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By Katherine Fung
Senior Writer
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An American activist group attempted to shut down a local Elbit Systems facility in Massachusetts in protest of the fighting in the Middle East.
"Right now, Israel is using Elbit's weapons to massacre thousands of Palestinian men, women and children," an activist with the liberal organization CODEPINK said outside an arms manufacturing facility in Cambridge on Thursday.
Elbit Systems, an Israel-based international defense electronics company, is the largest weapons supplier to Israel. The company's American subsidiary, Elbit Systems of America, has operational facilities in Texas, New Hampshire, Alabama, Virginia and Florida, according to the company's website. The Cambridge Innovation Center was opened in December 2021 as part of the company's recent expansion.
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"Elbit America unequivocally condemns Hamas and its barbaric acts of terrorism. We stand with Israel and its people as they defend their country and citizens," the company told Newsweek in a statement. Elbit said the facility remains open and operations are still underway.
The protest action comes five days after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, marking the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched the heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Thursday, at least 1300 people had been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military. At least 1,400 people had been killed in Gaza, according to authorities there, the AP said.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is "at war" and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine to Gaza. Israel has called up 360,000 army reservists as it prepares for a likely ground offensive into the territory, which has an estimated population of around 2.3 million.
Codepink has vocally supported the Palestinian cause since the fighting erupted on October 7, participating in several pro-Palestine rallies and calling on the U.S. to halt military aid to Israel.
"Israel has cut off food, water, electricity, and any sort of aid from reaching Gaza. They've also bombed the only way to get out. This is a genocide being carried out with US military backing," the organization wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
The protesters seen outside of the Elbit facility on Thursday said they chose to take action "because we live in beautiful, comfortable, white utopias, like Cambridge" and because "we also want to be an example that there's genuine anti-imperialist actions to take within our own communities."
This is not the first time that Elbit has been the target of pro-Palestine protests.
Earlier this year, members of Palestine Action in the UK occupied the roof of an Elbit factory in Leicester for almost a week in May and held another demonstration at the same facility in August. Palestine Action is dedicated to shutting down Elbit. Its bio on X describes the group as, "The direct action network dismantling British complicity with Israeli apartheid."
Newsweek reached out to Elbit Systems via email for comment.
Update 10/12/23 11:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 10/12/23 3:17 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comments from Elbit.
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