While all eyes were on the election, Palestine Action was actually doing something meaningful

While many of us were watching the Labour Party romp to the most uninspiring and unsupported general election victory in modern times, Palestine Action was doing something worthwhile: shutting down the supply chain to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Palestine Action: what election?

Three Palestine Action activists were arrested on Friday 5 June after they shut down another site of the Teledyne Technologies company, striking at the Israeli-genocide-supplying ‘Teledyne CML Composites’ factory in Bromborough, Wirral.

Through driving a van through the gates and spraying the premises red, activists have forced the site shut:

This will prevent its contributions to Israel’s genocide – namely, its manufacture of parts for the F-35 fighter jets dropping 1,000lb and 2,000lb bombs over the most populated place on earth, for which Teledyne CML Composites has the blood of tens-of-thousands of Palestinians on its hands:

Of course, complicit cops were on hand to protect corporate interests:

Teledyne CML directly manufactures “Aircraft Structural Components: Complex-geometry glass-fibre packers” for the fighter jet programme, as well as acting as a supplier to numerous other ‘tier 1’ F-35 partners, including BAE Systems, Marand, and Magellan. To BAE Systems alone, Teledyne CML provides at least ten different “Special processes” for their F-35 programme contributions.

It is crucial to Britain’s manufacturing contribution to the F-35, and by extension it is central in the country’s complicity in the atrocities under Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Shut it down

Its sister site in Shipley, ‘Teledyne Defence and Space’ has been granted dozens of export licenses for military electronics and munitions category arms annually, and was occupied by Palestine Action activists only three months ago.

An activist held on remand in HMP Doncaster since that action was released just this week – with that action itself coming after activists raided and took apart the Teledyne Labtech factory in Presteigne, Wales, in December 2022.

Palestine Action said in a statement:

All of these actions are taken to undermine and undo British complicity in Israeli occupation, genocide, and colonial violence. Across all of their dormant and active subsidiaries, including ev2, Labtech, and others, the Teledyne Technologies company is the single largest exporter of weapons to Israel, by volume of licenses, from Britain.

Their presence in Britain is a stain on our collective humanity. Palestine Action will continue to act where others fail to, to prevent further contributions to the attempted erasure of Palestinian existence.

Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action