Writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists support the boycott campaign and call on UK government to stop arms sales to Israel.
Remembering Gaza: letter signed by writers, filmmakers, musicians, artists, campaigners
Wednesday 8 July is the first anniversary of the start of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza (Anguish in Gaza remains raw, 7 July).
Widespread horror at the massacre led to unprecedented pressure on the government, but Palestinians need concrete results, particularly those in Gaza who are still suffering the consequences of Israel’s illegal and inhuman siege.
A new report released last week by Campaign Against Arms Trade, War on Want and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign shows that despite numerous and repeated findings that point to Israel having committed war crimes, most recently in its attack on Gaza last year, the UK government’s attitude to the arms trade with Israel remains business as usual.
Ordinary people who support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement are taking action, in solidarity with Palestinians, to highlight UK government complicity and end Israeli impunity.
On Monday, three UK factories owned by Israel’s biggest arms company, Elbit Systems, were shut down and prevented from operating by protesters.
These included the UAV Engines factory in Shenstone, Staffordshire, which is given UK government licences to export drone engines to Israel.
We support the protesters and wish to use our voices to strengthen their call for the UK government to stop arming Israel.
We call for any charges against the 19 people arrested to be dropped – the real criminals here are those making and selling deadly weapons – and we reiterate our collective demand for an immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel.
Mike Leigh, Miriam Margolyes, Ken Loach, PJ Harvey, Ilan Pappe, John Berger, John Pilger, Noam Chomsky, Vandana Shiva, Mairead Maguire, Jeremy Hardy, Alice Walker, Paul Laverty, Slavoj Zizek, Saleh Bakri, Andy de la Tour, Victoria Brittain, Richard Falk, Ben White, Miranda Pennell, Mark Steel, Leila Sansour, Maha Rahwanji, John Rees, Liam Hourican, Annemarie Jacir, Breyten Breytenbach, John Dugard, Elia Suleiman, Aki Kaurismaki, Caryl Churchill
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