"Failed to reach an agreement": Trial against Palestine Action activists for the raid on Elbit factories dissolved
The judge dissolved the jury in the trial after a single conviction was reached out of 15 charges. After more than 37 hours of deliberation, only one conviction for "criminal damage" was reached. In a separate proceeding: a Jewish left-wing activist who praised the October 7 massacre was acquitted of a charge of supporting Hamas.
A judge at the Old Bailey, the Central Criminal Court of England, dissolved the jury this week in the trial of eight activists linked to the outlawed Palestine Action organization, after the jurors managed to reach only one conviction out of 15 charges.
The trial dealt with allegations of assisting and planning the raid on the Elbit Systems factory in the Filton suburb of Bristol, a hub of the British aerospace industry. On August 6, 2024, activists broke into the factory using an old prison van as a battering ram. According to a statement by the CAGE organization, the action led to the destruction of forty pieces of Israeli weaponry, including quadcopter drones. It is estimated that financial damage of about 1.2 million pounds was caused to the factory's equipment.
The eight defendants were not at the scene during the action itself, but were charged with assisting, encouraging, and planning, including compiling equipment lists, preliminary reconnaissance, purchasing tools, and coordinating documentation. By the time the trial began, some of them had already been in custody for up to 18 months.
The jury deliberated this week for more than 37 hours and returned with only one conviction for "criminal damage" against a single defendant whose identity was not even released for legal reasons. On the other 14 counts, no verdict was reached, and Judge Patrick Field ordered the jury to be dissolved the day before yesterday. The prosecution will now consider whether to request a retrial. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for September 14.
Four activists who were on-site during the raid had already been convicted previously and sentenced in June 2026 to multi-year prison terms, with a "terror conspiracy" charge applied at the sentencing stage.
The Palestine Action organization, to which the defendants belong, was declared a terrorist organization in the UK in July 2025, following a break-in at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton on June 20, 2025, where activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two refueling aircraft and caused significant damage.
The High Court ruled in February 2026 that the declaration was illegal and disproportionate, but the Court of Appeal overturned the decision on June 15, 2026, and ruled that the declaration was legal and proportionate. Since the declaration, thousands of people have been arrested in the UK on suspicion of supporting the banned organization.
In its statement, CAGE noted that Anas Mustapha, head of advocacy at the organization, said this was a "great victory that belongs to the defendants and not to the system that held them for 18 months in custody before trial."
Anti-Zionist left-wing activist acquitted of soliciting support for Hamas while continuing to claim the October 7 attack was justified.
Meanwhile, the British Jewish and anti-Zionist left-wing activist Tony Greenstein, 72, from Brighton, was acquitted yesterday (Friday) in a separate proceeding at Kingston Crown Court of the charge of encouraging support for the terrorist organization Hamas in posts he uploaded on the day of the October 7 massacre. The jury acquitted him after two hours and 11 minutes of deliberations.
The trial was characterized by sharp confrontations between Greenstein, the son of an Orthodox rabbi, and Judge Sarah Plaschkes. When he tried to elaborate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the judge stopped him repeatedly and warned him not to turn the trial into a "political forum."
Greenstein, for his part, threw at her that "this is the problem with the ruling class in this country - they turn a blind eye to genocide." In his testimony, he also said that in his opinion the October 7 attack was "justified," but claimed he does not support Hamas as an organization.
According to the British news agency PA, the confrontation reached a peak after Greenstein's closing statement to the jury. The judge revealed that she had considered initiating contempt of court proceedings against him, but withdrew. According to her, after "calm consideration" she reached the conclusion that it was a "rambling speech of an old man," which did not influence the jury's decision, but despite the prosecution's solid arguments, the jurors were not convinced and acquitted him.
In a previous entanglement, Greenstein was arrested with Palestine Action activists on their way to an action against another Elbit Systems factory in Shenstone, where, according to British media, drone engines are manufactured.
He was convicted of intent to cause criminal damage, and in September 2023 was sentenced to a nine-month suspended prison term and relatively light ancillary penalties because the case preceded the outlawing of the organization in the UK and its definition as a terrorist organization, therefore Greenstein's conviction in the previous Elbit case was not for a terror offense.
