Elbit Out Of Victoria
Elbit Out Of Victoria
is a campaign building community power to demand the Victorian Government end its contract with Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer.
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The Australian Federal Government has recently announced it will use taxpayers’ money to fund a $917 million contract with Elbit Systems – Israel’s largest privately-owned arms company. Elbit promotes the weapons it tests on Palestinians as “battle-tested” weapons. The Australian Government has implicated Australia in genocide by funding Elbit Systems that produces 85% of the drones and land-based military equipment that the Israeli Defence Force has used to kill more than 40,000 people in Gaza.
In 2022 Elbit Systems of Australia (ELSA) became a fully-fledged Australian subsidiary, allowing Elbit to expand its operations in so-called Australia. Since 2021, the Victorian Government has partnered with Elbit Systems of Australia to establish a secretive research centre that collaborates with research bodies in Victoria to produce applications for the defence and emergency services sector.
Our government invites arms companies that violate international human rights law, like Elbit Systems, to manufacture weapons in the suburbs, including in Lara, Dandenong South, and Campbellfield.
Our government says that it partners with weapons dealers like Elbit Systems to ‘create Victorian jobs’. It helps weapons companies make a profit by militarising the emergency services sector.
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Fund communities not bombs
End all local partnerships with Elbit Systems
Shut down weapons factories in Victoria
End arms trade with Israel
Demilitarisation of Victoria
Accountability for aiding and abetting genocide
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Established in 1966 to enable Israel’s illegal Apartheid occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine by arming the Zionist regime.
Exports weapons to oppressive occupations and regimes across the world.
History of developing illegal weapons including white phosphorus and cluster bombs that continue to be illegally used in Palestine today.
Manufactures armed drones that are controlled using computer software by people who are geographically removed from occupied and apartheid zones, dehumanising the routine massacres of civilians.
Installed radar and surveillance towers along the apartheid walls in Palestine and the United States/Mexico.
Manufactures surveillance drones used by the Israeli Defence Force to monitor Palestinian people and by the British authorities to stop migrants from seeking refuge.
Our campaign group has open organising meetings regularly. All are welcome.
Check our Instagram for upcoming dates.
History of campaigning against Elbit
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We have succeeded in getting Elbit out of their Port Melbourne office with targeted campaigning since 2021.
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We have succeeded in getting Elbit out of RMIT with a staff, student and community campaign. It’s time to uphold international justice by getting Elbit out of Victoria. No death contracts with Elbit Systems.
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On 15 April 2024, we launched a Palestine Boycott, Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement campaign with a Unionist for Palestine-led protest at the Victorian Parliament: ‘Elbit out of Victoria, Fund Communities Not Bombs’. It's time to uphold international justice and Stop Arming Israel.
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After thousands of concerned Victorians signed a petition demanding the Vic Government end its partnership with Elbit Systems, on 15 May 2024 (the 76th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba) community members gathered at the state Parliament to watch the resulting debate. No Labor MPs engaged in this debate, avoiding accountability and democratic process in their pursuit of profit over life.
Parliament successfully voted to disclose the agreements the Government has signed with Elbit Systems and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which will inform the next steps of our campaign against Elbit.
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On 31 May 2024, we bought our demand to demilitarise Victoria to the ‘Victoria’s Defence Capabilities’ event that platformed and promoted the ‘Defence’ industry in so-called Victoria.
This event was sponsored by the Victorian Government alongside weapons manufacturer BAE Systems.
We disrupted the event by occupying the venue and staging a ‘die-in’ that forced event attendees to be confronted with a visual representation of the work of the ‘defence’ industry, which includes the massacre of more than 40,000 Palestinian people in Gaza since October 7.
We demand that the Government end all ties with weapons manufacturers and sanction Israel now.
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On 12 September 2024, we held a rally at the headquarters of South Korean arms company Hanwha, as part of the Disrupt Land Forces week of action.
The Federal Government signed contracts worth up to $7 billion with Hanwha Defense Australia to manufacture 129 Redback Infantry Fighting Vehicles for the Australian Army in the Geelong region, representing the state of Victoria’s largest-ever land defence contract win.
Hanwha Defense Australia’s manufacturing site has recently been built in Avalon, which will become the epicentre of weapons manufacturing in the state of Victoria.
Hanwha will subcontract numerous weapons manufacturing companies to build the Fighting Vehicles at the Avalon site.
Elbit Systems has been awarded a $917 million contract to supply Hanwha with systems for the Fighting Vehicles.
