UK faces criticism from activists for hosting ‘world’s worst arms dealers’ in London

In protest of Britain’s hosting of the “worst arms dealers,” including those from Israel, at the largest arms show in the world, activists have organized a two-week resistance campaign.

The Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI), which opens in London on Tuesday, will be denounced by the campaigners at events held in protest of it serving as a marketplace for the sale and purchase of deadly weapons by oppressive regimes like Tel Aviv.

More than 40 Israeli arms companies that support the violation of Palestinians’ human rights will be present.

The UK-based Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) referred to the biennial DSEI as a “marketplace in death and destruction” in a statement issued on Monday. It claimed that Israeli companies like Elbit “battle test” their weapons on Palestinians in the occupied territories.

According to CAAT’s media coordinator Emily Apple, the participating companies are a “who’s who of the world’s worst arms dealers,” and peace activists are “coordinating a fortnight of resistance.”

It is disgusting that the UK not only sells weapons to Israel but also encourages Israeli arms companies to sell their products in London. “Israel is an apartheid state,” she continued.

Deals made at DSEI will ruin people’s lives and bring about worldwide misery and instability.

Representatives from governments like Saudi Arabia, which has used weapons made in the UK to commit war crimes in Yemen, will be entertained and persuaded to purchase additional weapons.

Apple further criticized the UK government for repeatedly demonstrating that it “cares more about the money made from dodgy deals with dictators than it does about the people whose lives will be ruined by the sales.”

When they arrive in London, arms dealers will not be welcomed because protesters will meet them there and force them to confront the reality of the costs associated with their deadly business.