They demand bank stops investing in arms company

Two Barclays premises in Edinburgh were struck overnight by camapigners from Palestine Action.

The group targeted more than 10 Barclays sites including branches, call centres and offices.

The premises were marked with symbols of their complicity in the Israeli war in Gaza. 

Bank premises had their windows smashed, and covered in blood-red paint, in actions which Palestine Action have vowed will continue until Barclays cease their investments in Elbit Systems - Israel's largest weapons firm, and Palestine Action's primary target. 

These actions follow those of June 2024, when nearly 20 branches of the arms-investing bank were smashed.

Camapigners say Barclays still holds Elbit shares and has more than tripled its Elbit shareholdings.

Elbit provides 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bombs, missiles and other weaponry which it markets as “battle-tested” after they are developed during bombardments in Palestine.

Additionally, Barclays holds over £2billion of investments, and underwrite loans worth £6billion, in other firms involved in arming Israel.

A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: "Barclays' investments are contributing to the wholesale destruction of Gaza, the erasure of Palestinian life and property.

“These banks choose to invest in manufacturers of genocide. They have evaluated that the continued returns on investment generated by Elbit Systems and Israel's war machine are worth more than the moral or political cost of dealing in war crimes. 

“Palestine Action will continue to take action to re-calibrate that cost-benefit analysis: reducing the profitability of any operation doing business with Israel's arms trade."