News / Elbit Systems
Quakers hold vigil for Palestine outside defence contractor’s facility
A group of Quakers have held a vigil for Palestinians outside the gates of Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence contractor.
Starting at around 7.30am on Thursday, around 25 protestors stood peacefully with signs and banners in front of the entrance to Elbit’s facility in Filton, which was barricaded and protected by four security guards.
One banner read ‘Quakers against genocide’ and another labelled Elbit Systems ‘Israel’s biggest arms maker’.
The purpose of the vigil was to draw “attention to the continued production of arms for Israel within Bristol”.
Protestors stood and sat from 7.30 to 9.30am – photo: Morien Robertson
Elbit Systems is an Israel-based arms technology firm which has faced criticism for its support of the Israeli military, for which it provides up to 85 per cent of their land-based equipment and drones, according to the Database of Israeli Military & Security Export.
At 8.30am, one of the vigil’s organisers read a statement from the Yearly Meeting of Quakers in Britain on Gaza, which was followed by a minute of silence.
The statement said: “We have watched with horror as the Israeli government has deepened its collective punishment of Palestinians for the heinous, unjustified crimes of Hamas on 7 October 2023.
“We therefore use the word ‘genocide’ after deep discernment.
“We use this word with the aim of opening eyes, minds and hearts. We use this word in the deep hope that the actions it describes will stop.”
Members of the vigil criticised Elbit Systems for continuing to supply the Israeli military – photo: Morien Robertson
A spokesperson for Elbit Systems UK said: “Any claims that this facility supplies the Israeli military or Israeli Ministry of Defence are completely false.”
Main photo: Morien Robertson
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