The break-in at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, happened in August 2024. Photograph: X
Charlotte Head, who is accused of taking part in a break-in at Israeli defence firm, is called a ‘remarkable woman’ by her barrister
… Charlotte Head, 29, is on trial at Woolwich crown court, south-east London, accused of being involved in a “meticulously organised” protest at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, on 6 August 2024.
… On Thursday in closing submissions, Head’s barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, detailed his client’s years of activism, including her work with refugees in Calais. He said the suffragettes were celebrated publicly for their heroism but in their time were accused of being “a threat to the social order” and “unladylike, feral, aggressive, violent” by MPs and in the mainstream press.
“The reality, of course, is very different,” Menon told the court. “The suffragettes were remarkable women from all walks of life united in their hope, their despair, their defiance and their dedication.
“Charlotte Head is also a remarkable woman and I say that without any reservation. This is not something that lawyers defending clients in criminal trials often say … we are taught to avoid the personal. But it must be said in this case, not only because it is true but also because it is relevant.”
Menon described Elbit Systems, of which Elbit Systems UK is a subsidiary, as a “dreadful company” that “has played a critical role in the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians” but is “wined and dined” in the corridors of power.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Police detain demonstrators as activists gather outside the Ministry of Justice during the “Lift the Ban” protest launched by the Defend Our Juries campaign group ahead of the judicial review on the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization in London, United Kingdom, on November 20, 2025. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]
Five activists who targeted Israel’s arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in Germany are being held in harsh and legally questionable conditions. Charged under a statute increasingly used to criminalize political dissent, the ‘Ulm Five’ face solitary confinement, surveillance, and prolonged detention without bail – highlighting how Germany’s proclaimed ‘reason of state’ translates into repression of Palestine solidarity at home.
For years, Palestine activists in Germany have looked to Britain with a sense of astonishment. The state that promised Palestine to Zionist settler colonialism in the 1917 Balfour Declaration is scarcely less pro-Israel than the Federal Republic of Germany, with its so-called Staatsräson (‘reason of state‘) that proclaims unconditional solidarity with Israel – albeit without ever having been codified into law. And yet, solidarity in Britain appears – at least from this vantage point – to be more vibrant, broader, and above all more effective.
This perception is partly shaped by the mass demonstrations that repeatedly brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of London between October 2023 and October 2025. In Germany, by contrast – despite its many large cities but lack of true megacities – numerous decentralized actions have taken place every week since the start of the Gaza genocide. However, truly large demonstrations breaking the 50,000 or even 100,000 mark did not occur until last summer.
A model: ‘Palestine Action’
For many, this positive view of the British Palestine solidarity movement has also been decisively shaped by the group Palestine Action (PA), which succeeded in combining ‘direct action with media work and political struggle, including legal battles in court. Quite a few activists in Germany felt – and continue to feel – that the time had come to strike directly at the infrastructure of the genocide industry here as well.
That moment arrived only this fall. On September 8, five activists entered a factory belonging to the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in the southern German city of Ulm. They filmed themselves, unmasked, damaging equipment and holding documents up to the camera. They then allowed themselves to be arrested without resistance.
While in Britain thousands have taken to the streets since PA was designated a ‘terrorist organisation this summer – despite the risk of long prison sentences – the situation surrounding the so-called ‘Ulm Five‘ has so far remained strikingly quiet. The reasons are obvious: the group had no years-long history of actions through which to establish itself; the Palestine solidarity movement in Germany remains highly fragmented; even many activists only marginally noticed the action. Finally, the repression faced by the ‘Ulm Five’ – at least so far – has not reached the same extreme levels seen in Britain.
Unlike their British counterparts, the German authorities don’t accuse the activists of belonging to a ‘terrorist organisation a charge made possible by Section 129a of the Criminal Code, introduced in 1976. Instead, they are accused of forming a ‘criminal organisation‘ under Section 129, which carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison. This alleged offense would be added to the charges of property damage already leveled against them.
Section 129, originally intended to combat organized crime, is increasingly being deployed against political groups. Most recently, it has been used against young climate activists and militant anti-fascists. In practice, this amounts to a kind of ‘light‘ version of a terrorist designation – while simultaneously denying the political nature of the accused and treating them as ordinary criminals.
Harassment and struggle behind bars
The treatment of the imprisoned activists is similarly harsh and legally questionable, according to a report by seven lawyers representing the five. As in Britain, they have been denied release on bail. The lawyers also describe harassment immediately following the arrests: the activists were forced to undress and wait in their cells wearing only underwear – women without brassieres included. For 30 hours they received almost no food, and in one case medically prescribed medication was withheld for 20 hours. Interrogations were conducted in the absence of legal counsel.
The harassment has continued. Several prisoners are reportedly held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. One individual was denied access to their lawyer for two weeks; in another case, contact with family was blocked for an entire month. Meetings with attorneys remain severely restricted, and family visits are in some cases limited to one hour per month. All communication is fully monitored, and letters are arbitrarily withheld.
While eight PA activists in Britain have been on hunger strike since early November to protest their conditions of detention – and are now said to be in life-threatening condition – the imprisoned ‘Ulm Five’ have not yet resorted to this drastic measure. But neither in Britain nor in Germany would they be the first political prisoners to turn their bodies into weapons against repression. And as the history of the Irish liberation struggle and West Germany’s urban guerrilla movements makes clear, those in power – there as here – have shown little hesitation in allowing prisoners to die.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
CLAMPDOWN: People take part in a demonstration at Parliament Square
THE Palestine Action hunger strike is on track to become the largest since the 1981 Irish republican protest led by Bobby Sands, yet campaigners say it has faced a “mainstream media blackout.”
So far, seven prisoners have refused food — some for as long as four weeks — with more expected to join.
They are among 33 prisoners who are locked away without trial, over alleged involvement in non-violent actions aimed at blockading arms supply to Israel.
The hunger strikers’ demands are clear. They want Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, to cease operating in Britain for good.
They want the ban on Palestine Action, currently designated a terror group, to be lifted. And they are demanding immediate bail and a fair trial — basic democratic rights that should already be guaranteed.
Francesca Nadin, a spokesperson for Prisoners for Palestine, spoke to the Morning Star about their struggle.
Nadin herself was in prison on remand last year, over actions at a Teledyne weapons factory and a Barclays branch in Leeds.
“The fact is that for the charges that they have, which is property damage, people are never usually kept on remand,” she says.
“It’s clear to me that the process is the punishment.”
Four of the strikers — Qesser Zuhrah, Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Kamran Ahmed — have been held on remand since last November, far exceeding the six-month pre-trial custody limit.
They are part of the “Filton 24” — inmates held in connection to an action in which activists reportedly drove a repurposed prison van into an Elbit manufacturing hub and dismantled equipment inside.
Qesser, who hasn’t eaten for over four weeks, now feels close to collapse, campaigners report, while Heba, who has also gone more than a month without food is severely fatigued and is finding it increasingly difficult to hold water down.
Teuta and Kamran, who haven’t eaten for 26 and 25 days, were both recently hospitalised.
“As you can imagine now, they’re all very weak”, Nadin says.
“It’s getting to the point of serious deterioration. We are just prepared for something very serious to happen any moment now.”
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
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Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes targeted residential areas in the Gaza Strip, as seen from Israel near the border, on October 07, 2025. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
A new report has accused London’s £34 billion ($45.43 billion) public sector pension fund of investing billions in companies allegedly complicit in Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinians, Anadolu reports.
The Blood Money report, released Thursday by the campaign group Shake The CIV, claims that the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV) — which manages £34.2 billion on behalf of 32 London local authorities — has over £7 billion ($9 billion) invested in firms “enabling Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights.”
The fund represents the deferred wages of around 700,000 Londoners.
According to the report, LCIV’s investments include almost £1 billion ($1.4 billion) in arms manufacturers, such as £10 million ($13 million) in Israeli weapons producer Elbit Systems and £228 million ($305 million) in British firm BAE Systems.
The report also highlights £5.2 billion ($7 billion) in technology companies accused of facilitating Israel’s surveillance and control of Palestinians, including over £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in Microsoft.
For the first time, the report reveals the names of elected councilors who sit on LCIV’s Shareholder Committee — information the organization has refused to make public despite multiple Freedom of Information requests.
LCIV, which quietly sold £6.7 million ($9 million) in Israeli government bonds in 2024, has faced growing protests and says it is reviewing its investments in 12 unnamed companies.
However, the fund has refused to disclose the names of those companies, even to the councilors representing the local authorities whose pension funds it manages.
The report also criticizes LCIV for deleting a July 2024 statement on Gaza from its website, later replacing it in July 2025 with a post claiming to be “neutral” on the issue.
Campaigners say this stance “belies its claims to be a responsible investor,” noting that LCIV took “swift action” over the Russian invasion of Ukraine but not in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Shake The CIV is calling on LCIV to “immediately, completely, and permanently divest from all companies complicit in Israel’s genocide and apartheid against Palestinians.”
Cllr Liam Shrivastava, a member of Lewisham Council’s Pension Committee, said in a statement: “At stake here are not only the lives of millions of human beings but also local authorities’ right to make democratic decisions about financial matters. In the 1980s, many London councils made history by cutting financial ties with apartheid South Africa and recently, many have divested from fossil fuels. Genocide is the crime of crimes — we have to do whatever we can to stop it.”
Five boroughs — Waltham Forest, Islington, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and Lewisham — have announced plans to divest following local campaigns.
However, their pension funds remain invested through LCIV portfolios, and campaigners say progress has been slow.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed over 67,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children.
The relentless bombardment has left Gaza largely uninhabitable, leading to widespread starvation and diseases.
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Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
CLAMPDOWN: People take part in a demonstration at Parliament Square
