Thousands protest presence of Israeli companies at London arms fair

Arms companies and weapons dealers have been met with protests against Israeli participation at London’s Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair.

Police scuffled with demonstrators holding banners and shouting as more than 50 Israeli arms firms joined 1,600 exhibitors at the event at London’s Excel Centre on Tuesday.

The exhibitors include Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries, both of which are owned by the Israeli state, despite the UK government banning the official Israeli delegation from attending, given the ongoing genocide in Gaza, during which more than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023.

Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms producer and manufacturer of much of the Israeli army's drone force, also confirmed to trade publication Breaking Defence that it would attend.

With protesters blocking the main entrance to the exhibition centre, police escorted attendees through a side door to chants of “shame” and “free Palestine”. 

On several occasions, Middle East Eye witnessed police use physical force to maintain the cordon around attendees, with several protesters injured.

One protester lay, seemingly unconscious, in a cordoned-off zone in handcuffs, before being taken away by paramedics in an ambulance.

Middle East Eye also witnessed police surround and contain approximately 20 protesters, including Buddhist monk Ajahn Santamono, for at least an hour. All but one of the demonstrators were subsequently released without arrest. 

Santamano described the event as "obscene" and said he was “horrified” by the police response.

“People who contribute to genocide and mass murder are protected and supported, while people of conscience who try to protest this are the ones who are arrested, criminalised and treated with violence,” he said.  

At time of publication, at least three people had been arrested.

Elbit shortlisted by UK

The DSEI event, which in one form or another has been held since 2001, has always attracted protests and controversy. But this year, it attracted renewed attention amid Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Anna Stavrianakis, a researcher on the global arms trade at Sussex University, termed the DSEI event "war meets business".

She told  Middle East Eye: “DSEI is framed as a trade fair – but really it is where state and military interests in war and violence meet corporate interests in selling as much technology as possible.

"It's really a grand day out for all the arms traders involved. It’s a place where connections are forged, deals are considered weapons, are admired."

In previous years, Amnesty International has alleged that banned weapons have been sold at the event, including illegal cluster-munition weaponry and “waist chains and cuffs with leg chains” commonly used as torture devices.

In 2016, eight activists, including a Bahraini torture survivor, were acquitted by a London court after blocking access to the arms fair, with the judge highlighting the "compelling evidence" that illegal arms were sold during the fair.

The last DSEI event in September 2023 was policed by more than 100 officers at a cost of almost £2m.

Regular observers of the protests noted that there appeared to be many more this year, joined by divisions of British Transport Police and territorial support officers.

John Healey, the UK Defence Secretary, is scheduled to visit the fair on Thursday. He launched an industrial defence strategy on Tuesday, pledging to increase defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP via a new £250m earmarked for “defence growth deals”.

Healey recently shortlisted a consortium comprising Elbit Systems UK, a British subsidiary of the Israeli arms giant that describes its products as “battle tested”, and formerly blacklisted consultancy Bain & Co, for a £2bn contract with the Ministry of Defence.