The Quakers held a silent protest outside the UK’s largest arms fair

Quakers worshipped peacefully outside the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair at London’s ExCeL Centre on Tuesday 9 September. Despite the Labour Party government’s ban on Israeli officials attending this year’s event, it still welcomed Israeli arms companies – many directly linked to the Gaza genocide – to the event. On the eve of the arms fair, Quakers joined the ‘Merchants of Death Walk of Witness’ past the headquarters of two major arms manufacturers L3 Harris and Northrup Grumman. This includes Boeing’s JDAM kits, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 warplane, Northrop Grumman’s Sa’ar 5 warships, ThyssenKrupp’s Sa’ar 6 warships, and Israel’s Merkava battle tanks. The real crime is happening inside the arms fair, not outside it.