Files reviewed by The Grayzone reveal a shocking foreign meddling scandal, as British state prosecutors are seen colluding with Israeli authorities to classify anti-genocide protesters as terrorists and imprison them on heavily politicized grounds.
by Kit Klarenberg
Part 2 - Long-running secret collusion
Emails obtained by The Grayzone show collusion between British law enforcement bodies, Elbit Systems, and the Israeli embassy in London has been ongoing for several years. On March 2, 2022, then-Home Secretary Priti Patel met with Elbit’s British CEO Martin Fausset. The meeting’s explicit objective was to reassure the international death merchant “that the criminal protest acts against Elbit Systems UK are taken seriously” by authorities in London.
A briefing note for Patel outlined “key points to raise” with Fausset. “Palestine Action’s criminal activity is for the police to investigate,” one note stated. But while local law enforcement were ostensibly “operationally independent of government,” the document revealed that Home Office officials had “been in contact with the police about [Palestine Action].”
The declassified record is heavily redacted, although an unexpurgated segment on “lines to take” during the secret summit directed Patel to “thank Martin for the work Elbit does in support of the British Armed Forces.” A subsequent internal email discussing the meeting was then dispatched to various senior Home Office “counter-terror” officials, including Michael Stewart, then-chief of Britain’s notorious PREVENT program.
The declassified record is heavily redacted, although an unexpurgated segment on “lines to take” during the secret summit directed Patel to “thank Martin for the work Elbit does in support of the British Armed Forces.” A subsequent internal email discussing the meeting was then dispatched to various senior Home Office “counter-terror” officials, including Michael Stewart, then-chief of Britain’s notorious PREVENT program.
The email summarized the meeting and “immediate next steps as a priority.” Fausset was quoted complaining that “the protests Elbit were experiencing from Palestine Action were getting more and more severe,” with “well organised, funded and trained” protesters, and “a significant online effort to mobilise and train.” Patel was reportedly “deeply concerned about everything she heard,” and proposed a variety of measures be taken in response.
Because the documents are heavily redacted, it is unclear what occurred at Patel and Fausset’s meeting. Prior to their discussion, not a single Palestine Action member had been convicted for targeting Elbit Systems. Just one month later though, the British state made the unusual step of appealing the acquittal of four activists who toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol in June 2020. The perpetrators walked free after asserting human rights defenses, which had been employed by Palestine Action demonstrators to beat charges of criminal damage on previous occasions.
However, in the Colston case, the court ruled that human rights defenses could only be relied on in cases of vandalism of public property, not in cases where criminal damage has been caused to private property. Because Elbit is a private company, the Attorney General’s Office used this determination to dramatically increase prosecutions of Palestine Action activists.
However, in the Colston case, the court ruled that human rights defenses could only be relied on in cases of vandalism of public property, not in cases where criminal damage has been caused to private property. Because Elbit is a private company, the Attorney General’s Office used this determination to dramatically increase prosecutions of Palestine Action activists.
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