Dear Friends,

As we come to the end of 2025, all of us at CAAT would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you – members of local groups, campaigners, funders, and partners – for your support, tenacity, confidence and encouragement. We just wouldn’t exist without you.

We would not be able to have the impact we do without your support – whatever form that takes. Whether you’ve written to your MP, made a donation, shared a post on social media, picketed an arms fair, spoken to friends, or helped in another way – thank you!

Please continue your support by giving now, so that we can be well prepared to work strongly against the continuing and growing iniquities of the arms trade, and keep all our campaigning alive and spirited throughout 2026.

2025 was a(nother) year we will never forget

Here we share just some examples, as a reminder of all that you helped us to achieve in 2025. Again it was one of our busiest years: it was a DSEI year of course; we gave talks up and down and across the country; and our media appearances and citations must have been record-breaking.

CAAT's dedicated grassroots activists, joined by staff, have turned out in great numbers, in all weathers, to protest against the arms trade using creative and diverse tactics. You can read about some of these actions below.

F-35

At the beginning of the year CAAT helped to coordinate a letter to F-35 partner governments signed by more than 230 organisations, calling on governments producing F-35 fighter jets immediately to halt all arms transfers to Israel, including the F-35 jets.

Reports

In March, we published CAAT's annual report on Trends in UK Arms Exports in 2023, drawing together information and data on UK arms exports from a variety of sources to present an overall picture of the UK arms trade in 2023, and trends over the previous 10 years. It is the only publication to bring all such information together in one place.

In September, we published an updated and expanded report on UK arms exports to Israel, How the UK arms and supports Israel's genocide in Gaza. The report presented the most up-to-date information on arms export licences to Israel, the supply of components for the F-35 combat aircraft used by Israel to bomb Gaza, including a new estimate of the value of these components, and other information on UK arms supplies to Israel. It also presented more information on the UK companies arming Israel.

DSEI 2025

In August the UK’s largest arms fair, Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), returned to London’s ExCel Centre and was met with mass mobilisation against its deals in death and destruction, in what is thought to have been the biggest disruption to DSEI in the past twenty years.

Very much to the point - thanks to Oluwatosin Daniju

CAAT also achieved a partial campaigning victory as the government, put under pressure by CAAT campaigners and supporters, refused to invite an official Israeli government delegation to DSEI. Although 51 Israeli companies were still present at DSEI, including Israel’s three biggest arms companies, DSEI delegates were held to account by hundreds of protesters, supported by over 130 campaigning organisations, including CAAT.

In September CAAT made a criminal complaint to the War Crimes Unit at the Metropolitan Police over individuals exhibiting at DSEI aiding and abetting Israel's war crimes in Gaza. We also gave testimony at the Gaza Tribunal, organised by Jeremy Corbyn and the Peace and Justice Project, which you can watch back here: https://thegazatribunal.uk/watch at 4:26:12.

ENAAT, SOAS and BETWEEN GAZA and (Re)armament

In a lovely hot June, CAAT and SWI welcomed to London the annual weekend of meetings for the members of the European Network Against Arms Trade (ENAAT).

On the evening before the meetings, together with Shadow World Investigations and ENAAT, CAAT hosted a major public event at SOAS, Between Gaza and (Re)armament – the arms trade, the rule of law, and Europe’s moral standing, featuring UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq, and Niamh NiBhriain of the Transnational Institute. Andrew Feinstein of Shadow World Investigations chaired.

It was an important discussion on the intersection between European rearmament and the genocide perpetrated in Palestine with Western weapons. The event was a huge success, with around 200 people present.

SOME PROTESTS

Arms dealers were challenged directly by protests this year at their offices, factories and even their dinner events.

In January, the ADS (Aerospace, Defence, Space) dinner was visited by hundreds of boisterous activists, who objected to the arms dealers enjoying a £225+ per head dinner on the profits of their heinous trade while the people of Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon and countries around faced bombing and starvation.

The Arms Dealers' Dinner at Grosvenor House on Park Lane, London

Throughout the year London CAAT staged a series of protests highlighting the presence of arms company offices in Central London, including at L3 Harris, Rolls Royce and Northrop Grumman.

London CAAT at Northrop Grumman

London CAAT also organised a Merchants of Death Tour - dubbed "a tour of the worst places in London”. This meant visiting sites linked to the genocide in Gaza, including civil service offices who sign off military exports, as well arms company offices such as those of Boeing and BAE Systems. For this year’s tour they created a piece of street theatre where “Benjamin Netanyahu”, “Keir Starmer” and an “arms dealer” have a meeting with Death. Death commends their support for her work but is nevertheless shocked by their inhumanity.

Here's a link to a video of the street theatre - of course starring Death  https://youtu.be/73eHLFSck6c?si=-ij1gJKbCPunblVI

Arms factories up and down the country with links to the F-35s sold to Israel, and used in the genocide of Palestinians, have been subject to regular protests. Companies like Leonardo in Southampton and Edinburgh, L3 Harris in Brighton, Northrop Grumman in West London, BAE Systems in Samlesbury, Rafael (Pearson) in Newcastle, Forgemasters in Sheffield, James Cropper in Kendal, as well as multiple Elbit Systems and Teledyne sites have been the focus of determined campaigners demanding an end to war and occupation.

Blackburn4Palestine at BAE Systems, Samlesbury 

CAAT SCOTLAND

CAAT Scotland ran a stall inside the Scottish Parliament in the second week of June. The main focus was to lobby MSPs about a review of how Scottish Enterprise carried out its due diligence on human rights, before spending Scottish taxpayers funds supporting arms companies (among others).

Beforehand, campaigners wrote to all the MSP’s saying they wanted the review to be transparent, to have independent reviewers and to be clear about the criteria being used; plus asking MSPs to come to the stall. Pleasingly three said they came because of a constituent’s letter.

They spoke directly to more than 22 SNP, Conservative, Labour, and Green MSPs, plenty were sympathetic, a few unfortunately knew nothing about the issue and two were against defunding arms manufacturers, one of whom turned up with a retired SAS soldier in tow!

However, they had plenty of contact and, overall, they felt they had made their case well.

Two outside vigils were well attended. They had people from the Quakers, the Catholic Worker movement, the Episcopal church, Secure Scotland, Glasgow Gaza Emergency committee, Scottish Palestine Solidarity Committee, the Greens, etc. as well as some individuals who had come having seen their social media posts! Three MSPs came out to speak and support them. As a small group, it proved well worth working with other groups.

As they were both inside and outside at the same time, they made our presence felt.

The following week Bill Kidd, MSP raised a business debate about Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire. They had focused the minds of MSPs; perfect timing!

CAAT Scotland's stand at the Scottish Parliament

PARLIAMENT

CAAT continued to work with MPs to support them in challenging UK’s arms export regime and calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza.

Thousands of you emailed your MP to support Zarah Sultana’s Arms Trade Bill calling for an end to UK arms exports to Israel. We also supported 57 MPs and Lords to write to the Government demanding answers when they failed to explain a huge rise in licences to Israel in 2024.

We briefed MPs throughout the Al-Haq / GLAN judicial review challenging the Government’s unprecedented F-35 exemption when it suspended some arms licences to Israel.

SUDAN – Campaign launch

In November, after news broke that British weapons were found in combat zones in Sudan, as the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to wage a genocidal onslaught on the Sudanese people, CAAT launched a campaign calling for an arms embargo on the UAE.

POLICING

Throughout the year, CAAT has kept close eyes on the Crime and Policing Bill, as its already draconian anti-protest legislation was intensified via an amendment aiming to restrict protests taking place repeatedly at the same location. CAAT will continue to stand up for the right to protest as the bill continues through parliament in the new year.

SOCIAL MEDIA

We’ve really seen a step change in our social media presence in 2025, largely thanks to Nuvpreet and Zoe who both joined us on a part-time basis earlier in the year.

We have more posts, with top quality images, strong messages and with a greatly extended reach. Currently, we have most of our followers on Instagram, Facebook and X, but we are growing on BlueSky and other, more independent, platforms. Do, please, follow, subscribe, link and share our posts - you can help us spread the word.

A FAREWELL FROM CHARLES

I’m going to retire at the end of January, which means the great wrench of stopping working at CAAT. I came late to this great struggle, but I have enjoyed my three years collaborating with the wonderful team and our splendid band of supporters and volunteers (and that includes you of course). I’ve found the way we operate, especially working in a non-hierarchical environment, eye-opening and now can’t imagine any other way of doing things.

CAAT is the mosquito of the peace movement – yes, we are tiny, but we can be really annoying to those we need to work against and mightily effective, delivering disproportionate results.

I shan’t disappear, I’ll be popping up from time to time!

A NEW JOB - A NEW CHALLENGE

If you'd like to follow Charles as CAAT's Supporter Development Manager, please follow this LINK to CharityJob.co.uk and see who we are hoping to find.

A BIG THANK YOU

We really mean it when we say that we couldn’t have done it without you. The support of so many in a variety of different ways has kept CAAT on the road; your encouragement to the team is invaluable.

CAAT is you – you make it happen!

Not everyone can help by being present at a demonstration or other in-person activity. Perhaps you used to but just can’t now, or live too far away from “the action”, or aren’t able to get out and about. But you can help in other ways!

Please spread the news about CAAT and our struggle against the arms trade. If you can, please make sure CAAT News and our social media posts get passed around to your friends and family, and tell them about our website – not only does it encourage and educate, but your help could well bring us new supporters of all ages.

We are so very grateful to those who are able to support us financially. We rely on the income from our friends, whether a one-off donation as a result of reading about something that has chimed especially with you, through a regular contribution by Direct Debit, or thinking long-term and planning a legacy for CAAT in your will.

We do need to focus on regular donations, and encourage those wishing to make a gift to consider doing something monthly, quarterly or annually. These regular amounts help us with a predictable stream of income, and enable us to plan ahead. So, please, if you are thinking of how you’d like to contribute – do as Charles suggests: think of a Direct Debit!

The CAAT office is now closed for a Christmas and New Year break; we return on Monday, 5th January.

We wish you a happy and peaceful New Year.

With best wishes from all of us at CAAT,

Andrew, Charles, Emily, Emma, Ian, Jon, Katie, Kirsten, Nuvpreet, Sam and Zoe