Activists from Palestine Action occupied the Manchester offices of Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon, which invests over £10million in Israel’s most prominent weapons firm, Elbit Systems. The front of the offices was covered in red paint whilst two activists were on top of the front doors, and another two attached themselves to lock-on devices to block the car park entrance. A tip-off confirmed Joanne Cash, a senior New York executive of the bank, planned to visit the offices today. 

Joanne Cash is the Head of Control Management for Operations and Services at BNY Mellon, who invested over £10 million in Israel’s biggest weapons firm, Elbit Systems. Repeated protests and actions have taken place at the bank’s premises in both New York and Manchester in a sustained bid to pressure the bank to stop funding genocide. Due to ongoing pressure from Manchester activists, BNY Mellon cancelled a recruitment event. 

Elbit Systems provides 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bombs, missiles and other weaponry. The Israeli weapons maker market their weapons as “battle-tested” after they are developed during bombardments on occupied Palestine. Elbit’s CEO, Bezalel Machlis, explained in a video how crucial Elbit was to the ongoing genocide and how the company has received gratitude from the Israeli military for their lethal services.

Since October 7th, the Israeli military has slaughtered over 30,000 Palestinians (40% of whom are children), injured over 70,000 and displaced the majority of Gaza. During previous bombardments in other parts of Gaza, Israel told Palestinians to flee to Rafah, declaring it a “safe zone”. Israel is now planning a ground invasion of Rafah, where 1.4 out of the 2.1 million Gazan population are sheltering in an area which is the same size as Heathrow Airport.