Action for Palestine group storms factory believed to export weapons technology to Israel; four arrested, local parents terrified.
By Adina Katz, World Israel News
Pro-Palestinian activists armed with sledgehammers stormed an American-owned weapons factory in a small Welsh town, smashing windows and damaging equipment, due to the factory’s alleged export of products to Israel.
The UK-based Action for Palestine group attacked Teledyne Lab Ltd. last Thursday morning, at around 7:30 a.m. The factory is located in Presteigne, a small town on the border between Wales and England.
Around 10 people affiliated with the group broke windows, destroyed computers and other infrastructure, poured red paint throughout the exterior and interior of the building, and then sat on the roof of the building until police arrived.
At least four people were arrested, including a 65-year-old woman, according to UK outlet The Telegraph.
The Teledyne factory is located in close proximity to a school, and parents startled by the sudden flurry of police activity in the normally sleep hamlet were concerned that the activists posed a risk to their children.
“The school is being inundated with phone calls. There is no issue with either school and everyone is safe,” tweeted a local politician, Councillor Beverley Baynham, during the incident.
In a press statement, Action for Palestine said they attacked the factory due to the fact that it reportedly has an export license to send its products to the Jewish state.
“Teledyne produces image sensors for military applications, as well as high-resolution surveillance technology for Israel’s illegal apartheid wall. Israel’s armed drone fleet, deployed in successive assaults on Gaza since the 51-day attack in 2014, are also outfitted with Teledyne targeting systems, which enables Israel to precision target children and schools,” the group said.
“Teledyne Technologies’ products are therefore directly attributable to the surveillance and murder of thousands of Palestinians… Tackling the imperialist hydra means cutting off all its heads, so we will shut down each and every company complicit in the ongoing colonization of Palestine.”
The allegation that Israel intentionally targets Palestinian schools and children is often repeated by pro-Palestinian activists. The group did not acknowledge that Palestinian terror groups regularly build tunnels for smuggling and store heavy weaponry, including missiles, under or on school grounds.
In a statement to the Telegraph, a Dyfed-Powys Police spokesman said they had been called to “reports of a burglary” and that they had “promptly arrested two women, aged 65 and 41, on suspicion of burglary, when it was established they were part of a protest group. Two of the group had made their way to the roof of the property.
“Following communication with officers, they came down at around 10:45 a.m., and the 34-year-old man and 39-year-old woman were arrested on suspicion of burglary. All remain in police custody. Enquiries are ongoing.”