On both the 10th and 11th August, a direct action group called ‘Dismantle’ targeted two companies which enable Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.
In the early hours of the 10th August, the group targeted Stemmer Imaging of Tongham, Surrey. Stemmer are a key supplier to Teledyne, who supply the Israeli military with vital equipment, including parts for the F35 jets, which are central to their offensive air capability.
In a short video posted by the DISMANTLE group, an activist is seen using a traditional shepherd’s sling, as used in Palestine for centuries, to hurl projectiles at the Stemmer Imaging premises. DISMANTLE concluded a short statement by demanding, “Stemmer – cut ties with Teledyne”, signing off: “Together we can DISMANTLE the zionist entity.”
In September 2024, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that Britain would be suspending 30 Arms Licenses to Israel, telling MPs that “the assessment I have received finds that for certain UK arms exports to Israel there exists a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.” Thirty is actually less than 10% of the total export licenses relating to the Israeli military, and as Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds subsequently clarified, it would not affect the supply of F-35 parts, which the Israeli air force have continued to use in Gaza.
American-owned Teledyne operates at 6 locations in Britain, and employs Lord Richard Dannatt as an adviser. In 2022, Lord Dannatt wrote to two government ministers, urging them to crackdown on activists who had targeted the Teledyne plant in Presteigne, Wales. The activists, linked to the currently proscribed group ‘Palestine Action’, were convicted of breaking into the plant, and causing £1 Million in damage. In court, the Prosecution denied that Dannatt had sought to interfere in the case, but he had written to home secretary Suella Braverman warning that “the threat from Palestine Action has more widespread implications for security and the economy within the United Kingdom”. He said that he would be “very grateful to receive assurance that the threat from Palestine Action is fully recognised by our security services and appropriate action either planned or being taken”. In 2024, the peer wrote to Dan Jarvis, Labour security minister, along similar lines. Dannatt is now facing conduct inquiries over two sets of allegations that he broke parliamentary rules prohibiting peers from lobbying.
Early on the morning of the 11th August, the DISMANTLE group carried out a second action, this time targeting the London offices of PwC, an auditing company used by Caterpillar. The front of the plush building, at 7 More London Riverside, SE1 2RT, was painted with slogans by activists from the group.
Caterpillar make the huge D9 bulldozers, used as a weapon of war by the Israeli military for many years. Armoured D9s were first used by Israel in the Sinai war in 1956, and have become synonimous with the wholesale demolition of Palestinian homes, and entire villages. The D9 has been used extensively, in the same manner, in Lebanon, and throughout Israel’s war in Gaza.
In 2003, Rachel Corrie, a young American peace activist, who had gone to Gaza as part of the International Solidarity Movement was crushed to death by a Caterpillar D9, while trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes.
Following their graffiti attack on PwC auditors, DISMANTLE issued a statement in which they said: “This week Netenyahu announced his plans to occupy all of Gaza. The IDF will certainly use Caterpillar’s tools to attempt to do so.
“Caterpillar is deeply complicit – and so are any companies they work with. We call on PwC to stop working with Caterpillar.”