Meanwhile, CAAT’s Kick Israel Out of DSEI campaign achieved a significant, albeit partial, victory at the end of last week with the news that the UK government wouldn’t be inviting an official Israeli government delegation. As a result, Israel announced it would no longer host its country pavilion. These were two of our key campaign demands when we launched our campaign back in April - and a massive thank you to all our supporters who’ve signed and shared our petition and other campaign resources and helped make this happen.
While this is obviously welcome news, it is perhaps only a symbolic victory while DSEI is welcoming 51 Israeli arms companies to DSEI. This includes allowing Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest defence company, which makes 85% of the drones used by the Israeli Defence Force, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries to market their genocide-tested weapons to a global
audience.
This is the government pretending to take action while safeguarding the profits of arms dealers. At the same time it’s banning an official Israeli delegation, it is on the cusp of awarding a £2bn contract to Elbit Systems. These are not the actions of a government committed to taking action against Israel. These are the actions of a government complicit in a
genocide.
It is also clear that our government is not committed to taking any action that disrupts the profits of arms dealers. It is therefore down to campaigners across the country coming together to take action to uphold international law on the streets of East London - and this is why CAAT is one of 130 groups supporting The Big One: Shut DSEI Down protest on
Tuesday, 9th September. Protests start at 8am at the West gate, and we hope to see as many of you there as possible! Follow Shut DSEI Down on socials for updates and travel
advice as there are tube and DLR strikes the same day. Limited crash space is available - contact [email protected] for more info.
Finally, CAAT has just published its updated version of its UK arms to Israel report. How the UK arms and supports Israel’s genocide in Gaza shows how the UK government is deeply complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The report provides the most comprehensive information available on UK arms sales to Israel and is essential reading for anyone wanting to know more about how deeply complicity the UK government is in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. | 
