The group is calling on people to protest outside Mold Crown Court on Monday, as activists are sentenced after £1.2million worth of damage was caused at a factory in Powys that supplies technology for Israeli weapons systems and military aircraft
By George Mills. Cover image by Tom Davies
Palestine Action has called for support and solidarity as four activists are to be sentenced for conspiracy to commit criminal damage at Mold Crown Court on 26th of June, after shutting down production and allegedly causing over £1 million worth of damage to the Teledyne factory in Presteigne, Powys.
The organisation is asking members of the public to come to the sentencing and show that Wales and its people will not accept, nor be complicit, with the apartheid system in Israel and ongoing racial persecution of the Palestinian people.
In a sign of the sheer brutality of the regime, Israeli soldiers shot a three year old boy in the head whilst he was sitting in a car, killing him and injuring his father earlier this month.
On May 9th, the four Palestine Action activists were put on trial for occupying and dismantling the Teledyne factory on December 9th of last year. The American company has been supplying the Israeli regime since 1973 with computer technology and components for their weapons systems and military aircraft. The Palestine Action members were held on remand at HMP Berwyn and HMP Styal for 152 days before their trial at Caernarfon Crown Court.
The four activists halted production at the factory and allegedly caused £1.2million worth of damage, with two activists on the roof and two inside the factory. In court, Teledyne admitted that some of the damaged property in the factory could have been used for military equipment, despite previously denying such claims, stating that they created technology for MRI scanners.
On the day of the action at the factory, Teledyne deleted all mention of their weapons production and sales to the Israeli government from their website, despite promoting their connections beforehand. At the trial itself, a police officer revealed a list of weapons manufacturers that Teledyne work with, a list that included Lockheed Martin as well as other major arms suppliers.
A spokesperson from Palestine Action told voice.wales that the prosecution made the argument that there were deadly chemicals such as arsenic in the factory, that if released, could cause serious and potentially lethal harm to those in the factory and the locality.
Teledyne’s prosecution sighted that a nearby school could have been affected by such a chemical leak, to which the defence replied that the chemicals were never a target nor was there prior knowledge of them being there. The activists also asked why, if they posed such a potential threat, were they kept in such close vicinity to the local population and a school, and for what purpose?
The trial seems to have been heavily weighted against the activists from the outset.
Palestine Action stated that the judge would only allow the limited defence of consent, meaning locals would have had to have known what the factory was doing and opposed it. Any other arguments the defence might have had was not allowed. One of the activists on trial replied:
“The people of Wales would consent to this action [shutting down the factory], should they have known about what was being produced at the factory and its deadly uses against the Palestinian people.”
Palestine Action told voice.wales that Teledyne representatives at the trial stuck to the same line that they only manufactured MRI equipment, but that one manager admitted that some of the technology developed at the plant could indeed be used for weapons systems, as argued by Palestine Action from the start.
The group also said that the limited press coverage of the trial was seemingly skewed from the start.
“The BBC came to report the trial but only showed up for the first day to hear the prosecution and didn’t bother to stick around for the defence and as such, missed the Teledyne representatives being called out on their lies in court,” a Palestine Action spokesperson told voice.wales.
Since the grounds of the factory are owned by the Welsh government, Palestine Action claimed that the state is both knowledgeable of and complicit in the use of products from the plant in the Israeli occupation and regular bombardment of Palestine.
The defendants in the case were eventually charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and will discover their fate at the sentencing at Mold Crown Court on June 26th.
Palestine Action are calling for all pro-Palestine activists to take a stand and demonstrate in solidarity outside the court.
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