Many actions since 2004 implored that the corporation should close or convert its factory to civilian use (road blockades, rooftop occupations, attempted weapons inspections, marches through the city centre of hundreds of protesters and three peace camps set up in woodland adjunct).
On 17 January 2009 activists Elijah Smith, 42, Robert Nicholls, 52, Tom Woodhead, 25, Harvey Tadman, 44, Ornella Saibene, 50, all from Bristol,[1] raided the factory in Moulsecoomb, who pre-recorded their motivation in a video.
On 17 May 2010,[7] the trial began at Hove Crown Court[4] of the seven activists for conspiring to cause criminal damage; the maximal sentence (for guilt) being five years.
[4] Caroline Lucas, the MP for Brighton and the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, supported the activists and said that this was a case in which she considered non-violent direct action legitimate.
[8] EDO managing director Paul Hills denied in court that the company supplied components to Israel but said it did make parts for F-16 fighter planes.
Judge George Bathurst-Norman said that, despite his denials, it was clear that there was enough evidence to the contrary and that the certificates required for arms export licenses were "not worth the paper they are written on," as they can be easily manipulated.
A statement form the Board of Deputies said: "The acquittal was clearly a result of the skewed narrative around Cast Lead, the judge's comments and the appearance of the local MP, who is known for her anti-Israel bias."
"[1]On 15 July 2010 the Jewish Chronicle published a full transcript of the judge's final summing up of the evidence, and reported that the Zionist Federation were calling for a mistrial.
Jonathan Hoffman, vice-chair of the latter, argued that "Judge Bathurst-Norman behaved more like the defence counsel than the neutral officer of the court that he was supposed to be...[his] comments reveal that he has an extreme anti-Israel agenda.
On 7 October he was formally reprimanded by the OJC, which stated that "An investigation found that a number of [his] observations did not arise directly from the evidence at trial and could be seen as an expression of the judge’s personal views on a political question.
[13][14][15][16] In response to this, the Smash EDO Campaign stated, "Judge George Bathurst-Norman has become subject of a concerted campaign of smears and defamation by a number of right-wing columnists, the Zionist Federation, and the Board of Deputies of British Jews on grounds that his summary of the evidence was 'anti-semitic' ... the charges of anti-semitism, which have been made against [him], are a grossly cynical attempt to undermine the significance of these acquittals of pro-Palestinian activists on evidence of Israeli war crimes.