Interview with Israeli dissidents taking action for Palestine
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00:00I'm one of the so-called Bristol 7 who smashed the Elbit headquarters in
00:05Bristol on Nakba Day 2022.
00:1674 years of colonization, 74 years of apartheid, 74 years of crimes against
00:24We were relieved we were not given a custodial sentence but sent home on a
00:30suspended sentence. Here is our story.
00:43I grew up in apartheid Israel to a Holocaust surviving family. I was a
00:51product of a Zionist education system. I did not know of Palestine, I did not know
00:56where it is. It was rather something far remote. I did not realize that Israel is
01:04in fact built on the top of Palestine. My parents were born in Eastern Europe and
01:10they came in to Palestine to inherit other people's land. My dad arrived when
01:14he was a baby just after the foundation of the Zionist state. Because of Zionist
01:19forces they were only given one option. Most of those Jews who fled from
01:25Europe and had the option to go to other places like North America and so on they
01:30did. But the majority ended up in Palestine because that was the only
01:34option that was available for them. Growing up I did not have much
01:39interaction with children my age who are not from Jewish backgrounds. Most Israeli
01:46kids are being taught to be afraid of their neighbors. Part and parcel of
01:52Zionist thinking is about that exclusive nature of Zionism that there is us and
02:00there's them and them will never be like us. So I usually refer to Zionism as a
02:06cult but sometimes I refer to it as a mental disorder because it manifests as
02:12a mental disorder where people who are Zionist literally cannot see
02:17Palestinians as equal human beings and that's part and parcel of their
02:21Zionist type of thinking and this is something that has to be taught. I lived
02:25in a very segregated society within the Zionist education system and being a
02:29very kind of profound product of that education system with high expectation
02:35of me excelling in the military and becoming officer. Israeli citizens by law
02:40are military property when they reach the age of 17 regardless of whether they
02:44get drafted or not. So two months into the army since I studied physics in
02:48university they wanted me to be in charge of an anti-tank missile project.
02:52This is a missile that you can see being used quite heavily these days. So
03:01all I did for the first couple of months is sit in the library and read about
03:05missiles and then I had this realization. I stopped being a soldier. Then it took
03:11almost a year and a half of fighting the system trying to get out of there but
03:15from my perspective I was no longer an Israeli, not a soldier. I didn't mind what
03:20they would do. I told them you can send me for three years in prison if you want
03:24I don't care but I'm no longer part of this game. I mean it's your problem not
03:27mine you can do with it whatever you want. After dodging the military I was
03:33privileged enough to go to the university and meet intellectuals and
03:40individuals who were speaking about colonialism and apartheid. So I realized I
03:46came to understand the historical forces of colonialism and imperialism
03:51basically subjugating the indigenous people of Palestine and depriving them
03:56of their freedom, liberty and livelihood. The moment that I realized that there is
04:01such a notion of military refusal and that I wasn't alone in that then I
04:08started helping others and at the same time it was clear that that I should
04:14take action alongside Palestinians. Quite early on I also became activists with
04:20Anarchist Against the Wall. We would go on weekly demonstrations in solidarity
04:24invited by the local villagers whose lands were being annexed and confiscated
04:32and I was like many others I was beaten I was shot at I was arrested numerous
04:37times. I had friends, a friend was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel
04:45bullet, Elbit made of course, also the adapters made by Elbit. At that
04:49demonstration I was shot in my leg with such a bullet. I was familiar with the
04:55term Elbit because my family was providing services to Elbit system which
05:01is also based in Haifa so Elbit system is a name that I knew all of my life and
05:08it was not before 2011 that I participated in a demo in Tel Aviv for
05:13two young boys who were bombarded by a missile that was produced by Elbit and
05:19was launched by an Elbit drone in Gaza, Mohamed El Zaza and Ibrahim El Zaza who
05:26passed away from that drone and Mohamed came to testify in our trial. Elbit is
05:32Israel's largest arms manufacturer producing at least 85% of the killer
05:36drones being used 24-7 in Gaza and also in the West Bank more recently. In the
05:42West Bank they try out what's called less than lethal weapons including the
05:47steel bullets including something called the scream which is making a loud
05:50noise which is Elbit made including all kinds of like beanbags and salt bullets
05:54and different types of tear gas ammunition. I mean there's so many things
05:57that they have been trying on us. At the same time in Gaza this is their whole
06:04lab for trying out their very lethal weaponry and every time like now when
06:10Israel is bombing the hell out of Gaza it is done in direct cooperation with
06:17Elbit where this is their R&D in action. Coming from background of Holocaust
06:27survivors it was very clear to me that once there are crimes against
06:32humanity that are being conducted one should not stand aside so this is the
06:37kind of moral imperative to which I was committed and still committed and
06:43believe this is a kind of universal call to not to avert our gaze when we see our
06:49brothers and sisters in suffering. Elbit in Bristol is the headquarters of
06:56Elbit's operations in the UK which is simply the UK office of the greater
07:01Elbit, Elbit Israel. The vast majority of the directors of Elbit UK in
07:05subsidiaries here are employees who are the high-ranking officials in Elbit
07:12Israel including the president and CEO himself who is director of Elbit UK and
07:17many others. The Israeli embassy to the UK and the UK ambassador to Israel were
07:22both at the opening of the new Bristol site. Once I've moved abroad to pursue
07:27higher education I joined the BDS campaign and after many years of
07:32engaging in that campaign and challenging the authorities and
07:36challenging politicians and public representatives it seems that it all
07:43led to a dead end and at this point it was crucial to begin to engage in direct
07:51action and to actively prevent weapons from being produced and shipped to Israel.
07:59There used to be universal jurisdiction in in the UK. We could go and go after
08:07Israeli war criminals so the UK changed the law to allow for Israeli war
08:12criminals to arrive here in the UK and this was put to the test in 2011 when CP
08:17Levy was the first one who arrived and there was an arrest warrant filed
08:22against her for war crimes and it was the head of the public prosecution
08:26Kirst Harmer who decided to change the status of her mission and lend her
08:32immunity and she has more recently been elected to be director of Elbit Systems.
08:39We know we have the full moral ground to take this action and it's also not just
08:47some any higher law it's actually written law that allow us to stop such
08:53industries from engaging in this illegal manufacturing of weapon that has
08:58been produced for the use of genocide and war crimes.
09:02It seems like anyone who is trying to to oppose the criminals is being branded a
09:09criminal and this is done in a systemic and deliberate way here in the UK.
09:16They obviously changed different aspects of the law denying us different defenses
09:20you know based on the Colston statue case there was an appeal to change the
09:25law in that sense more recently they have appealed to change the law about consent.
09:29It's a beginning of Palestine action there was the authorities were
09:36reluctant to tend to take activists to court because they didn't want to shed
09:40lights on the kind of murderous enterprise that they are running but as
09:48time went by and we in Palestine action managed to create a critical mass of
09:54people willing to take action and putting their body on the line the
09:59authorities are more willing to to drag us to court and take away our defenses
10:05in law. When we went to court we basically we couldn't argue for
10:10protection of life and necessity and urgency all of which were factors in why
10:16we've taken action. After a four-week trial we were found guilty without being
10:22able to present the full motivation of what we take in action.
10:27This genocide was in the cards it was only a matter of time what has happened
10:34back then is that there was already like high tension and and people were already
10:39being targeted in the West Bank. Shirin Abu Akler the journalist was
10:44murdered just a couple of days before our action and the intention was to stop
10:53the manufacturing and shipment of those murder machines to Israel for as long as
11:00we could. As I see the entire instrument of law as it is formulated is the
11:07instrument of the strong so the authorities have ultimate power they
11:13have state power and they can use it in any way they want but that is not
11:18something that deters me personally because we are talking here about the
11:26most severe crimes they are talking about the crime of genocide. My soul has
11:33not been so abused that I have forgotten that my basic duty is to care for my
11:37brothers and sisters. Our blood is already mixed with the blood of
11:41Palestinians we are all in the same struggle and if we have to go to prison
11:46they're just a continuation of the struggle if we are not taking action we
11:52are far worse than going to prison we carry the prison within ourselves. When I
11:57was asked to apologize on the stand I said that I apologize to the people of
12:01Gaza and I apologized that I was not able to avert that genocide that is
12:11happening right in front of our eyes that myself and others probably have
12:19not have not been successful and that is what I deeply regret. Freedom is not
12:26going to bring itself we must be the midwife of freedom even if it has to pay
12:32a price and nothing is being born without pain and we are going to take
12:37pride in the action we've taken we have smashed into the building we have spilled
12:42pray paint we have barricaded ourselves we managed to destroy anything we saw
12:49our way and we are very proud of it and this is how things has to be done and
12:54hopefully people will follow suit to dismantle the war machine and to shut