A packed public meeting at the Friends Meeting House in Kendal on Thursday evening (27 June 2024) applauded calls for Cumbrian companies like James Cropper subsidiary Technical Fibre Products and BAE Systems to stop all involvement in supplying materials and components for F35 war planes as used by Israel in its attacks on Gaza.
Speakers from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) expressed their horror at Israel's continuing attacks in Gaza which have already resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. They noted both that Israel's F35 jets have played a prominent role in many of these attacks and that Cumbrian firms like James Cropper PLC have yet to respond to campaigners' calls for a halt to the supply of materials used in the manufacture of F35s, most especially those ordered by but not yet supplied to Israel.
Spokesperson, Philip Gilligan said,
"After the deaths of over 14, 000 Palestinian children and the finding by the International Court of Justice (IJC) that Israel’s actions in Gaza could amount to genocide, it is surely morally unacceptable that many months after first being asked about their role in the manufacture of Israel's F35s, James Cropper PLC has still made no public statement relevant to the issue. It also seems more than a little bizarre that a company founded by a Quaker philanthropist like James Cropper now seems willing to lay itself open to accusations of complicity in Israel's war crimes. We can only hope that Croppers will eventually tell us that they are no longer willing to supply the materials which have aided Israel in the atrocities it has committed in Gaza. We shall certainly continue to campaign to stop them doing so."
(South Lakeland and District CND)
