Palestine Action activists targeted two companies yesterday with links to Israeli arms firm Elbit, as the group continued to target supply chains contributing to the war on Gaza.

Machine tools automation company Hydrafeed and aviation pacaking specialist Kite work with Elbit weapons factory, Instro Precision, in Kent. Their business relationship with the Israeli arms maker was confirmed during an action when activists broke into Instro Precision in June of this year. 

One group spray painted ‘Drop Elbit Instro’, at Kite Packaging’s regional distribution centre at Sheppey Way, Sittingbourne. The packing company provides “engineered solutions to protect, transport and store” weaponry. It’s the second time activists have targeted the site following an action on July 8th. 

Elsewhere, activists smashed inside and damaged technology within the Milton Keynes headquarters of Hydrafeed, whose machinery is used as part of Instro Precision’s weapons manufacturing process. The company also provides ongoing support for their customers including “a rapid response for breakdowns, repairs, spares and replacement parts.” 

Instro Precision manufactures weapons sights, target acquisition, and electro-optics systems for the Israeli military, including the targeting systems for troop and vehicle ground operations in Gaza. The company has been granted more than 50 export licenses for shipment of “ML5” category arms (weapons sights and target acquisition systems) to Israel in just a five-year period and their electro-optical equipment has been described as an “important tool in the continuation of apartheid practices in Israel”. 

The companies deny they have connections to Elbit. After the first break-in Hydrafeed said in a public statement: “We do not supply and never have supplied Elbit Systems with any of our products.”

Palestine Action say they have written to both Hydrafeed and Kite Packaging, however, to explain that Instro Precision is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems, showing evidence of their business relationship with the Israeli arms maker.

A Palestine Action spokesperson said: “The genocide in Gaza is sustained by Israel’s military supply chain, which includes all companies who supply and work with Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems. As Elbit can’t make their weaponry without the means to transport them and the machinery to make them, our campaign will continue until the companies drop Elbit.”

Pics: Screengrabs from video provided by Palestine Action