Following a seven-day trial for conspiracy to commit criminal damage, Palestine Action activists – the Kingsway 5 – were unanimously acquitted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court yesterday. The group spraypainted Israeli company Elbit Systems’ London HQ with blood red paint in October 2020, in protest of Elbit’s production of weapons used on civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private arms company with a UK subsidiary HQ in London, has been the centre of activists’ demonstrations. The boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) National Committee has called for a ‘comprehensive and immediate military embargo on Israel,’ extending to Elbit Systems.
The trial is part of a long succession of prosecutions the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are preparing against activists from Palestine solidarity movements. At least 40 activists are expected to stand trial for similar charges in the coming months, after a wave of demonstrations against Elbit operating in the UK. This was the first Crown Court trial for Palestine Action activists. Previous trials of other activists have collapsed after either Elbit or the CPS decided not to disclose details of licenses for arms exports to Israel.
The jury heard the defendants explain the ‘imperative’ and ‘moral duty’ behind forcing the company out of the UK. One defendant relayed their experience of witnessing Elbit’s weapons being ‘used to oppress and dehumanise’ Palestinians. The jury also heard the company’s direct involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The CPS described an ‘almost military’ attack by the activists against Elbit’s HQ, using terms the defence countered were ‘loaded’ and ‘colourful’. The CPS allege the defendants used ‘improvised weapons’, ‘armed’ with fire extinguishers and buckets filled with water-soluble red paint creating a ‘river of blood’ symbolising the blood of Palestinians.
The activists, seemingly accepting committing the acts in question, maintain they were done to prevent Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, and the suffering caused by Elbit’s weapons. The trial judge denied the defendants the opportunity to present a human rights defence to the jury. ‘We wanted to raise awareness of the war criminal hiding behind these doors’, said one defendant. The jury unanimously acquitted all 5 after less than 90 minutes of deliberation.
