The Electronic Intifada Podcast 25 August 2021
Palestine Action was started in the UK last year to take direct action against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems.
Activists have carried out sit-ins and sabotage against Elbit premises, shutting factories down, smashing windows, damaging equipment, graffiting and splashing walls with red paint to symbolize Palestinian blood.
Palestine Action has taken more than 70 actions against Elbit in its first year, including 20 high-profile occupations of sites and factories.
According to police estimates, these actions have cost Elbit and complicit companies more than $22 million and more than 100 days of weapons manufacturing, a new short film about Palestine Action reveals.
“We’re no longer going to appeal to the middle man … the government, local politicians, et cetera, to make the changes that we want to see,” Huda tells us. “People’s lives are literally at stake.”
Direct action, she says, means going “directly to the source and shut them down, stop their operations, stop them from working.”
Often, Ammori adds, this can happen through activists “using their own bodies to physically stop the production of these weapons.”
Articles we discussed
- “One year in, Palestine Action is hitting drone maker Elbit hard,” Asa Winstanley
- “UK threatens to charge Palestine Action with terrorism,” Mohamed Elmaazi
Video production by Tamara Nassar
Theme music by Sharif Zakout
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