Elham Asaad Buaras
On December 7, over 1,000 workers simultaneously blocked four arms factories across the UK, protesting Israel’s use of British-manufactured fighter-jets component used to attack Gaza.
The workers, under the banner ‘Workers for a Free Palestine’, include teachers, health workers, hospitality workers, and others who are members of a wide range of trade unions, including Unite, UNISON, GMB, NEU, BMA, UCU, BECTU, and BFAWU.
The demonstrators shut down the Harris factory in Brighton, Eaton Mission Systems in Bournemouth, BAE Systems at Samlesbury Aerodrome in Lancashire, and BAE Systems at Govern in Glasgow, all of which manufacture components for the F-35 fighter jet used by Israel in its bombardment of Gaza.
The UK is a significant supplier of weapons to Israel, providing components that make up 15% of each F-35 fighter jet currently being used in Israel’s bombardment, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).
They “conservatively” estimate these sales are worth £336 million (€385 million) since 2016. Protesters carried banners reading “Weapons made here kill in Gaza” and “This factory arms genocide, ““Workers for a Free Palestine,” and “UK Funds Genocide,” calling to “end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes.”
The UK has continued to sell arms to Israel despite its illegal occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem since 1967.
Jenny, a trade unionist from Workers for a Free Palestine, said, “British-made bombs are again raining down on Palestinian people across Gaza, who are being imprisoned in a death trap and ordered to evacuate when they have nowhere safe to go.”
The blockade is the third organised by Workers for a Free Palestine. On October 26, over 150 trade unionists under the banner ‘Workers for a Free Palestine’ picketed an Instro Precision factory (a subsidiary of Elbit Systems) in Kent, which makes weapons for infantry and heavy artillery, including night vision and thermal systems mounted on weapons and heavy machine guns.
On November 10, the group targeted BAE Systems in Rochester, with over 400 trade unionists taking part in the blockade.
The Workers for a Free Palestine group also say similar action took place in France, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
The protest comes amid relentless Israeli strikes against the Gaza Strip that have to date killed over 19,000 Palestinians, including over 8,000 children, according to officials in the besieged Palestinian enclave. Violence broke out after Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, and taking hundreds of hostages.
Activists blockade Eaton Mission Systems in Bournemouth Photo: Workers for a Free Palestine
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