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Pro-Palestine protests prompt Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems to move US office

Friday, 30 August 2024 8:06 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 30 August 2024 8:06 AM ]

In this file picture, pro-Palestinian protesters are seen outside the Elbit Systems office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the United States. (Photo via social media)

The US arm of Israel’s largest arms company and primary manufacturer of the regime’ land-based equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has announced that it has ended its lease of office space at a building in Cambridge after months of demonstrations by pro-Palestinian protesters.

An Elbit subsidiary, KMC Systems, moved into the building at 130 Bishop Allen Drive in December 2021, and the lease was expected to last into next year.

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Boston, the organization that led the protests, stated that the end of Elbit’s lease “is a testament to our collective power,” crediting “varied community efforts” for disrupting the operations of Elbit and its landlord, Intercontinental Management Corp., and “forcing the early termination of the lease.”

The anti-Israel group vowed to keep fighting to “prevent Elbit from moving to another nearby location.”

BDS Boston statement on Elbit Systems leaving 130 Bishop Allen Drive, Cambridge MA. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/wJWPC84rht
— BDS Boston (@BDSBoston) August 30, 2024

It also said it will continue efforts to “sever Elbit’s ties with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and other actors in the Boston area.”

An intercontinental regional director, Scott Kelly, confirmed earlier in the day that Elbit had terminated its lease.

“We will not consider ourselves victorious until Elbit Systems is dismantled and until Palestine is liberated,” BDS Boston noted.

For months, pro-Palestine demonstrations had targeted the Bishop Allen Drive building that housed KMC.

Despite workers going remote, protesters turn up every Wednesday, Cambridge Police Superintendent of Operations Pauline Wells told online newspaper Cambridge Day.

Pro-Palestine campaign forces Israeli arms maker to close UK factory

This is the third Elbit Systems site in the UK to be shut down permanently by Palestine Action.

Earlier this week, dozens of people convened in front of the building, yelling chants like “Elbit is not welcome here” and “Palestine will be free.”

Other building tenants, including Reed Hilderbrand landscape architects, HMFH Architects, and Workbar coworking space, have informed demonstrators that the Cambridge Elbit facility is no longer in use and that the firm is seeking a new location.

KMC's website currently lists employment vacancies for Merrimack, New Hampshire. While several Elbit jobs are advertised on LinkedIn, none is available in Cambridge.

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