A jury at Woolwich Crown Court in London acquitted six Palestine Action activists of aggravated burglary in early February 2026, following their August 2024 break-in at an Elbit Systems facility near Bristol. Three of the defendants were also cleared of violent disorder charges. The panel could not reach verdicts on criminal damage and grievous bodily harm allegations after more than 36 hours of deliberations.

The acquittals came as the British government was simultaneously prosecuting dozens of other Palestine Action members under terrorism legislation — a designation the High Court ruled unlawful on February 13, just days after the Woolwich verdict. The juxtaposition is striking: a government that classified solidarity protests as terrorism watched a jury decline to convict six people who actually broke into an Israeli weapons manufacturer’s facility.

Elbit Systems UK is a subsidiary of one of Israel’s largest defense contractors. Elbit produces surveillance drones, targeting systems, and military equipment used by Israeli forces in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Palestine Action, which formed in 2020, has staged repeated direct action protests at Elbit facilities across the UK, arguing that British sites manufacturing components for weapons used in Gaza are legitimate targets for disruption. The group has caused millions of pounds in damage across multiple facilities.

The defendants’ legal team argued that their actions were justified given the scale of atrocities being committed in Gaza using weapons of the kind produced at Elbit’s UK sites. The jury’s acquittal does not legally establish a necessity defense — juries are not required to explain their verdicts — but the outcome reflects the difficulty of persuading ordinary British citizens, confronted with the documented reality of Gaza, to convict people who acted to obstruct the supply chain of that reality.

Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori called the outcome a “monumental victory.” The British government said it would continue pursuing prosecutions. It is simultaneously appealing the High Court ruling that called its terrorist designation unlawful.