Haroon Siddique & Jamie Grierson
The Guardian / September 6, 2025
Elbit Systems UK site in Bristol was subject of protest days before direct action group was proscribed
An Israeli arms manufacturer’s facility in Bristol which was repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action appears to have closed unexpectedly.
The Elbit Systems UK site in the Aztec West business park was the subject of dozens of protests by Palestine Action, including on 1 July, days before the direct action group was banned under the Terrorism Act.
Elbit has held the lease since 2019 and it was not due to expire until 2029. The protests included blockades using lock-ons, occupying the roof, smashing windows and dousing the site in red paint.
Elbit Systems UK is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, which is Israel’s largest arms producer. Elbit Systems, which had revenues of $6.8bn (£5bn) last year, describes itself as the “backbone” of the Israel Defense Force’s (IDF’s) drone fleet, which has been used extensively in the assault on Gaza.
Its portfolio also includes systems for military aircraft and helicopters, armed remote control boats, land vehicles and for command and control.
Elbit Systems UK did not respond to The Guardian’s request for comment about the status of the site. But the property, located within a commercial and industrial park on the outskirts of Bristol where the M5 and M4 meet, was deserted when the Guardian visited this week.
There were no staff present aside from a security guard stationed in a vehicle parked outside the premises.
The site was previously owned by Somerset Council, which was also targeted by Palestine Action before selling the property last year. The Guardian attempted to contact the current landlords. Fences and barriers had been put up around the site after it was targeted by protesters.
The Aztec West facility is a different Elbit facility from that in Filton, Bristol, which was also targeted by Palestine Action and in relation to which 24 people are awaiting trial on charges including criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary. One individual has also been charged with grievous bodily harm with intent.
Before it was proscribed, Palestine Action ran a campaign targeting the company’s UK sites and connected firms, which escalated significantly after Israel’s assault on Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas. Elbit System UK’s latest accounts show that it made an operating loss of £4.7m last year, compared with a profit of £3.8m in 2023.
Andrew Feinstein, an expert and author on the global arms trade and former member of the South African national assembly, described the closure as “extremely significant”, adding: “We need to remind ourselves that Elbit (Systems) is one of the two most important Israeli arms films, along with IAI, that is it is obviously a key component of Israel’s military industrial complex.”
Last year, Elbit Sytems UK sold its West Midlands-based subsidiary Elite KL (now Calatherm). After Elite KL’s operating profit fell by 75% in 2022, it said that it was primarily a result of increased security costs, its Tamworth site having been targeted by Palestine Action. The new owners said they would not have any association with Elbit and cancel its defence contracts.
In 2022, Eblit sold Ferranti P&C, part of its Oldham-based business, after 18 months of protests by Palestine Action as well as Oldham Peace.
Last month, Private Eye revealed that Elbit Systems UK was part of a consortium close to winning a £2bn contract that would make it a “strategic partner” of the Ministry of Defence. The FT reported that the former Labour cabinet minister, Peter Hain, had written to the defence secretary, Jon Healey, urging him not to hand the contract to the company, given “the devastation unfolding in Gaza”.
Palestine Action has been granted permission for a judicial review in November of the decision to proscribe. However, at a court of appeal hearing on 25 September, the home secretary will try to overturn the permission decision.
Haroon Siddique is The Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent
Jamie Grierson is a senior news reporter for The Guardian
_________
Israeli arms maker [Elbit] reportedly shuts down UK branch after repeated protests
Sharon Zhang
Truthout / September 8, 2025
Palestine Action has repeatedly targeted Elbit facilities with protests and shutdowns.
Major Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems has reportedly shut down a U.K. facility after it was repeatedly targeted by Palestine Action activists, in a major victory for the group that was recently banned by the U.K. government.
The Guardian reported on Saturday that one of the company’s Bristol facilities, in Aztec West, appears abandoned, with no staff other than a security guard outside of the premises. This is despite the company’s lease on the facility not set to expire until 2029.
Palestine Action had targeted the facility and other Elbit buildings in the U.K. with numerous protests, pouring red paint on the facility and halting operations by occupying the roof and blocking the entrance. Some of these actions came even as the U.K. was in the process of proscribing the group.
“We need to remind ourselves that Elbit (Systems) is one of the two most important Israeli arms films, along with [Israel Aerospace Industries], that is it is obviously a key component of Israel’s military industrial complex,” global arms trade expert and South African politician Andrew Feinstein told The Guardian.
Feinstein said the plant closure is “extremely significant.”
Elbit plays a major role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and assault on the occupied West Bank. It makes most of the Israeli military’s drones, as well as systems for other military vehicles and aircraft.
Activists have said that the Bristol complex is a research and development facility for the company. Elbit denied closing the plant due to protests when contacted by Haaretz, saying the “site is temporarily inactive for commercial reasons.”
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese named Elbit as a major company making up the “economic backbone” of Israel, which she said is dependent on the military industrial complex.
Elbit has been subject to protests in its branches across the world. Law enforcement in the U.K. have arrested dozens of activists with Palestine Action for protesting Elbit. Anti-Elbit protesters in the U.S. and Germany have also faced arrest.
The U.K. declared Palestine Action a terrorist group in July, in a move widely decried as an attempt to silence and criminalize pro-Palestine activism. This weekend, law enforcement arrested nearly a thousand people at a rally against Palestine Action’s proscription in London.
The U.K.’s Ministry of Defense faced criticism recently for reportedly nearing a contract with Elbit Systems UK worth £2 billion, or roughly $2.7 billion, for the company to be a “strategic partner.” This is despite the Labour government announcing last year that it was suspending 30 arms export licenses to Israel over the “clear risk” that the weapons would be used in violations of international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
