Activists besiege the British Business Office in protest against arming Israel

Activists in Britain from the “London for Free Palestine” movement last night besieged the building of the Ministry of Business and Trade, and occupied the ministry’s lobby to demand that the government “stop arming Israel.”

Dozens of activists sat in front of the main door, in an attempt to besiege the building and prevent employees from arriving to perform their work. According to what was reported by the Palestine Today Agency,

this comes in a new protest step that objects to arming “Israel,” while the movement announced – in cooperation with the “Free Palestine Coalition” – that this movement represents part of a progressive plan to stop the aggression against Gaza, which they called the “Month of Movement for Palestine.”

This move coincides with a letter presented last Wednesday by MP Zara Sultana, which was signed by 134 people, including MPs and lords from the Labor Party, the Conservatives, the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, and others urging the Business Secretary and Foreign Secretary David Cameron to suspend arms sales to Israel.

Immediately upon entering the building, the activists chanted, “You cannot hide the government, we accuse you of genocide.” Outside, other activists raised a 25-metre-long banner that read, “Stop arming Israel.”

Two activists reveal that a company supplied Israel with drones and ammunition

Two British activists said that an Israeli defense company in their country continues to supply Tel Aviv with weapons that it uses against the Palestinians, and they called on London to stop arming Israel in light of the current “genocide.”

Recently, Britain witnessed protests demanding the closure of two factories of the Israeli defense electronics company Elbit Systems in Bristol, as the protesters accuse it of “participating in genocide in Gaza.”

Faculty member at the School of Political Studies at the University of Bristol, activist El-Din Fahmi, confirmed in an interview with Anadolu Agency that the orders of the International Court of Justice are “sufficient for Britain and other countries to stop selling weapons to Tel Aviv.”

On January 26, the court ordered Israel to take measures to “prevent acts of genocide” against Palestinians and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where about 2.3 million Palestinians live in catastrophic conditions.

Fahmi said, “Elbit Systems Company is largely concealing its activities in Britain. It is an Israeli aircraft manufacturer and a partner with the British government, and has supplied Israel with weapons used against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

He stressed that “the possibility of genocide should be enough for the United Kingdom to stop arms sales to Israel. We cannot be complicit in genocide.”

Calling on the British government to “suspend all arms sales to Israel,” he stressed that “Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, and the United Kingdom must avoid participating in this crime.”

Claiming that it is “the last stronghold of the Hamas movement,” Israel insists on launching a ground attack on Rafah, the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, despite international warnings of possible catastrophic repercussions. In light of the presence of about 1.4 million displaced people in the city on the border with Egypt.

Fahmi warned that the city “includes large numbers of Gazans, and entering Rafah will lead to another genocide and a new brutal step.

Big money

According to activist Zoe Goodman, a resigned member of Bristol Council and the Labor Party, most of the city’s residents knew about the existence of two “Elbit” factories, but they were not aware that its products were sent directly to Israel and used to kill Palestinians.

Goodman resigned from the City Council and from the Labor Party because of their position on Israel’s ongoing war, since October 7, 2023, on the Gaza Strip, which it has besieged for 17 years.

Criticising her country’s official position, Goodman noted that Britain “quickly” imposed sanctions on Russian companies due to Moscow’s war on Ukraine in 2022, while “it is not interested in taking similar measures against Israel.”

She described the government’s behaviour towards Gaza as “indifferent” and attributed it to the fact that “Britain does not want to stop selling weapons from which it makes huge sums of money.”

It called on both Britain and the United States to “stop supplying Israel with weapons and isolate it from the international community.”

Regarding the fate of Rafah, Goodman said, “The world should have said enough was enough last October, but it stood by and allowed this to happen.”

In front of the headquarters of the “Elbit Systems” company, protesters demonstrated earlier, including Goodman, and hung balloons, toys, and children’s clothes on a wire fence surrounding the company.

“We wanted to emulate what happened (in Gaza). All of this is linked to the killing of people and genocide, and this cannot continue,” Goodman said.