Palestine Action activists convicted in UK over raid on Israeli defense firm

A British court has convicted four members of the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action over a 2024 raid on an Israeli-linked defense facility in Bristol, which they suspected was supplying the Israeli military with arms.

The case has caused debate over the UK’s role in Israel’s destruction of Gaza, occupation of the West Bank and invasion of Lebanon. The government has been widely criticized for its use of anti-terror legislation to strangle reporting on the case, restrict jury nullification and legal representation, as well as the extraordinary length of pre-trial detention the activists were subject to.

The Palestine Action group has been proscribed in Britain, which has lead to a series of bizarre arrests of demonstrators bearing a placard bearing the group’s name at Pro-Palestine events throughout the country. 

The defendants drove a decommissioned prison van through the gates of a plant belonging to Israel’s largest defense electronics contractor, Elbit Systems, in August 2024. They destroyed computers, drones, and other equipment, while clashing with security and police, claiming to want “save lives in Palestine.” They caused an estimated £1 million ($1.36 million) in damage. 

Their lawyers said all six defendants admitted to the destruction, but denied criminal damage, telling the jury they aimed to “dismantle drones and weaponry” they believed would be used to kill civilians in Gaza.

The verdict was announced by Woolwich Crown Court, southeast London, on Tuesday. Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, were found guilty of criminal damage; Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were acquitted. The four convicted face sentencing on June 12.

Corner was separately convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Sgt. Kate Evans. The prosecution said that the accused struck the officer in the back with a sledgehammer, fracturing her spine. Evans said she was off work for three months and remains on restricted duties more than 20 months later.

Corner, however, told the jury he attacked the officer while in a panic after being pepper-sprayed, and acted to protect a colleague he believed was being seriously hurt. He also stressed that violence during the raid was not pre-planned.

The jury – which was given restricted information throughout the trial – deliberated on the verdict for more than 14 hours before clearing him grievous bodily harm with intent, capping his maximum term at five years rather than a life sentence. The maximum sentence for the other convicts is capped at ten years, but is typically much lower for first-time offenders.

Elbit Systems, which operates more than a dozen sites across the UK, denies manufacturing or exporting weapons to the Israeli military. However, media reports have claimed that components produced by UK-based Elbit subsidiaries have been used by the Israel Defense Forces.

The Filton break-in was among the events that led the British government to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organization in 2025. In February 2026, London’s High Court ruled the ban unlawful, though the designation remains in force pending final judgment.