by New Worker correspondent

Activists poured blood-red dye into the US Embassy moat in London last week to protest against arms sales to Israel. Greenpeace activists, disguised as delivery riders, tipped 300 litres of blood-red dye into the Embassy moat to highlight the death and devastation caused in Gaza as a direct result of America’s continued sale of weapons, ammunition and military hardware to Israel.

Twelve activists tipped the non-toxic, biodegradable dye from containers emblazoned with the words “Stop Arming Israel” into the large ornamental moat located in front of the embassy building in south-west London.

Will McCallum, the Co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, was among six people arrested in connection with the protest. McCallum has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Five other activists were also arrested near the embassy on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

Since taking office in January Donald Trump has continued his predecessor’s policy of supplying weapons to Israel, approving nearly $12 billion in military sales. This is despite widespread

concerns over the indiscriminate killing of civilians and other war crimes committed by Israeli forces. Greenpeace UK is urging the British and US governments to announce a total arms embargo on Israel in order to stop the horrific unfolding genocide.

The protest comes as Israeli forces step up military activity in the Gaza Strip following the breakdown of the fragile ceasefire last month. The entry points into Gaza have also been closed by Israel since early March, blocking food, medicine and medical equipment at the border, and denying humanitarian access to people in need. It also comes after a string of recent comments from Trump that suggest a permanent displacement of Palestinian people from Gaza, that “the US will take over the Gaza strip”, and that Gaza could be the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Israel’s war effort is heavily dependent on arms shipments from the USA. America provides Israel with billions of dollars’ worth of military aid every year and is the supplier of two-thirds of all of Israel’s arms imports, including warplanes, armoured vehicles, missiles and ships.

Additional military aid approved during the last two years includes $20 billion last August, and $8 billion this January, in the last weeks of the Biden administration. All currently active combat aircraft in the Israeli air force were supplied by the USA.

Areeba Hamid, co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said: “We’ve turned the embassy pond blood-red because US weapons continue to fuel an indiscriminate war that’s seen bombs dropped on schools and hospitals, entire neighbourhoods blasted to rubble, and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives obliterated.”

“As the biggest supplier of weapons to the Israeli military, the US government bears a heavy responsibility for the horrors unfolding in Gaza. Despite widespread concerns over war crimes and even acts of genocide, both the Biden and Trump administrations have continued to fund billions of dollars’ worth of fighter jets, bombs and tanks, making the US complicit in the bloodshed.”

“The ceasefire Trump claimed credit for has collapsed and fullscale war is back. If Trump has any real interest in stopping the war, he should listen to the majority of Americans and stop arming Israel now. And the UK government should do the same.”

The UK is also an exporter of weapons to Israel, having sold the country almost £500 million worth of military hardware since 2015. The British government did suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel in September last year. Crucial F-35 fighter jet parts were excluded from the suspension however, and the move was heavily criticised by campaigners.

Countries such as Spain, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands have already banned arms sales to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.

In addition to a global embargo on all arms sales to Israel, Greenpeace has been calling for both the Israeli government and Hamas to unequivocally agree to support and abide by the UN Security Council Ceasefire resolution in full. We call on Hamas to immediately release all hostages. We call for the Israeli Government to immediately end the blockades on the supply of food, water, medicine and fuel to the people of Gaza and release all illegally detained civilians.