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Campaigners demand release of two Israeli dissidents from UK jail

TWO Israeli dissidents have been locked up for almost a month over a protest against an Israeli arms firm’s offices in Bristol. 

Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai, who are both Jewish Israelis, were arrested along with nine other activists from the Palestine Action group for allegedly breaking in and “smashing” the regional headquarters of Elbit System UK in Bristol on May 15. 

Mr Barkan and Ms Sinai were both denied bail and have been held in prison to await their plea hearing on Wednesday next week at Bristol Crown Court, where their lawyers will reapply for bail. 

If this is denied again, the two could be looking at several months behind bars until the trial starts. 

Palestine Action is demanding their release, and has described their incarceration as part of an “intensified attempt by the British state and police to repress Palestine Action” in response to the group’s disruptive actions against Elbit sites across the country

Mr Barkan and Ms Sinai are both longtime activists and have previously taken Palestine solidarity actions in Israel and Germany (https://mondoweiss.net/2019/05/confronting-apartheid-criminal/). Both left Israel due to their anti-zionist views and now live in Europe. 

Ahead of the occupation of Elbit’s Bristol HQ on May 15, Mr Barkan said that he was taking action to protest “the denial of every element of equality and rights” of Palestinians.

He said that as an Israeli dissent he is opposed to “pretty much everything the zionist state stands for.”

Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori told the Morning Star it was “ludicrous” that two activists have been put behind bars, describing them as “political prisoners.” 

“They are only in there for taking action against a company that really, based on international law, based on how they develop their weapons on an occupied people, should not exist,” she said.  

“They wouldn’t be in there if this country actually respected international law, and if this country didn’t let a company like Elbit build their sites here. It is so clearly wrong.”

Ms Ammori said that the two were denied bail last month after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) argued that they would commit more offences if released, based on their alleged involvement with a previous action last year in Oldham. 

The activists were repeatedly described by the CPS during the hearing as “foreign nationals from the Middle East,” she noted. 

Initially all nine of the arrested activists were remanded in prison, with six later told they were being released on bail. But the CPS appealed, and all nine were remanded in custody. 

The activists’ lawyer Lydia Dagostino of Kellys Solicitors, described the prosecution’s intervention as a “worrying development.” 

“It is unusual for the prosecution to appeal bail being granted to activists, particularly when they are of good character,” she told the Morning Star. 

Six of the activists were eventually released at a hearing four days later, with another released shortly after. 

Ms Ammori said the incarceration of the two Israeli dissidents and the increasingly harsh response of the state against Palestine Action activists shows “neither state cares about their own citizens. 

“They prioritise political repression and enabling an apartheid project, over protecting their own citizens.”

A CPS spokesperson previously told the Star: “It is not unusual for the CPS to challenge a court’s decision to grant bail.

“The CPS makes its decisions independently of any outside influences or political issues.”

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