LONDON

Pro-Palestine activists from the Palestine Action group again targeted Israel’s largest weapons company on Tuesday, amid a risk of being banned as a "terrorist organization."

In Bristol, South West England, Palestine Action activists blockaded the only entrance to Elbit Systems’ command center.

"Days away from potentially being proscribed," Palestine Action said it shut down the Elbit System headquarters, and supplier of Israel's biggest weapons producer, adding on X it will engage in "direct action until victory."

In another post, Palestine Action said: "The Home Secretary says you have the right to protest without being called a terrorist, but as soon as you're effective and disrupt the Israeli weapons industry — you're a terrorist. The terrorists are the ones committing and assisting the genocide, not those disrupting them."

A Palestine Action activist said in a clip that the group is blocking the entrance for the entire day because "Elbit Systems is complicit in the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” and that "85% of Elbit’s of the drones used in Gaza are from Elbit,”

In another protest, Palestine Action members occupied the roof of Guardtech, which the group accused of being a "supplier to Israel's biggest weapons producer."

"The firm build and repair the cleanrooms needed by Elbit to make weapons used to massacre the Palestinian people. That's why we're shutting it down," said an activist in a video posted on X by Palestine Action.

Government plan to ban Palestine Action

The actions came on the same day that the British government named Palestine Action among three groups to be banned in the UK.

It followed plans announced by the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as a draft order that has been laid in parliament, which will ban Palestine Action, as well as two further groups, the Maniacs Murder Cult (MMC) and the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM). 

If passed, the order will make it a criminal offence to be a member of one of the groups or to invite or recklessly express support for them, and make it an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison to belong to or support the groups.

Cooper said in the statement that the government will "always take the action needed" to protect the country's democracy and national security against different threats.

Last week, the home secretary announced her intention to ban Palestine Action, a UK-based group that aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli government.

Hundreds gathered in central Trafalgar Square on the same day of the announcement to express support for Palestine Action amid reports that the group will be added to the terror list.

The government's intention to ban the group comes after activists from Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and damaged two aircraft on June 20 to protest the UK's support for Israel and its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, a group of more than 400 cultural figures urged the British government on Monday to step back from its intention to ban the Palestine Action group and to "stop arming Israel."