The UK will find four Palestinian activists guilty of defaming an Israeli company Story

Members of the now-banned Palestine Action group attacked the Elbit Systems site in Bristol 10 months into Israel’s Gaza war.

Four out of six British Palestinian activists have been found guilty of crimes committed in 2024 at a factory run by the Israeli security firm Elbit, one of the accused being accused of attacking a police officer with a hammer.

Woolwich Crown Court in London on Tuesday found Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, guilty. Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were found not guilty.

The prosecutors said that the six defendants were members of the banned group Palestine Action, which planned to destroy the premises of Elbit Systems UK in Bristol, in the south-west of England, in August 2024.

The attack, which critics say cost about one million pounds ($1.36m) came nearly 10 months into Israel’s deadly war on Gaza that began in October 2023.

The Palestinian cause then it was banned from the ground “terrorism” law.the decision was ruled illegal by the High Court in London, although the group remains banned pending a government appeal, which was heard last week.

Released for aggravated robbery

Corner, who prosecutors said attacked an officer with a hammer, was found guilty of aggravated assault.

Each of the defendants testified before the jury, admitting that they destroyed Israeli weapons and equipment inside the Elbit research and development center in Filton, Bristol – to “save Palestinian lives”, according to their lawyers.

The defense team of the defendants said: “The defendants have already overcome the most serious charges” and “went to this trial with their heads held high and knowing that regardless of the verdict, by destroying the drones of the Israeli army, what they did should save lives in Palestine”.

Tuesday’s verdicts follow a previous trial, after which all six were indicted release grand theft, and previous judges were unable to obtain convictions for criminal damage.

Prosecutors later dropped assault charges against all six.

The UK government banned Palestine Action in July, days after activists infiltrated a military base in southern England.

Elbit Systems is a security technology company with approximately 20,000 employees and $2bn in revenue, according to the company’s website.