Profiting From Occupation
The PSC and BIG call for a comprehensive boycott of Israeli Goods
A personal boycott of Israeli products helps remove consumers from complicity with Israeli apartheid. As ethical consumers we can conduct our boycott ‘where we are at’, in whatever town or country. International networks and co-ordinated activities are proliferating. PSC branches engage in regular boycott activities across the UK.
Vegetable exports to the European market are crucial to the Israeli economy, amounting to some 80 per cent of total exports. The UK continues to be the largest market, taking 60 per cent share of export volume. Potatoes, capsicum, fresh herbs, dates and cherry tomatoes, generated the highest returns to Israel’s growers in 2004-5. Companies such as Carmel Agrexco were the beneficiaries. Raising questions about labelling and sourcing at supermarket AGMs has become a feature of our boycott campaign. DEFRA and the Office of Fair Trading have faced demands for clarity and legality on labelling. Department stores such as Selfridges have taken cosmetics produced in Israel’s illegal settlements off their shelves, only to replace them under duress from the Israeli Embassy.
The BIG campaign aims to promote a consumer boycott and to actively campaign against corporations selling Israeli goods.
BIG aims to store files on corporations selling Israeli goods on Who Sells Israeli Goods page.
“Each riyal, dirham …etc. used to buy their goods eventually becomes bullets to be fired at the hearts of brothers and children in Palestine.. To buy their goods is to support tyranny, oppression and aggression.” -Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi. Image courtesy of inminds.co.uk
Some common Israeli goods:
* Tivall (Sainsbury’s Meatfree Hot Dog Sausages and Vegetarian Sausages)
* Carmel (West Bank) (Organic Fruit and Veg sold in most Supermarkets)
* Tomer (West Bank) (Organic Fruit and Veg sold in most Supermarkets)
* Beigel and Beigel (West Bank) (Sweets and Pretzels etc)
* Agriver/Flowersdirect (West Bank) (strawberries sold in Aldi), but also other berries, cut herbs, pomegranates, figs, peppers, passion fruit, plums, carrots, cut melons, cut mangos and many other products.
Wines
* Galil Wines (The Golan Heights) (Waitrose, Sainsbury’s)
* Palwin Wine (West Bank) (Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose)
* Carmel Wine (West Bank) (Smithfield Wines, Manchester)
* Tishbi (Smithfield Wines, Manchester)
* Binyamina (West Bank/Golan) (John Lewis, Waitrose)
These are just a small selection of the illegal goods exported from Israel, feel free to add to this, it is just our attempt at increasing awareness.. Distribute to as many as possible and if you’re looking for fresh produce, Always Buy Local.
Profiting From Occupation
UK and international companies complicit in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.
Download the Corporate Watch report on complicit firms
Complicit Firms
A complicit firm is one which is either profiting from the Occupation or through its normal course of business perpetrating crimes against Palestinians or hindering Palestinian Human Rights.
A complicit firm does not necessarily have to be Israeli and many cases are not. In addition many examples involve joint ventures between Israeli and non-Israeli companies.
Examples of complicit firm activities include:
* Selling arms and equipment used in the Occupation to Israel, including technologies and software
* Construction companies involved in settlement building and their infrastructure including checkpoints, the Apatheid Wall and light railway
* Carrying out business on stolen land within the Occupied Territories
* Blocking or otherwise hindering legitimate Palestinian businesses or charities involved in aiding the Palestinians
BAE
Boeing
EDO/ITT
Raytheon
Lockheed Martin
UAV Engines
Caterpillar
Agrexco
Ahava
Eden Springs
Veolia
Leviev
Banks
Lloyds TSB
Media
BICOM
BBC
Starbucks
BG Group
Agrexco
Agrexco Agricultural Export Company Ltd. markets most of Israel’s exports of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers, some of which are grown in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In a court case in November of 2004, the General Manager of Agrexco UK at that time, Amos Orr, testified that Agrexco markets 60-70% of the agricultural produce grown in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
Agrexco is worth half a billion Shekels (nearly £78m) and employs about 500 people. 50% of the company’s shares are owned by the Israeli government, although a ministerial committee last year decided to privatise it [27]. Agrexco’s biggest fresh agricultural produce brand is Carmel. Other brand names include Jaffa and Jordan Plains. The company’s subsidiaries include Agrexco (France), Agrexco (US), Carmexco (Italy), Eclectic, Carmel Cor, LACHS and Dalia (Germany). For more information on Agrexco, see www.bigcampaign.org/index.php?page=who_exports_israeli_goods. British supermarkets account for 60% of Carmel-Agrexco’s total exports. The company supplies Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose as well as discounters Lidl and Aldi.
Carmel-Agrexco has been the focus of anti-occupation protests and actions. The company’s depot Swallowfield Way in Hayes, Middlesex, has repeatedly been shut down by protesters [28].
Ahava
Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories is an Israeli cosmetic company that develops, produces and markets cosmetic products based on the Dead Sea mud and minerals and made in the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the occupied West Bank. It is owned by Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem (41%), Hamashbir Holdings (which is owned by Benny Gaon’s Gaon Holdings and the Livnat family, 41%), and the Kibbutz Kalya and Kibbutz Ein Gedi (18%) [29].
On 10th January 2009, Ahava’s newly opened store in Covent Garden, central London, was occupied by activists in protest at the Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and to draw public attention to Ahava’s involvement in the occupation and illegal settlement business. [30].
Eden Springs
Eden Springs UK Ltd is entirely owned, managed and controlled by Eden Springs Ltd/Mayanot Eden, an Israeli company that uses water stolen from a spring in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Eden Springs extracts and distributes mineral water, markets coffee and espresso machines and home and office water devices. The company’s main plant is located in Katzerin IZ, which is also in the Golan Heights.
Eden Springs has dozens of subsidiaries throughout Europe, most of which use the Eden and Chateaud’eau brand names. It also own Pauza Coffee Services, which provides coffee for businesses and represents Lavazza Coffee, DA Technologies and Cafe Espresso Italia in Israel. Eden Springs have several local government contracts to supply water coolers to local councils and health authorities. [31]
Veolia
Veolia Environnement is a French multinational that trades in water and waste management, energy and transport services. Veolia Transport, a subsidiary of Veolia Environnement, is a leading partner in the CityPass consortium, contracted to build a light rail tramway system linking west Jerusalem to illegal Jewish settlements such as Pisgat Ze’ev, French Hill, Neve Ya’akov and Gilo in occupied East Jerusalem. Once built (due to be completed in 2020), the rail system will help to cement Israel’s hold on occupied East Jerusalem and tie the settlements even more firmly into the State of Israel.
Through its subsidiary Veolia Environmental Services Israel (which has bought TMM Integrated Recycling Services), Veolia also owns and operates the Tovlan Landfill in the occupied Jordan Valley, using captured Palestinian natural and land resources for the needs of Israeli settlements. Other subsidiaries include Connex Transportation Israel, Veolia Environmental Services Israel, TMM Integrated Recycling Industries, Veolia Transportation Israel, Connex Jerusalem, Veolia Water Services Israel. Veolia also holds a number of contracts for recycling and waste management across Europe. Veolia UK’s head office is London (154 Pentonville Road, N1 9PE). [32]
Earlier this month, Veolia lost a €3.5m contract in Sweden over its involvement with the Jerusalem light rail project [33]. In 2006, Dutch bank ASN also broke off financial relations with Veolia for the same reason, as did the Irish tram drivers union broke. In November 2008, a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists demonstrated in front of Bilbao City Hall in protest against the council’s plans to award Veolia a contract for the cities bus transportation.
Leviev
Lev Leviev is one of the world’s leading diamond retailers. In 1996, Leviev bought the controlling share in the company Africa-Israel, whose subsidiary companies are involved in settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. Leviev’s companies are involved in settlement construction in Mattityahu East and Modi’in Illit, close to the Palestinian village of Bil’in, as well as also Zufim, Maale Adumim and Har Homa.
New York-based Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, also known as Adalah-NY, has held several demonstrations at Leviev’s Manhattan store, garnering international attention. Two demonstrations were held outside Leviev’s diamonds store in bond street during 2008. [34]
Lloyds TSB
In early December last year, British charity Interpal, which is dedicated to alleviating the suffering of Palestinians in need, was notified by its bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), that Lloyds TSB, which acts as its clearing bank, has given it instructions to cease all dealings with Interpal. The decision took effect on 8th December and all transactions into or out of Interpal accounts were blocked. IBB has offered Interpal verbal support but was apparently powerless in this situation. No reason was given by Lloyds for this punitive measure.
Back in 2004, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, staunch defenders of Israeli crimes, accused Interpal of involvement in ‘terrorism’, a smear for which they later had to pay damages. Allegations against Interpal of ‘supporting terrorism’ have been investigated by the UK Charity Commission, which found that the charity was a “well run and committed organisation which carries out important work in a part of the world where there is great hardship and suffering.”
Lloyds TSB Chairman, Sir Victor Blank, is a governor of Tel Aviv University, Chair of Union of Jewish Students/Hillel, a member of the Advisory Board of the United Jewish Israel Appeal and is involved in Labour Friends of Israel. UJS/Hillel assists members of the pro-Israel Union of Jewish Students, a group that works to silence pro-Palestinian voices on British campuses. One Lloyds TSB director, Sir David Manning, is an ex-ambassador to both Israel and the USA and was Foreign Policy Adviser to Tony Blair during the planning for the invasion of Iraq. Both Blank and Manning are believed to have influenced the move against Interpal. Hitting charities that help Palestinians only serves to support Israel by shutting off the trickle of aid that organisations like Interpal manage to get into Gaza and the Occupied Territories over years of Israel’s brutal siege.
Since then, Lloyds TSB has been the subject of protests and pickets around the England and Scotland [35]. For more information on Lloyds TSB and Interpal, see www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2739&Itemid=200128.
BICOM
The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) describes itself as “an independent organisation devoted to creating a more supportive environment for Israel in the UK” through providing daily briefings and analysis for politicians, academics and journalists. In reality, however, it is a lobby group that played a key role in Israel’s public relations operation during the assault on Gaza. BICOM arranged briefings, conference calls and interviews for months in preparation for the recent attack, laying the groundwork for Israel’s public justifications for the onslaught [36].
On 14th January, BICOM’s office on Great Portland Street in central London was occupied for a few hours to highlight the organisation’s role in the Gaza massacres [37].
A similar lobby group in the US is the Israel Project, which describes itself as “an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace.”
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation has become a target for Gaza solidarity protests following its refusal to broadcast a humanitarian appeal [38] for Gaza by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella organisation for 13 aid charities, “leaving aid agencies with a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations,” as a Guardian article put it [39]. By refusing to give free airtime to the appeal, the BBC made a unique decision to breach an agreement dating back to 1963, flimsily arguing that this “may compromise public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story” [40]. Sky TV has also refused to broadcast the appeal, while ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have all broadcast it.
On 24th January, the 4th Gaza march in London started at the BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place, with angry speeches calling for the BBC Director-General Mark Thompson to resign and the public to burn their TV licences in protest [41]. Two days later, a few protesters entered the building and briefly occupied the lobby [42]. Similarly, over 100 people occupied BBC Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow on 25th January, and the same happened in Manchester two days later [43]. Even some of BBC’s own staff have expressed their “disgust” at the decision, but have reportedly been threatened with sacking if they speak out on the issue [44].
BBC offices throughout the country had already been sites of protest as a result of the BBC’s largely one-sided coverage of the Gaza massacre, allowing Israeli spokespeople endless opportunities to propagate lies and deception without challenge [45].
Starbucks
Howard Shultz, the chairman of Starbucks, is claimed to be an active Zionist. This is based on the fact that he was given the ‘Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award” by the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah for his services to the Zionist state in “playing a key role in promoting close alliance between the United States and Israel.” The Fund gives money to Israeli arms fairs, which have been chaired by General Shaul Mofaz (responsible for the assault on Jenin in 2002) and to the Zionist propaganda website honestreporting.com (which describes itself as “an organization dedicated to defending Israel against prejudice in the Media”). The Fund of Aish HaTorah is a staunchly pro-Israel organisation promoting religious and racial cohesion and pride.
Shultz received this award in 1998 and, by 2001, Starbucks made attempts to aid Israel’s failing economy by opening coffee shops in Israel through a joint venture company, Shalom Coffee Co, which was owned by publicly traded Israeli conglomerate Delek Group and Starbucks Coffee International, Starbucks’ internationally focused wholly-owned subsidiary. The Delek Group is one of the largest investment groups based in Israel. The plan was to open 15 coffee shops by the end of 2002, but Starbucks only opened 6 shops, which had to be closed down in April 2003, due to financial losses caused by the severe recession and ‘security problems’.
Interestingly, after the shops closed, Zionists, and ultra-Zionists, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticised Starbucks for pulling out of Israel. Others, such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, defended Starbucks, reassuring us that Shultz was indeed an ‘avid Zionist’ and ‘doing his best’.
According to isrelate.com, a website organised by people who believe “God has a special place for Israel”, Starbucks plans to continue its support for Israel. Starbucks sponsored a ‘Bowl 4 Israel’ fundraiser for a paratrooper unit in the Israel Defense Forces in 2003. Even though Starbucks has recently made a statement saying it is a non-political organisation, suggesting that it should not be the target of pro-Palestinian protests (such as the recent destruction of its shops in London and Beirut at Gaza demonstrations), there are references to its Zionist connections on a number of pro-Israel websites as well as calls to boycott the company coming from a wide variety of groups. Even if the readily available evidence regarding Starbucks is simply that the company has entered into joint business ventures with Israel and Israeli companies in the past and that the company is held in high esteem by Zionist groups, that, together with the company’s record on other issues such as union-busting, is enough to consider buying your coffee somewhere else.
BG Group
The BG Group plc, the former owner of the British Gas brand in the UK, which is now owned by Centrica, was granted oil and gas exploration rights offshore the Gaza Strip in a 25-year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. The exploration licence covers the entire marine area offshore Gaza, which is contiguous with several Israeli offshore gas facilities. The BG Group holds 60 percent equity in the licence; its partner Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC), which is based in Athens and owned by Lebanon’s Sabbagh and Koury families, holds 30 percent; and the Palestinian Authority’s Palestinian Investment Fund, the remaining 10 percent. The agreement also includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline. Following acquisition of over 1,000 square kilometres of 3D seismic data, BG drilled two wells in 2000 (Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2), with gas reserves estimated to be around 1.3 trillion cubic feet, valued at $4 billion. 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine. BG had also struck gas off Israel’s coast in the 1990s but these fields, which have been producing for several years now, are much smaller.
After the death of Yasser Arafat and Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in the 2007 elections, both Israel and the BG Group said the political development would “not interfere” with the exploitation plans. The two sides reportedly arrived at an “understanding” that will transfer funds intended for the Palestinian Investment Fund into an international bank account, claiming the money could be used to fund “terror-related activities” [48]. Bypassing the Hamas government would enable Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza’s offshore gas reserves. In 2001, the newly elected Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated unequivocally that “Israel would never buy gas from Palestine,” suggesting that Gaza’s offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.
BG’s original plans were to sell the Gaza’s natural gas to Egypt. However, pressure from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair led the company to reopen earlier failed negotiations with Israel for a pipeline development that would land the gas at Ashkelon, a southern Israeli city with a petroleum refinery. According to the Times, BG was in 2006 “close to signing a deal” to pump the gas to Egypt [49]. However, Tony Blair intervened “on behalf of Israel” with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt. The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority.” The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion, of which one billion was to go the Palestinians. Tel Aviv, however, had no intention of sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and Abu Mazen’s Palestinian Authority.
It should also be noted that, in September 2008, an Egyptian high court overruled a controversial 20-year deal on Egyptian gas exports to Israel [50]. Egypt had been Israel’s main natural gas supplier through Egyptian-Israeli consortium EMG [51].
The BG Group states in its ‘Data Book 2008′ (and on its website) that in December 2007 it “withdrew from negotiations” with the Israeli government concerning the sale of gas from the Gaza Marine field to Israel, and that it is now “evaluating options for commercialising the gas.” The company further reassures us that it had closed its office in Israel in January 2008, and that it is currently “in the process of relinquishing the Med Yavne licence”, its main gas field in Israel
[52]. Media reports, however, reveal that negotiations between BG and Israeli officials have, in fact, been renewed since June 2008 [53]. In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas on the purchase of natural gas from the BG’s offshore concession in Gaza. The decision to speed up negotiations with the BG Group coincided with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June [54]. As Michel Chossudovsky concludes, “it would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.” The BG Group is a UK-based oil and gas company which has its headquarters in Reading, Berkshire. In 2007, the company reported a revenue of £8,330m and total operating profits of
£3,248m. In February 1997, the shareholders of British Gas plc approved the demerger of Centrica plc and British Gas plc was renamed BG plc. In December 1999, BG plc completed a financial restructuring which resulted in the creation of a new parent company, the BG Group plc. The BG Group has use of the trading name British Gas outside the UK, while Centrica owns the rights to use it within the UK. [55]
ARMS COMPANIES
Israel was the world’s 6th largest arms importer between 2003 and 2007, accounting for 3.80% of world deliveries, according to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database. During that period, the US accounted for 94% of the exports of arms to Israel. France, Germany and the UK accounted for a big proportion of the rest. In 2007 alone, EU member states authorised the export of €200m worth of items on the EU Military List to Israel.
In 2007, the UK government blocked almost one-third of British military exports to Israel, citing “possible threats to regional stability” and fears that “the equipment might facilitate human rights violations.” Despite Israel’s continuous war crimes against the Palestinian people, however, the UK has no arms embargo on Israel and licences for the export of military ‘goods’ continue to be granted in accordance with the criteria set down in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria [1].
Details of the UK’s military exports to Israel are outlined in the Strategic Export Controls Annual Reports, which are supposed to demonstrate, in the words of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), “the Government’s commitment to transparent and responsible controls on British arms exports.” [2] Between 1 January and 31 March 2008, 62 Standard Individual Export Licences (SIEL) were approved at a combined value of £20.3m, including 16 SIEL for incorporation into other weapons worth £455,000. Items included air guns, components for airborne electronic equipment, combat aircraft, military communications and electronic warfare and general military aircraft components. During that same period, only seven licence applications were refused. UK arm sales to Israel in 2008 were up by £14 million on the previous year.
Now these ‘products’ that are used to kill Palestinians are manufactured by companies that have names and addresses and, of course, managers whose sole interest is making money for their shareholders regardless of the goods they trade in. There are many websites that provide detailed information on these companies and their deals with the Israeli army, such as the Campaign Against Arms Trade. Below is some information on the biggest culprits.
BAE
BAE Systems is the UK’s biggest arms company and the world’s third-largest defence company, with annual sales exceeding £15.7 billion. The company made headlines last year after it was accused by the Serious Fraud Office of “concealing the truth” about its £43bn arms deals with Saudi Arabia [3].
BAE’s products include assault rifles, artillery guns, missiles, torpedoes, tanks, armoured vehicles, unmanned combat aircraft, warships, nuclear submarines, nuclear weapons (via subsidiary MBDA), radar systems, and handcuffs and shackles used in Guantanamo Bay and Saudi Arabia.
BAE is known to have supplied Israel with ‘Head-Up Displays’ (HUD) for F16 fighter aircraft, which have been used by the Israeli army to turn Lebanese and Palestinian villages and towns into rubble. The first of Israel’s new order arrived in 2005 and the first 25 F16s were fitted with BAE’s HUDs. The remaining 77 were to be fitted with Elbit HUDs. BAE also supply Israel with part of the ‘navigation suite’ and elements of the ‘self-protection suite’ (including a BAE Systems/Rokar flare) for all Israel’s F16 jets.
It has been reported that BAE’s Suter airborne network attack system was used by Israel in its bombing of Syria in 2007. Suter is developed by BAE Systems and integrated into US unmanned aircraft by L-3 Communications. The technology, which allows users to invade communications networks and even take over as systems administrator, has been used by the US army, or at least tested operationally, in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last year.
Recent protests against BAE in solidarity with Gaza have included a protest by a group of Warwick University students against a recruitment event run by BAE and Warwick Careers Service [4]. On 22nd January, a group of local activists blocked the entrance to BAE Systems in Newcastle in a ‘die-in’ protest [5]. The company’s head office is located in central London (6 Carlton Gardens, SW1Y 5AD). For more information, see Corporate Watch’s BAE Systems company profile [6]. A list of BAE Systems locations in the UK can be found on the company’s website [7].
Boeing
Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace and defence company, with annual sales of $61.5 billion and 150,000 employees in 70 countries. Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company, with head offices recently moved from Heathrow airport (Cardinal Point, Newall Road) to Central London (16 St James’s Street, London, SW1).
Boeing has had a long business history with the Israeli military. Its recently deliveries to Israel include: IAI-developed arrow missiles, Boeing AGM-114D Longbow Hellfire missiles, 18 AH-64D Apache Longbow fighter helicopters, 63 Boeing F15 Eagle fighter planes, 102 Boeing F16 Eagle fighter planes, 42 BOEING AH-64 Apache fighter helicopters, F-16 Peace Marble II & III Aircraft, 4 Boeing 777s, and Arrow II interceptors. In September last year, the US government approved the sale of 1,000 GBU-9 small diameter bombs made by Boeing to Israel, in a deal valued at up to $77 million [8].
Boeing subsidiaries with a presence in the UK include Alteon, Jeppesen, Continental Data Graphics (CDG), and Preston Aviation [9]. Boeing also works with three universities in the UK on collaborative research and technology: Cambridge, Cranfield and Sheffield [10].
Recent protests against Boeing in connection with the Israeli massacres in Gaza include an anonymous protester smashing some windows of the Boeing office in Bristol on new year’s eve.
The windows have been boarded up and the office has not apparently reopened since.
EDO/ITT
Brighton-based arms company EDO MBM/ITT (formerly EDO MBM), a wholly owned subsidiary of US arms multinational EDO Corp, has been the subject of a relentless direct action campaign due to the company’s complicity in war crimes committed by the US, UK and Israeli armies in Iraq and Palestine.
ITT/EDO produces the ERU-151 (Ejector Release Unit) and ZRFAU (Zero Retention Force Arming Unit), both of which are incorporated in bomb racks used by the F16 war planes that have been used by the Israeli Air Force to commit war crimes in Gaza. These components have been advertised for several years on EDO websites as ‘actively manufactured’ in Brighton, and as ‘used’ and ‘utilized’ on the F16, within its main bombrack, the VER-2. EDO MBM/ITT also has contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence and US arms giant Raytheon to build release mechanisms for the Paveway bomb system [11].
On 20 January 2009, the United States Airforce awarded ITT a contract for the manufacture of flexible cable assemblies to connect weapons to the F-15E jet fighter bomber. The equipment is to be manufactured in Brighton and may reach Israel through US exports [12].
The Smash EDO website (www.smashedo.org.uk) has comprehensive information on what and how ITT/EDO supplies the Israeli army as well as on companies doing ‘business’ with ITT/EDO.
These include The London & Brighton Plating Company Ltd, Guardian Guards, DHL, TNT, Initial City Link and Challenge Packaging Ltd.
On 17 January 2009, anti-militarist activists forced entry into the EDO Brighton factory and destroyed equipment used to make weapons used in Israel’s wholesale slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The company alleges that the ‘decommissioning’ action has cost £250,000 in lost business. Seven people now face ‘burglary’ and ‘criminal damage’ charges. Two of them also face ‘breach of bail’ charges [13]. Smash EDO demonstrate every Wednesday, 4-6pm, outside the EDO MBM/ITT factory on Home Farm Road, Brighton.
Raytheon
Raytheon is one of the largest US arms manufacturers and the fifth-largest military contractor in the world, with annual revenues of around $20 billion. The company has big contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has regularly been found guilty of illegal activity [14].
Among other things, Raytheon makes Bunker Buster bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles. A number of their missiles can be loaded with cluster bombs, which are banned under international law but have, nonetheless, been used by the US and Israeli armies.
Raytheon is one of Israel’s main suppliers of weapons used in the recent attacks on Gaza.
Through its US and Israeli military relations, the company is said to advocate the expansionist notion of ‘Greater Israel’, which, of course, means more war business and more profits [15]. In September last year, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees major arms sales, approved the sale of three kits made by Raytheon to upgrade Israel’s Patriot missile system in a deal valued at up to $164 million [16].
Like EDO, Raytheon has been recently the subject of a relentless direct action campaign. In 2006, nine activists forced entry into the Raytheon office in Derry during the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, barricaded themselves inside the office and threw computer equipment out of the windows. In June 2008, a Jury in Belfast found the defendants not guilty of criminal damage on the basis that they acted with ‘reasonable excuse’ [17]. More recently, three protesters occupied the roof of the company offices in Bristol for over five weeks starting on 9 December 2008 [18].
The rooftop occupation was the third such protest to have targeted Raytheon in the last few months [19]. A list of Raytheon locations and contacts can be found on the company’s website [20].
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest defence contractor by revenue. Most of the company’s revenues came from the United States Department of Defense, other US federal government agencies, and foreign military customers. Lockheed Martin’s products include the F-22, F-16, F 117, C-5, C-27J, C-130, P-3 and U-2. It also produces the Hellfire precision-guided missile system, which has reportedly been used in the recent Gaza attacks. In 2008, it reported sales of $42.7 billion. On 4 September 2001, Israel signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for 52 more F-16I fighters.
The total value of the purchase was approximately $2bn, with $1.3bn of that going to Lockheed Martin. The deal then increased the Lockheed Martin’s F-16 backlog to 301, with production provisionally extended to the end of 2008. This was Israel’s 6th acquisition of F-16s, the world’s ‘most sought-after’ fighter. Israel possesses the largest fleet of F-16s outside the United States, with more than 350 jets.
In October 2008, Sir David Manning, a former British Ambassador to Israel and the US, joined the board of Lockheed Martin UK Holdings Ltd. as a non-executive director. Manning’s other past diplomatic positions include Deputy Under Secretary for State in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for Defence and Intelligence and the UK Permanent Representative to NATO in Brussels. In 2001, he was also appointed as Foreign Policy Advisor to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Lockheed Martin’s UK head office is located in central London (22 Carlisle Place, SW1P 1JA), with other locations throughout England [21].
UAV Engines
UAV Engines Ltd (UEL) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of engines for drones (small, unmanned aircraft) that are becoming critical frontline systems for military and civilian use around the world. The company, known as UEL, is owned by the Israel drone specialists Silver Arrow, a subsidiary of the Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems.
Amnesty has recently uncovered evidence that the specially-designed engines for drones used by Israeli forces in targeted air strikes are made in the UK by UAV Engines, which is based in Lichfield, Staffordshire (Lynn Lane, Shenstone, WS14 0DT). One of its rotary Wankel engines is used in Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone. A version of the 450 drone makes up a squadron of the Israeli air force and has been seen over Gaza in the recent attacks, being used for surveillance and targeting for Israel’s F-16 strike fighters [22].
On 19 January, around 30 people gathered outside the UVA Litchfield factory to protest against the company’s link with the massacre in Gaza. The protest was heavily policed, with one overzealous arrest [23].
Caterpillar
Caterpillar Inc, commonly referred to as CAT, is the world’s largest manufacturer of construction (and destruction) equipment, with more than $30 billion in assets. Famous for their products featuring caterpillar tracks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme, Caterpillar produces a wide range of engineering vehicles, including the range of Caterpillar bulldozers.
The US government buys Caterpillar bulldozers and sends them to the Israel army as part of its annual foreign military assistance package. Such sales are governed by the US Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of US military aid to “internal security” and “legitimate selfdefense” and prohibits its use against civilians.
Caterpillar held the sole contract for the production of the D9 military bulldozer, specifically designed for use in invasions of built-up areas. Since 1967, Israel has used Caterpillar bulldozers to demolish tens of thousands of Palestinian homes and uproot hundreds of thousands of trees, in Israel’s persistent efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land and build illegal settlements. The D9 bulldozer was extensively used by Israel in Israel during
‘Operation Defensive Shield’ in 2001-2, particularly during invasion of Jenin, when countless homes were destroyed by bulldozers and a disabled man was crushed to death. Caterpillar has also profited from the construction of the apartheid separation wall, which has cut off many Palestinian villages from the rest of the West Bank. The wall was built after the destruction and confiscation of large parts of Palestinian land. On 16 March 2003, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was murdered by an Israeli soldier driving a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer as she tried to stop it from destroying a Palestinian home in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. It is, therefore, difficult to contest that CAT bulldozers are not weapons of mass destruction. Caterpillar still supply spare parts for the maintenance of Israel’s D9s. Caterpillar also produces tank engines at their Caterpillar/Perkins plant in Shrewsbury. Other CAT merchandise includes shoes, clothes and accessories.
A campaign against Caterpillar, known as Caterkiller, has repeatedly taken direct action against the company. A recent CAT sponsorship deal with Leicester Tigers Rugby club has met local opposition. For more details on Caterpillar and the campaign and actions against it, see the campaign’s website (www.catdestroyshomes.org). See also War on Want’s report Caterpillar, the alternative report [24], which includes a list of Caterpillar premises in the UK.
Other arms companies with links to Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people include Rolls Royce and Thales. A list of UK arms companies known to have supplied Israel can be found at www.stoparmingisrael.org/info/companies.php.
Agrexco
Agrexco Agricultural Export Company Ltd. markets most of Israel’s exports of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers, some of which are grown in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In a court case in November of 2004, the General Manager of Agrexco UK at that time, Amos Orr, testified that Agrexco markets 60-70% of the agricultural produce grown in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
Agrexco is worth half a billion Shekels (nearly £78m) and employs about 500 people. 50% of the company’s shares are owned by the Israeli government, although a ministerial committee last year decided to privatise it [27]. Agrexco’s biggest fresh agricultural produce brand is Carmel. Other brand names include Jaffa and Jordan Plains. The company’s subsidiaries include Agrexco (France), Agrexco (US), Carmexco (Italy), Eclectic, Carmel Cor, LACHS and Dalia (Germany). For more information on Agrexco, see www.bigcampaign.org/index.php?page=who_exports_israeli_goods. British supermarkets account for 60% of Carmel-Agrexco’s total exports. The company supplies Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose as well as discounters Lidl and Aldi.
Carmel-Agrexco has been the focus of anti-occupation protests and actions. The company’s depot Swallowfield Way in Hayes, Middlesex, has repeatedly been shut down by protesters [28].
Ahava
Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories is an Israeli cosmetic company that develops, produces and markets cosmetic products based on the Dead Sea mud and minerals and made in the illegal Israeli settlement of Mitzpe Shalem in the occupied West Bank. It is owned by Kibbutz Mitzpe Shalem (41%), Hamashbir Holdings (which is owned by Benny Gaon’s Gaon Holdings and the Livnat family, 41%), and the Kibbutz Kalya and Kibbutz Ein Gedi (18%) [29].
On 10th January 2009, Ahava’s newly opened store in Covent Garden, central London, was occupied by activists in protest at the Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and to draw public attention to Ahava’s involvement in the occupation and illegal settlement business. [30].
Eden Springs
Eden Springs UK Ltd is entirely owned, managed and controlled by Eden Springs Ltd/Mayanot Eden, an Israeli company that uses water stolen from a spring in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Eden Springs extracts and distributes mineral water, markets coffee and espresso machines and home and office water devices. The company’s main plant is located in Katzerin IZ, which is also in the Golan Heights.
Eden Springs has dozens of subsidiaries throughout Europe, most of which use the Eden and Chateaud’eau brand names. It also own Pauza Coffee Services, which provides coffee for businesses and represents Lavazza Coffee, DA Technologies and Cafe Espresso Italia in Israel. Eden Springs have several local government contracts to supply water coolers to local councils and health authorities. [31]
Veolia
Veolia Environnement is a French multinational that trades in water and waste management, energy and transport services. Veolia Transport, a subsidiary of Veolia Environnement, is a leading partner in the CityPass consortium, contracted to build a light rail tramway system linking west Jerusalem to illegal Jewish settlements such as Pisgat Ze’ev, French Hill, Neve Ya’akov and Gilo in occupied East Jerusalem. Once built (due to be completed in 2020), the rail system will help to cement Israel’s hold on occupied East Jerusalem and tie the settlements even more firmly into the State of Israel.
Through its subsidiary Veolia Environmental Services Israel (which has bought TMM Integrated Recycling Services), Veolia also owns and operates the Tovlan Landfill in the occupied Jordan Valley, using captured Palestinian natural and land resources for the needs of Israeli settlements. Other subsidiaries include Connex Transportation Israel, Veolia Environmental Services Israel, TMM Integrated Recycling Industries, Veolia Transportation Israel, Connex Jerusalem, Veolia Water Services Israel. Veolia also holds a number of contracts for recycling and waste management across Europe. Veolia UK’s head office is London (154 Pentonville Road, N1 9PE). [32]
Earlier this month, Veolia lost a €3.5m contract in Sweden over its involvement with the Jerusalem light rail project [33]. In 2006, Dutch bank ASN also broke off financial relations with Veolia for the same reason, as did the Irish tram drivers union broke. In November 2008, a group of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists demonstrated in front of Bilbao City Hall in protest against the council’s plans to award Veolia a contract for the cities bus transportation.
Leviev
Lev Leviev is one of the world’s leading diamond retailers. In 1996, Leviev bought the controlling share in the company Africa-Israel, whose subsidiary companies are involved in settlement construction in the occupied West Bank. Leviev’s companies are involved in settlement construction in Mattityahu East and Modi’in Illit, close to the Palestinian village of Bil’in, as well as also Zufim, Maale Adumim and Har Homa.
New York-based Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, also known as Adalah-NY, has held several demonstrations at Leviev’s Manhattan store, garnering international attention. Two demonstrations were held outside Leviev’s diamonds store in bond street during 2008. [34]
Lloyds TSB
In early December last year, British charity Interpal, which is dedicated to alleviating the suffering of Palestinians in need, was notified by its bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), that Lloyds TSB, which acts as its clearing bank, has given it instructions to cease all dealings with Interpal. The decision took effect on 8th December and all transactions into or out of Interpal accounts were blocked. IBB has offered Interpal verbal support but was apparently powerless in this situation. No reason was given by Lloyds for this punitive measure.
Back in 2004, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, staunch defenders of Israeli crimes, accused Interpal of involvement in ‘terrorism’, a smear for which they later had to pay damages. Allegations against Interpal of ‘supporting terrorism’ have been investigated by the UK Charity Commission, which found that the charity was a “well run and committed organisation which carries out important work in a part of the world where there is great hardship and suffering.”
Lloyds TSB Chairman, Sir Victor Blank, is a governor of Tel Aviv University, Chair of Union of Jewish Students/Hillel, a member of the Advisory Board of the United Jewish Israel Appeal and is involved in Labour Friends of Israel. UJS/Hillel assists members of the pro-Israel Union of Jewish Students, a group that works to silence pro-Palestinian voices on British campuses. One Lloyds TSB director, Sir David Manning, is an ex-ambassador to both Israel and the USA and was Foreign Policy Adviser to Tony Blair during the planning for the invasion of Iraq. Both Blank and Manning are believed to have influenced the move against Interpal. Hitting charities that help Palestinians only serves to support Israel by shutting off the trickle of aid that organisations like Interpal manage to get into Gaza and the Occupied Territories over years of Israel’s brutal siege.
Since then, Lloyds TSB has been the subject of protests and pickets around the England and Scotland [35]. For more information on Lloyds TSB and Interpal, see www.scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2739&Itemid=200128.
BICOM
The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) describes itself as “an independent organisation devoted to creating a more supportive environment for Israel in the UK” through providing daily briefings and analysis for politicians, academics and journalists. In reality, however, it is a lobby group that played a key role in Israel’s public relations operation during the assault on Gaza. BICOM arranged briefings, conference calls and interviews for months in preparation for the recent attack, laying the groundwork for Israel’s public justifications for the onslaught [36].
On 14th January, BICOM’s office on Great Portland Street in central London was occupied for a few hours to highlight the organisation’s role in the Gaza massacres [37].
A similar lobby group in the US is the Israel Project, which describes itself as “an international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace.”
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation has become a target for Gaza solidarity protests following its refusal to broadcast a humanitarian appeal [38] for Gaza by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella organisation for 13 aid charities, “leaving aid agencies with a potential shortfall of millions of pounds in donations,” as a Guardian article put it [39]. By refusing to give free airtime to the appeal, the BBC made a unique decision to breach an agreement dating back to 1963, flimsily arguing that this “may compromise public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in the context of an ongoing news story” [40]. Sky TV has also refused to broadcast the appeal, while ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 have all broadcast it.
On 24th January, the 4th Gaza march in London started at the BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place, with angry speeches calling for the BBC Director-General Mark Thompson to resign and the public to burn their TV licences in protest [41]. Two days later, a few protesters entered the building and briefly occupied the lobby [42]. Similarly, over 100 people occupied BBC Scotland’s headquarters in Glasgow on 25th January, and the same happened in Manchester two days later [43]. Even some of BBC’s own staff have expressed their “disgust” at the decision, but have reportedly been threatened with sacking if they speak out on the issue [44].
BBC offices throughout the country had already been sites of protest as a result of the BBC’s largely one-sided coverage of the Gaza massacre, allowing Israeli spokespeople endless opportunities to propagate lies and deception without challenge [45].
Starbucks
Howard Shultz, the chairman of Starbucks, is claimed to be an active Zionist. This is based on the fact that he was given the ‘Israel 50th Anniversary Friend of Zion Tribute Award” by the Jerusalem Fund of Aish HaTorah for his services to the Zionist state in “playing a key role in promoting close alliance between the United States and Israel.” The Fund gives money to Israeli arms fairs, which have been chaired by General Shaul Mofaz (responsible for the assault on Jenin in 2002) and to the Zionist propaganda website honestreporting.com (which describes itself as “an organization dedicated to defending Israel against prejudice in the Media”). The Fund of Aish HaTorah is a staunchly pro-Israel organisation promoting religious and racial cohesion and pride.
Shultz received this award in 1998 and, by 2001, Starbucks made attempts to aid Israel’s failing economy by opening coffee shops in Israel through a joint venture company, Shalom Coffee Co, which was owned by publicly traded Israeli conglomerate Delek Group and Starbucks Coffee International, Starbucks’ internationally focused wholly-owned subsidiary. The Delek Group is one of the largest investment groups based in Israel. The plan was to open 15 coffee shops by the end of 2002, but Starbucks only opened 6 shops, which had to be closed down in April 2003, due to financial losses caused by the severe recession and ‘security problems’.
Interestingly, after the shops closed, Zionists, and ultra-Zionists, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticised Starbucks for pulling out of Israel. Others, such as the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, defended Starbucks, reassuring us that Shultz was indeed an ‘avid Zionist’ and ‘doing his best’.
According to isrelate.com, a website organised by people who believe “God has a special place for Israel”, Starbucks plans to continue its support for Israel. Starbucks sponsored a ‘Bowl 4 Israel’ fundraiser for a paratrooper unit in the Israel Defense Forces in 2003. Even though Starbucks has recently made a statement saying it is a non-political organisation, suggesting that it should not be the target of pro-Palestinian protests (such as the recent destruction of its shops in London and Beirut at Gaza demonstrations), there are references to its Zionist connections on a number of pro-Israel websites as well as calls to boycott the company coming from a wide variety of groups. Even if the readily available evidence regarding Starbucks is simply that the company has entered into joint business ventures with Israel and Israeli companies in the past and that the company is held in high esteem by Zionist groups, that, together with the company’s record on other issues such as union-busting, is enough to consider buying your coffee somewhere else.
BG Group
The BG Group plc, the former owner of the British Gas brand in the UK, which is now owned by Centrica, was granted oil and gas exploration rights offshore the Gaza Strip in a 25-year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. The exploration licence covers the entire marine area offshore Gaza, which is contiguous with several Israeli offshore gas facilities. The BG Group holds 60 percent equity in the licence; its partner Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC), which is based in Athens and owned by Lebanon’s Sabbagh and Koury families, holds 30 percent; and the Palestinian Authority’s Palestinian Investment Fund, the remaining 10 percent. The agreement also includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline. Following acquisition of over 1,000 square kilometres of 3D seismic data, BG drilled two wells in 2000 (Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2), with gas reserves estimated to be around 1.3 trillion cubic feet, valued at $4 billion. 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine. BG had also struck gas off Israel’s coast in the 1990s but these fields, which have been producing for several years now, are much smaller.
After the death of Yasser Arafat and Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in the 2007 elections, both Israel and the BG Group said the political development would “not interfere” with the exploitation plans. The two sides reportedly arrived at an “understanding” that will transfer funds intended for the Palestinian Investment Fund into an international bank account, claiming the money could be used to fund “terror-related activities” [48]. Bypassing the Hamas government would enable Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza’s offshore gas reserves. In 2001, the newly elected Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated unequivocally that “Israel would never buy gas from Palestine,” suggesting that Gaza’s offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.
BG’s original plans were to sell the Gaza’s natural gas to Egypt. However, pressure from former British Prime Minister Tony Blair led the company to reopen earlier failed negotiations with Israel for a pipeline development that would land the gas at Ashkelon, a southern Israeli city with a petroleum refinery. According to the Times, BG was in 2006 “close to signing a deal” to pump the gas to Egypt [49]. However, Tony Blair intervened “on behalf of Israel” with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt. The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority.” The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion, of which one billion was to go the Palestinians. Tel Aviv, however, had no intention of sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and Abu Mazen’s Palestinian Authority.
It should also be noted that, in September 2008, an Egyptian high court overruled a controversial 20-year deal on Egyptian gas exports to Israel [50]. Egypt had been Israel’s main natural gas supplier through Egyptian-Israeli consortium EMG [51].
The BG Group states in its ‘Data Book 2008′ (and on its website) that in December 2007 it “withdrew from negotiations” with the Israeli government concerning the sale of gas from the Gaza Marine field to Israel, and that it is now “evaluating options for commercialising the gas.” The company further reassures us that it had closed its office in Israel in January 2008, and that it is currently “in the process of relinquishing the Med Yavne licence”, its main gas field in Israel
[52]. Media reports, however, reveal that negotiations between BG and Israeli officials have, in fact, been renewed since June 2008 [53]. In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas on the purchase of natural gas from the BG’s offshore concession in Gaza. The decision to speed up negotiations with the BG Group coincided with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June [54]. As Michel Chossudovsky concludes, “it would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.” The BG Group is a UK-based oil and gas company which has its headquarters in Reading, Berkshire. In 2007, the company reported a revenue of £8,330m and total operating profits of
£3,248m. In February 1997, the shareholders of British Gas plc approved the demerger of Centrica plc and British Gas plc was renamed BG plc. In December 1999, BG plc completed a financial restructuring which resulted in the creation of a new parent company, the BG Group plc. The BG Group has use of the trading name British Gas outside the UK, while Centrica owns the rights to use it within the UK. [55]
ARMS COMPANIES
Israel was the world’s 6th largest arms importer between 2003 and 2007, accounting for 3.80% of world deliveries, according to the SIPRI Arms Transfers Database. During that period, the US accounted for 94% of the exports of arms to Israel. France, Germany and the UK accounted for a big proportion of the rest. In 2007 alone, EU member states authorised the export of €200m worth of items on the EU Military List to Israel.
In 2007, the UK government blocked almost one-third of British military exports to Israel, citing “possible threats to regional stability” and fears that “the equipment might facilitate human rights violations.” Despite Israel’s continuous war crimes against the Palestinian people, however, the UK has no arms embargo on Israel and licences for the export of military ‘goods’ continue to be granted in accordance with the criteria set down in the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria [1].
Details of the UK’s military exports to Israel are outlined in the Strategic Export Controls Annual Reports, which are supposed to demonstrate, in the words of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), “the Government’s commitment to transparent and responsible controls on British arms exports.” [2] Between 1 January and 31 March 2008, 62 Standard Individual Export Licences (SIEL) were approved at a combined value of £20.3m, including 16 SIEL for incorporation into other weapons worth £455,000. Items included air guns, components for airborne electronic equipment, combat aircraft, military communications and electronic warfare and general military aircraft components. During that same period, only seven licence applications were refused. UK arm sales to Israel in 2008 were up by £14 million on the previous year.
Now these ‘products’ that are used to kill Palestinians are manufactured by companies that have names and addresses and, of course, managers whose sole interest is making money for their shareholders regardless of the goods they trade in. There are many websites that provide detailed information on these companies and their deals with the Israeli army, such as the Campaign Against Arms Trade. Below is some information on the biggest culprits.
BAE
BAE Systems is the UK’s biggest arms company and the world’s third-largest defence company, with annual sales exceeding £15.7 billion. The company made headlines last year after it was accused by the Serious Fraud Office of “concealing the truth” about its £43bn arms deals with Saudi Arabia [3].
BAE’s products include assault rifles, artillery guns, missiles, torpedoes, tanks, armoured vehicles, unmanned combat aircraft, warships, nuclear submarines, nuclear weapons (via subsidiary MBDA), radar systems, and handcuffs and shackles used in Guantanamo Bay and Saudi Arabia.
BAE is known to have supplied Israel with ‘Head-Up Displays’ (HUD) for F16 fighter aircraft, which have been used by the Israeli army to turn Lebanese and Palestinian villages and towns into rubble. The first of Israel’s new order arrived in 2005 and the first 25 F16s were fitted with BAE’s HUDs. The remaining 77 were to be fitted with Elbit HUDs. BAE also supply Israel with part of the ‘navigation suite’ and elements of the ‘self-protection suite’ (including a BAE Systems/Rokar flare) for all Israel’s F16 jets.
It has been reported that BAE’s Suter airborne network attack system was used by Israel in its bombing of Syria in 2007. Suter is developed by BAE Systems and integrated into US unmanned aircraft by L-3 Communications. The technology, which allows users to invade communications networks and even take over as systems administrator, has been used by the US army, or at least tested operationally, in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last year.
Recent protests against BAE in solidarity with Gaza have included a protest by a group of Warwick University students against a recruitment event run by BAE and Warwick Careers Service [4]. On 22nd January, a group of local activists blocked the entrance to BAE Systems in Newcastle in a ‘die-in’ protest [5]. The company’s head office is located in central London (6 Carlton Gardens, SW1Y 5AD). For more information, see Corporate Watch’s BAE Systems company profile [6]. A list of BAE Systems locations in the UK can be found on the company’s website [7].
Boeing
Boeing is the world’s largest aerospace and defence company, with annual sales of $61.5 billion and 150,000 employees in 70 countries. Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company, with head offices recently moved from Heathrow airport (Cardinal Point, Newall Road) to Central London (16 St James’s Street, London, SW1).
Boeing has had a long business history with the Israeli military. Its recently deliveries to Israel include: IAI-developed arrow missiles, Boeing AGM-114D Longbow Hellfire missiles, 18 AH-64D Apache Longbow fighter helicopters, 63 Boeing F15 Eagle fighter planes, 102 Boeing F16 Eagle fighter planes, 42 BOEING AH-64 Apache fighter helicopters, F-16 Peace Marble II & III Aircraft, 4 Boeing 777s, and Arrow II interceptors. In September last year, the US government approved the sale of 1,000 GBU-9 small diameter bombs made by Boeing to Israel, in a deal valued at up to $77 million [8].
Boeing subsidiaries with a presence in the UK include Alteon, Jeppesen, Continental Data Graphics (CDG), and Preston Aviation [9]. Boeing also works with three universities in the UK on collaborative research and technology: Cambridge, Cranfield and Sheffield [10].
Recent protests against Boeing in connection with the Israeli massacres in Gaza include an anonymous protester smashing some windows of the Boeing office in Bristol on new year’s eve.
The windows have been boarded up and the office has not apparently reopened since.
EDO/ITT
Brighton-based arms company EDO MBM/ITT (formerly EDO MBM), a wholly owned subsidiary of US arms multinational EDO Corp, has been the subject of a relentless direct action campaign due to the company’s complicity in war crimes committed by the US, UK and Israeli armies in Iraq and Palestine.
ITT/EDO produces the ERU-151 (Ejector Release Unit) and ZRFAU (Zero Retention Force Arming Unit), both of which are incorporated in bomb racks used by the F16 war planes that have been used by the Israeli Air Force to commit war crimes in Gaza. These components have been advertised for several years on EDO websites as ‘actively manufactured’ in Brighton, and as ‘used’ and ‘utilized’ on the F16, within its main bombrack, the VER-2. EDO MBM/ITT also has contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence and US arms giant Raytheon to build release mechanisms for the Paveway bomb system [11].
On 20 January 2009, the United States Airforce awarded ITT a contract for the manufacture of flexible cable assemblies to connect weapons to the F-15E jet fighter bomber. The equipment is to be manufactured in Brighton and may reach Israel through US exports [12].
The Smash EDO website (www.smashedo.org.uk) has comprehensive information on what and how ITT/EDO supplies the Israeli army as well as on companies doing ‘business’ with ITT/EDO.
These include The London & Brighton Plating Company Ltd, Guardian Guards, DHL, TNT, Initial City Link and Challenge Packaging Ltd.
On 17 January 2009, anti-militarist activists forced entry into the EDO Brighton factory and destroyed equipment used to make weapons used in Israel’s wholesale slaughter of civilians in Gaza. The company alleges that the ‘decommissioning’ action has cost £250,000 in lost business. Seven people now face ‘burglary’ and ‘criminal damage’ charges. Two of them also face ‘breach of bail’ charges [13]. Smash EDO demonstrate every Wednesday, 4-6pm, outside the EDO MBM/ITT factory on Home Farm Road, Brighton.
Raytheon
Raytheon is one of the largest US arms manufacturers and the fifth-largest military contractor in the world, with annual revenues of around $20 billion. The company has big contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has regularly been found guilty of illegal activity [14].
Among other things, Raytheon makes Bunker Buster bombs, Tomahawk and Patriot missiles. A number of their missiles can be loaded with cluster bombs, which are banned under international law but have, nonetheless, been used by the US and Israeli armies.
Raytheon is one of Israel’s main suppliers of weapons used in the recent attacks on Gaza.
Through its US and Israeli military relations, the company is said to advocate the expansionist notion of ‘Greater Israel’, which, of course, means more war business and more profits [15]. In September last year, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees major arms sales, approved the sale of three kits made by Raytheon to upgrade Israel’s Patriot missile system in a deal valued at up to $164 million [16].
Like EDO, Raytheon has been recently the subject of a relentless direct action campaign. In 2006, nine activists forced entry into the Raytheon office in Derry during the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, barricaded themselves inside the office and threw computer equipment out of the windows. In June 2008, a Jury in Belfast found the defendants not guilty of criminal damage on the basis that they acted with ‘reasonable excuse’ [17]. More recently, three protesters occupied the roof of the company offices in Bristol for over five weeks starting on 9 December 2008 [18].
The rooftop occupation was the third such protest to have targeted Raytheon in the last few months [19]. A list of Raytheon locations and contacts can be found on the company’s website [20].
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest defence contractor by revenue. Most of the company’s revenues came from the United States Department of Defense, other US federal government agencies, and foreign military customers. Lockheed Martin’s products include the F-22, F-16, F 117, C-5, C-27J, C-130, P-3 and U-2. It also produces the Hellfire precision-guided missile system, which has reportedly been used in the recent Gaza attacks. In 2008, it reported sales of
$42.7 billion.
On 4 September 2001, Israel signed a contract with Lockheed Martin for 52 more F-16I fighters.
The total value of the purchase was approximately $2bn, with $1.3bn of that going to Lockheed Martin. The deal then increased the Lockheed Martin’s F-16 backlog to 301, with production provisionally extended to the end of 2008. This was Israel’s 6th acquisition of F-16s, the world’s ‘most sought-after’ fighter. Israel possesses the largest fleet of F-16s outside the United States, with more than 350 jets.
In October 2008, Sir David Manning, a former British Ambassador to Israel and the US, joined the board of Lockheed Martin UK Holdings Ltd. as a non-executive director. Manning’s other past diplomatic positions include Deputy Under Secretary for State in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for Defence and Intelligence and the UK Permanent Representative to NATO in Brussels. In 2001, he was also appointed as Foreign Policy Advisor to former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Lockheed Martin’s UK head office is located in central London (22 Carlisle Place, SW1P 1JA), with other locations throughout England [21].
UAV Engines
UAV Engines Ltd (UEL) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of engines for drones (small, unmanned aircraft) that are becoming critical frontline systems for military and civilian use around the world. The company, known as UEL, is owned by the Israel drone specialists Silver Arrow, a subsidiary of the Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems.
Amnesty has recently uncovered evidence that the specially-designed engines for drones used by Israeli forces in targeted air strikes are made in the UK by UAV Engines, which is based in Lichfield, Staffordshire (Lynn Lane, Shenstone, WS14 0DT). One of its rotary Wankel engines is used in Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone. A version of the 450 drone makes up a squadron of the Israeli air force and has been seen over Gaza in the recent attacks, being used for surveillance and targeting for Israel’s F-16 strike fighters [22].
On 19 January, around 30 people gathered outside the UVA Litchfield factory to protest against the company’s link with the massacre in Gaza. The protest was heavily policed, with one overzealous arrest [23].
Caterpillar
Caterpillar Inc, commonly referred to as CAT, is the world’s largest manufacturer of construction (and destruction) equipment, with more than $30 billion in assets. Famous for their products featuring caterpillar tracks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme, Caterpillar produces a wide range of engineering vehicles, including the range of Caterpillar bulldozers.
The US government buys Caterpillar bulldozers and sends them to the Israel army as part of its annual foreign military assistance package. Such sales are governed by the US Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of US military aid to “internal security” and “legitimate selfdefense” and prohibits its use against civilians.
Caterpillar held the sole contract for the production of the D9 military bulldozer, specifically designed for use in invasions of built-up areas. Since 1967, Israel has used Caterpillar bulldozers to demolish tens of thousands of Palestinian homes and uproot hundreds of thousands of trees, in Israel’s persistent efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their land and build illegal settlements. The D9 bulldozer was extensively used by Israel in Israel during
‘Operation Defensive Shield’ in 2001-2, particularly during invasion of Jenin, when countless homes were destroyed by bulldozers and a disabled man was crushed to death. Caterpillar has also profited from the construction of the apartheid separation wall, which has cut off many Palestinian villages from the rest of the West Bank. The wall was built after the destruction and confiscation of large parts of Palestinian land. On 16 March 2003, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was murdered by an Israeli soldier driving a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer as she tried to stop it from destroying a Palestinian home in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. It is, therefore, difficult to contest that CAT bulldozers are not weapons of mass destruction. Caterpillar still supply spare parts for the maintenance of Israel’s D9s. Caterpillar also produces tank engines at their Caterpillar/Perkins plant in Shrewsbury. Other CAT merchandise includes shoes, clothes and accessories.
A campaign against Caterpillar, known as Caterkiller, has repeatedly taken direct action against the company. A recent CAT sponsorship deal with Leicester Tigers Rugby club has met local opposition. For more details on Caterpillar and the campaign and actions against it, see the campaign’s website (www.catdestroyshomes.org). See also War on Want’s report Caterpillar, the alternative report [24], which includes a list of Caterpillar premises in the UK.
Other arms companies with links to Israel and its war crimes against the Palestinian people include Rolls Royce and Thales. A list of UK arms companies known to have supplied Israel can be found at www.stoparmingisrael.org/info/companies.php.
