Anti-Israel Protest Shuts British Factory of Drone Producer
Protesters temporarily shut down a British factory owned by a subsidiary of the Israeli weapons and machinery manufacturer Elbit Systems.
A group of 14 activists from anti-arms and pro-Palestinian organizations, including Brighton BDS and Swansea Action for Palestine, stopped production Tuesday at the Instro Precision factory in the county of Kent in Britain’s southeast, The Jewish Chronicle of London on reported.
Camera systems similar to those made by Instro Precision are used in Israeli drones supplied by Elbit to survey the West Bank security fence, according to the report Thursday. No arrests were made during the protest action, the paper said.
The sit-in came two weeks after prosecutors were forced to drop a case against protesters who, last August, occupied another Elbit subsidiary. Prosecutors ended their case after the drone engine manufacturers’ witnesses stopped cooperating, according to the Chronicle.
Four activists made it onto the roof of Instro Precision’s building and hung banners reading “Elbit Drones Murder!” and “Stop Arming Israel!” .
Both Elbit Systems and Instro Precision declined to comment on the protest, the Chronicle reported.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
