Today at noon, No Borders London and friends held a picket of BAe Systems at the company’s headquarters in the capital, as part of a national No Borders Day of Action for Gaza.

The creative protest involved a cage in the shape of Gaza to symbolise the ongoing Israeli siege which means that civilians had no way to flee the bombings and that reconstruction is currently impossible. Also, a protester in a suit dressed as a BAe salesman collected fake bloodied money in exchange for providing weapons to the Israeli army. The protest intended to draw attention to the British company’s profiting from the suffering and death of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and especially from the recent Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s sustained and brutal military attack on Gaza which killed 1400 Palestinians and wounded over 7000.

BAe, part of which was formerly the national company British Aerospace, is a weapons manufacturer, and supplies components for combat aircraft used by the Israeli military in offensive actions, such as Apache bomber-helicopters and F-16 bomber-jets. Last week, Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary David Milliband officially admitted that Israeli weapons used in Gaza « almost certainly » contained UK-supplied components, and cited BAe’s involvement. BAe Systems also has an Israeli subsidiary firm called Rokar International, which heavily supplies the Israeli army with weapons systems.

When asked why she felt concerned by BAe’s actions, one of the protesters replied : « Why, BAe’s bloodly business is only possible because they get my taxes ! It’s completely out of order that an arms company should get public funds when people are being kicked out of their homes and losing their jobs. In fact, it’s shocking that they should get taxpayers’ money at all. There were massacres in Gaza, and elsewhere, because companies like BAe are willing to supply oppressive governments with the technology of death and destruction. » Indeed, BAe receive subsidies from the UK government in the form of export credits and promotion. Although British arms exports account for only 1.5% of UK exports and 0.2% of British jobs, the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) has more staff working on promoting the arms industry than all other industries together, and BAe tops the list of British companies receiving export credits, meaning the government guarantees arms payments to BAe in case a foreign client defaults.