DISMANTLE: a direct action group targets key supplier to Teledyne

On both 10 and 11 August, a direct action group called ‘DISMANTLE’ targeted two companies which enable Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.

DISMANTLE: a direct action group targets key supplier to Teledyne

In the early hours of 10 August, the group targeted Stemmer Imaging of Tongham, Surrey. Stemmer are a key supplier to Teledyne, who supply the Israeli military with vital equipment, including parts for the F-35 jets, which are central to their offensive air capability.

In a short video posted by the DISMANTLE group, an activist uses a traditional shepherd’s sling, as used in Palestine for centuries, to hurl projectiles at the Stemmer Imaging premises. DISMANTLE concluded with a short statement by demanding:

Stemmer – cut ties with Teledyne.

It signed off with:

Together we can DISMANTLE the Zionist entity.

Labour government taking its cues from Israel

In September 2024, foreign secretary David Lammy announced that Britain would be suspending 30 Arms Licenses to Israel. He told MPs that:

the assessment I have received finds that for certain UK arms exports to Israel there exists a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.

However, the 30 arms licenses comprise less than 10% of the total export licenses relating to the Israeli military. Moreover, as business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds subsequently clarified, it would not affect the supply of F-35 parts, which the Israeli air force have continued to use in Gaza.

American-owned Teledyne operates at six locations in Britain, and employs Lord Richard Dannatt as an adviser. In 2022, Lord Dannatt wrote to two government ministers, urging them to crackdown on activists who had targeted the Teledyne plant in Presteigne, Wales.

The activists, linked to the currently proscribed group ‘Palestine Action’, were convicted of breaking into the plant, and causing £1m in damage.

In court, the prosecution denied that Dannatt had sought to interfere in the case. However, he had written to the then home secretary Suella Braverman warning that:

the threat from Palestine Action has more widespread implications for security and the economy within the United Kingdom.

He said that he would be:

very grateful to receive assurance that the threat from Palestine Action is fully recognised by our security services and appropriate action either planned or being taken.

In 2024, the peer wrote to Dan Jarvis, Labour security minister, along similar lines. Dannatt is now facing conduct inquiries over two sets of allegations that he broke parliamentary rules prohibiting peers from lobbying.

Caterpillar gets the DISMANTLE treatment

Early on the morning of 11 August, the DISMANTLE group carried out a second action. This time it targeted the London offices of PwC, an auditing company used by Caterpillar. Activists painted the front of the plush building with slogans.

Caterpillar make the huge D9 bulldozers, that Israel has used as a weapon of war for many years. The violent settler state first used armoured D9s in the Sinai war in 1956. These have become synonymous with the wholesale demolition of Palestinian homes, and entire villages. Israel has used the D9s extensively, in the same manner, in Lebanon, and throughout Gaza.

In 2003, Israel crushed to death Rachel Corrie, a young American peace activist, who had gone to Gaza as part of the International Solidarity Movement with a Caterpillar D9. She was trying to prevent the destruction of Palestinian homes.

Following its graffiti attack on PwC auditors, DISMANTLE issued a statement in which it said:

This week Netenyahu announced his plans to occupy all of Gaza. The IDF will certainly use Caterpillar’s tools to attempt to do so.

Caterpillar is deeply complicit – and so are any companies they work with. We call on PwC to stop working with Caterpillar.

Featured image supplied