Australian police in the port city of Melbourne have arrested at least seven anti-Israeli protesters.
The arrests were made on Friday after a number of pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked the entry to the site of Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturing company.
The protesters climbed up the roof of the company and unrolled Palestinian flags and a banner that read, “Elbit drones kill kids in Gaza #BDS.”
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign is part of international efforts to pressure Tel Aviv to stop illegal constructions in the occupied Palestinian territory. Over half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.
The protesters also chanted slogans against Israel and said the Australian government is complicit in the killing of Gazan children by allowing Elbit Systems to work in Melbourne.
Elbit Systems makes a variety of aerospace, land and naval systems, especially unmanned aircraft. Israel’s Ministry of Military Affairs has confirmed that it used Elbit drones in its offensive against the Gaza Strip, describing them as “real assets”.
This comes as some 1,980 Palestinians, including 470 children, have so far been killed and over 10,100 others injured in the Israeli aggression against the blockaded coastal sliver, which began on July 8.
International bodies and human rights groups say civilians account for the majority of the victims of the Israeli war. Women and children make the bulk of the civilian casualties.
The UN Human Rights Council has recently passed a resolution, calling for an independent probe into Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
Human rights groups say Israel and its backers must be brought to justice for war crimes in the recent Gaza war. They argue that Israel should not be allowed to carry out its crimes with impunity.
Rights campaigners say Palestinians are held captive by Israel in an “open prison” across the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave. The region has been under Israel’s blockade since 2007, a situation that has caused poverty and a decline in the standards of living.
MSM/MHB/MAM
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