This week’s column features the case of the Ulm 5, a group of activists accused of taking action against Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems in Ulm last fall. Here is the activists’ crowdfunding campaign, created to help finance various prison and court costs.
In the early morning of September 8, 2025, five Palestine solidarity activists allegedly broke into and disrupted the Elbit Systems weapons factory in the German city of Ulm. The action took place amid sustained protest against the factory, to which the activists are accused of causing an estimated damage of one million euros.
The Zionist entity’s primary weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems produces over 85% of the Israeli forces’ land-based equipment and surveillance technology, used to brutally occupy and genocide the Palestinian people. Beyond arming the Zionist occupation, Elbit also supplies weapons to oppressive regimes around the world, improving its profit margins off of genocide and mass colonial violence.
The Ulm 5 are being held until this day in pre-trial detention as the State looks to prosecute them for trespassing, destruction of property and membership of a criminal organisation (§129), a charge added in a politically motivated attempt to criminalize solidarity with Palestine. They have faced harsh conditions over the past six months in jail, enduring various repressive measures such as: “strict monitoring of phone calls, visits, and correspondence, confinement in their cells for up to 23 hours a day, and restricted access to books and group activities.”
Within the same scope, last week, the first six of the British ‘Filton 24’ won in court as the jury concluded in their favor. The Filton 24 refers to a group of activists detained for targeting an Elbit factory in Filton, England, in August 2024. Following the first acquittal, prosecutors then elected to drop the aggravated burglary charges, allowing for all but one of the remaining activists to be released on bail. This news came on the heels of the British High Court ruling that the ban on Palestine Action is “disproportionate and unlawful.”
