Palestine Action crashed two cars into the bollards in front of Elbit’s Leicester drone factory, UAV Tactical Systems (U-TacS). Activists used D-locks to attach themselves to the steering wheels to successfully blockade the only entrance into the Israeli weapons maker. Dozens of locals came out to reinforce the blockade, chanting ‘murderer’ to workers as they were forced to drive home.  A Palestine Action spokesperson said: 

“The apparatus of the Israeli military has been embedded into our communities without our permission. Despite legal and moral obligations, our political class continues to make us complicit in the Gaza genocide. So we have no option but to take direct action and shut Elbit down. Day after day, we will disrupt the Israeli war machine in solidarity with the Palestinian people.” U-TacS is majority owned by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, and partially owned by French arms company Thales. Elbit supplies 85% of Israel’s drone fleet and land-based military equipment, marketing its weapons to the world as “battle-tested” on Palestinians. Their flagship drone is the Watchkeeper, modelled on the Hermes 450 and operated in Afghanistan and Iraq. Elbit’s Hermes 450 is regularly used during previous bombardments and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The Israeli military used it to murder seven aid workers, including three British citizens. U-TacS also exports military drone equipment to the apartheid state of Israel. Since October 7th, the Israeli military has killed over 33,482 Palestinians, injured 76,049 and destroyed approximately 62% of homes in Gaza.