The statement emphasized the pivotal role of Palestine Action in mobilizing efforts against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Ten British campaign groups voiced their support in a joint statement on Tuesday with Palestine Action, which risks being banned in the United Kingdom.
In a joint statement titled ‘We are all Palestine Action’, the signatories stressed that “Palestine Action stands at the cutting edge of the pro Palestine movement in Britain.”
“For the last four years they have been taking effective direct action against Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer,” the statement read.
The statement was signed by CAGE International, Black Lives Matter UK, Sisters Uncut, Palestine Youth Movement, Parents for Palestine, ELSC, Axe Drax, Defend Our Juries, Free Political Prisoners, and Just Stop Oil.
It outlined the milestone achievements of Palestine Action during its young history.
“The group has been successful in closing down several Elbit Systems factories, and forced 10 large businesses to cut ties with the weapons manufacturer,” the signatories said.
They went on to add that according to recent reports by the British police, the group “has cost Elbit tens of millions of pounds in losses in the last year alone.”
BREAKING: 10 campaign groups unite in solidarity with @Pal_action, declaring: We are all Palestine Action!
Palestine Action is at the cutting edge of the pro Palestine movement in the UK.
Their effective direct actions have single handedly cost Israel’s biggest arms… pic.twitter.com/xaLTckr55G
— CAGE International (@CAGEintl) November 5, 2024
“Every action which disrupts the supply chain of weapons being used in the ongoing genocide is the moral thing to do and worthy of support,” the British groups said, emphasizing that “direct action has never been more necessary.”
The signatories commended Palestine Action on its protest movement against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, noting that the group has been frequently attacked by the Zionist lobby.
“Documents have exposed how Elbit Systems and the Israeli government have pressured the police, CPS, Attorney General’s office and government ministers to crack down on the group and made demands to have it banned,” the statement noted.
It slammed what it called “the authoritarian infrastructure of counter terrorism powers”, which exploits “fears and prejudices against mainly Muslims”, adding that it has become the “tool” to achieve these goals.
The statement posted on X went on to say that after several “hung juries and acquittals for Palestine Action actionists,” new evidence emerged of measures being taken “to prevent juries acquitting on account of their conscience.”
The 10 British groups disclosed that to date Palestine Action has 16 political prisoners in Britain, 11 of whom have not yet faced trial.
“Actionists have been subjected to regular dawn raids, police harassment, stops at the airport and smear campaigns,” the signatories said.
The drones attacking newborn babies in incubators were made by Elbit Systems.
These are the atrocities are why @Pal_action are targeting Elbit.
We all have a responsibility to stop the supply of these murder weapons. https://t.co/I5N9kLNuDc pic.twitter.com/spzVvPxHNx
— jewdⒶs // ייִדהודה (@jewdas) November 5, 2024
“Yet, despite the obstacles, Palestine Action continues to put their liberty on the line for the liberation of Palestine,” they added.
The British groups vowed to continue to stand in “full solidarity with Palestine Action”, urging all “people of conscience to show their support for the group.”
“We are all Palestine Action,” the statement ended by saying.
Palestine Action on Balfour
Palestine Action has been pivotal in mobilizing efforts in the UK against the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza while outlining Britain’s undeniable role in the tragedy of the Palestinian people.
On November 2, Palestine Action activists marked 107 years since the signing of the Balfour Declaration by removing two sculptures of Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, from a display case at the University of Manchester.
The activists, in collaboration with Cambridge University students, also sprayed the walls of the facility’s Institute for Manufacturing, for “complicity in the genocide” of Palestinians.
“(Arthur) Balfour, who signed away the land of Palestine, was educated by the university. Today, the institute works with weapons companies arming genocide,” Palestine Action said on X, accompanied by photos of walls defaced with red paint.
Alongside video footage of activists breaking the display case, and taking the busts of the former Israeli official, Palestine Action said: “Weizmann secured the Balfour Declaration, a British pledge written 107 years ago, which began the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by signing the land away.”
“Cambridge educated Balfour and, until direct action destroyed it, his portrait was hung in Trinity College,” the activist group said in a statement.
Palestine Action target the London office of BNY Mellon over the bank’s investments in the largest Israeli weapons firm, Elbit Systems. pic.twitter.com/PuD7aPvUA8
— PALESTINE ONLINE 🇵🇸 (@OnlinePalEng) November 4, 2024
Death Toll on the Rise
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,391 Palestinians have been killed, and 102,347 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
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Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
