Palestine Action Using Loophole to Fund UK Targeting of Israeli Defence Contractor

Palestine Action protesters in Oldham, where at least five people have been arrested after protests at a factory which pro-Palestinian activists claim supplies weapons to Israel, on April 13, 2021. (PA Media)

Palestine Action (PA), which is pursuing a vandalism-led strategy to shut down an Israeli arms manufacturer in the UK, is exploiting a loophole to fund its activities.

PA is participating in a nationwide sabotage campaign against Elbit Systems, a major supplier to the Ministry of Defence and one of Israel’s largest defence contractors.

But despite acknowledging a deliberate law-breaking strategy, which would land a registered company or charity in legal hot water, they are openly fundraising, often via foreign companies.

A barrister told The Epoch Times that injunctions could result in the closure of its funding pages.

Co-founded by Palestinian-Iraqi Huda Ammori and Extinction Rebellion’s Richard Barnard, the group says it is a “direct action network dismantling British complicity with Israeli apartheid.”

Undated handout photo issued by Palestine Action of protesters pouring paint on the Israeli-owned UAV Engines factory, part of Elbit Systems UK, at Shenstone, Lichfield, Staffordshire, on Oct. 27, 2023. (PA Media)

‘Zionist Militia’

The group uses radical methods and language to pursue its goals.

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On Oct. 7, the day of the Hamas terror attack, PA wrote on X, formally known as Twitter, “The violence began when Zionist militia, backed by Britain, began the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, destruction and theft of their land.”

“Despite the asymmetry in resources and military power, Palestinians are resisting and taking their land back,” it added.

Activists have been pictured waving Palestinian flags, throwing paint, and carrying flares onto different Elbit Systems sites as well as companies that supply parts to it in the UK.

Staff members have had to be evacuated with operations suspended in some cases as activists drive through gates to descend on buildings and cause damage.

On Thursday, hundreds of activists hit three sites in one day: Leicester’s UAV Tactical Systems and Howmet Fastening Systems, as well as Instro Precision in Kent.

The group has also recently claimed to have sprayed the office buildings of iO Associates earlier this month because they are “the sole recruiters” for the UK branch of Elbit.

In an email to The Epoch Times, iO Associates said it “holds a recruitment process outsourcing contract with Elbit Systems UK that concludes in November 2023.”

Handout photo of a protest by Palestine Action activists outside the office of an Israeli arms company in Kingsway, Holborn, London, on May 31, 2022. Four protesters have been arrested after gluing themselves together and spraying paint on a building in central London, the Metropolitan Police said. (PA Media)

Funding

As well as fundraising directly on its site, PA use funding tools from countries abroad such as the U.S.-based Action Network.

The Action Network online tool for “left-of-center outlets to organize, fundraise, and circulate petitions for liberal causes,” was born out of the Occupy Wall Street protests, according to Influence Watch.

Action Network says it “encourages responsible activism, and do not support using the platform to take unlawful or other improper action.”

PA also has an account with an Australian-founded internationally regulated global crowdfunding platform called Chuffed. The site is a vehicle for progressive causes. One account is raising funds so that Nigerian progressives can pursue a “socialist revolution.”

The Epoch Times has not been able to establish the level of funding provided to PA, but has contacted Action Network and Chuffed for comment.

Deliberate Law-Breaking Strategy

PA acknowledges a deliberate law-breaking strategy. Some members have been convicted of “possession of items with intent to commit criminal damage” but not jailed.

One woman was convicted in May for her role in a PA protest that caused £1.2 million in damage to a factory that made printed circuit boards in Wales.

While PA claimed the action was to dismantle military equipment, the prosecution said the site was not a military facility, but a factory which made circuit boards for MRI scanners and radar equipment. The jury was told that the site last made circuit boards for Israel in 2009, which were used for mobile phone towers.

On its page, PA has workshops on “crashing war criminals (at their offices and events).”

However the group and its members could still face injunctions, despite its opaque set up.

Public law barrister Francis Hoar told The Epoch Times that PA appears to have “no individual legal identity.”

“However, the evidence of coordinated campaigns in its name and the use of its name in a fundraising campaign is evidence that it is an unincorporated association,” he said.

Mr. Hoar said that as a result, any individual or company targeted by it could seek an injunction against individuals representing the organisation that could prevent any persons from carrying out criminal or even any activity.

He noted that the High Court has imposed such injunctions against the organisers of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty in 2003, and of the Animal Liberation Front in 2006 and against many other protest groups.

“Moreover, those who donate to this organisation appear to do so fully aware that their funds are intended to pay for criminal activity—in particular criminal damage; as are any organisation allowing it to process its funds at least once it becomes aware of its public campaigns,” he said.

“It would be open to companies that are the target of Palestine Action to apply for injunctions closing the funding pages; and that could be done in the jurisdiction of England and Wales even if enforcing an injunction against a company based abroad would be challenging,” he added.

United States

The group is now focused on causing disruption in the United States.

In a recent X post Palestine Action US wrote that it was targeting “landlords and co-tenants of Elbit’s Cambridge location” as they “don’t want war criminals working in our communities!”

The imagery in the post contained blood drops and target signs aimed architecture companies that are near Elbit’s Cambridge location.

Ryan Mauro from The Capital Research Center, which examines how foundations, charities, and other nonprofits spend money, told The Epoch Times that there’s no transparency with unregistered organisations in the United States.

“In the U.S., you can have unregistered organisations that operate through another NGO that is a ‘fiscal sponsor,’” he said.

He explained that in this arrangement, donations to the unregistered organisation are handled through the fiscal sponsor, which redistributes the funds to the intended organisation.

“The unregistered organisation doesn’t have to make any filings, so there’s no transparency. It’s possible that the fiscal sponsor might disclose the amount given to the unregistered organisation they are helping, but it isn’t required,” he added.

The Epoch Times contacted Palestine Action and Elbit Systems for comment.

Lily Zhou contributed to this report.