Four arrested after Palestine Action copycat group attacks UK defence factory

Police have arrested four people for criminal damage after a new anti-Israel direct action group attacked a defence factory in Wolverhampton, claiming the site had “involvement in the F-35 programme…being used in the genocide against Palestinians”.

Staffordshire police confirmed that “four people have been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage offences following an incident at an industrial unit in south Staffordshire earlier today.

“We were called at 3.50am today to Valiant Way, in Pendeford, following reports of criminal damage. A number of individuals had entered a manufacturing building and gained access to the roof. Significant damage was caused to a number of sky lights and solar panels.

“Officers, along with colleagues from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, were deployed to the scene and four individuals were arrested. This is an ongoing investigation and we would ask members of the public to avoid the site at this time.”

In videos shared to social media, “Palestinian Martyrs for Justice” used a vehicle to ram through the gates to the Moog defence and aerospace company’s facility in Staffordshire, scaling the roof and attempting to cut holes through it. One of the videos shows sharp electrical tools being used to attempt to penetrate the roof, with a female narrator saying “what we are trying to do now is to cut down into the workshop to destroy the machines that are being used to make parts for F-35 fighter jets”. Subsequent images show that attempts to breach the roof were successful.

Moog, which has operated for more than 50 years in the UK, opened its Wolverhampton site in 2012. It describes its production facilities in locations including Wolverhampton as places where the company “manufacture[s] advanced systems for complex aerospace, defence, space, and industrial applications”.

The techniques used by “Palestinian Martyrs for Justice” appear extremely similar to those used by Palestine Action prior to its proscription as a terrorist organisation last month. Since its creation in 2020, Palestine Action carried out a series of attacks on defence factories which it claimed were linked to providing weapons or help to the Israeli military. In early July, Palestine Action members videoed themselves breaching RAF Brize Norton and causing damage to military planes. Later that month the organisation was proscribed as a terrorist group – a court challenge to that proscription is set to take place later this year.

In June a Palestinian group failed in a legal challenge to stop the British government from exporting F-35 aircraft parts to Israel. The government had made it clear that the F-35 parts it produces are not supplied directly to Israel, but are instead sent to a general pool, with different components from that overall supply then sent to nations signed up to the F-35 programme, including Israel. It had stated, as mentioned in the High Court’s judgement, that the only way such a suspension could be achieved is if it suspended arms licensing on F-35 for all nations signed up to the F-35 programme, and that this “would have a profound and immediate impact on international peace and security, would undermine US confidence in the UK and NATO at a critical juncture, would seriously undermine the credibility of the UK as a trusted partner on the international stage, and would undermine a key capability allowing the UK and its closest allies and partners to address current security challenges.