More than 1,000 union members with Workers for a Free Palestine blockaded four weapons factories in the United Kingdom Thursday that make components for planes being used by Israel to bomb Gaza.
The workers, who include teachers and healthcare and hospitality professionals, said they had shut down plants in Bournemouth, Lancashire, Brighton, and Glasgow.
“As healthcare workers, we are tired of mourning the deaths of our colleagues — fellow nurses, doctors, dentists, medical students, and other health workers — along with all of the Palestinians massacred by the Israeli regime,” a participating doctor named Mesh of Health Workers for a Free Palestine told Tribune. “We stand here ashamed that the weapons used in the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine are partly made on our own doorstep.”
BREAKING: Over 1000 trade unionists at multiple sites across Britain are blockading arms factories that are supplying arms to Israel! 🇵🇸 #ShutItDown4Palestine pic.twitter.com/eaoSx2EEot
All of the plants targeted by the workers make components for the F-35 fighter jet. Israel has killed 21,731 people in Gaza since October 7, including 8,697 children, according to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The Geneva-based group said the death toll has risen by 40% since a temporary cease-fire ended last week.
“Our government could only bring itself to advocate for a temporary pause in these atrocities,” Mesh continued from one of the blockades. “Israel has now resumed its violence: turning hospitals into graveyards, using equipment........