elbit Bristol, making clear that we will not back down against a company whose sole purpose is to profit from the destruction of Palestinian life.
Featured image and videos supplied
