From Brusselssignal:
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Anti-Israel activists damage Belgian defence firms supplying Ukraine
Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian activists carried out co-ordinated action against two Belgian companies —OIP in Tournai and Syensqo in Haren — accusing them of complicity in Israeli military operations in Gaza.
While the large-scale protests on June 23 were framed around Israel, the most serious and immediate impact was felt in Tournai, where equipment destined for Ukraine’s war effort was seriously damaged.
The first action began around 5am in Tournai, where about 100 masked activists entered the grounds of defence company OIP, a Belgian subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. According to CEO Freddy Versluys, the group vandalised office spaces and ICT infrastructure and damaged tanks intended for delivery to Ukraine.
“They entered our buildings with grinding wheels and hammers. This was a particularly well-prepared action,” Versluys told news agency Belga.
“From there, they destroyed and smashed our desks, including our computers. Then they moved on to the workshops where they also severely damaged some vehicles. They completely went loose there with spray cans and hammers.
“We now face a delay of at least a month in delivering crucial equipment to Ukraine,” Versluys said. He estimated the financial damage at nearly €1 million and confirmed that the company has filed a formal complaint.
“And most of the protestors were apparently women. I estimate about 80 per cent. We can clearly see that on the video footage by the way they behave and how they use a hammer. A man does not use a hammer in such a way,” Versluys claimed.
Although OIP was owned by Elbit Systems, the company’s primary operations in Belgium were currently focused on Ukraine.
OIP specialised in the maintenance, repair and modernisation of military vehicles. Since the Russian invasion, the company has supplied around 260 armoured vehicles to the Ukrainian army.
Nevertheless, protest organisers from the “Stop Arming Israel” campaign argued that any link to Elbit implicated OIP in supporting Israeli military capacity.
“Elbit is the industrial arm of the genocide in Gaza,” one activist claimed, adding that Belgian complicity must be challenged.
Versluys stressed that his company has not made defence systems for Israel in more than 20 years. He said his company did not even have an export licence to deliver gear to the country.
“In my eyes, the raid was just pure vandalism. It’s a gang of troublemakers who came to smash things up, nothing more. I really can’t call them peace activists,” he said.
“They are vandals who took the opportunity to indulge in pure vandalism. And abuse the Palestinian cause to do so,” he told Belgian tabloid Het Laatste Nieuws.
Later that morning, around 7:45am, a second wave of protesters targeted Syensqo in Haren, a chemicals and materials company they accused of producing epoxy resin used in Israeli Hermes drones...
Defence minister Theo Francken condemned the protest on social media, calling the activists an “extreme-left militia” and underscoring OIP’s key role in supplying Ukraine."
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Even if the vandals knew that they were damaging Ukraine's survival effort, I don't think this would deter them. Because, while in the USA for bizarre reasons those who support Ukraine are usually against Israel and vice versa, Europeans are more logical and, as a rule, the same people support, respectively oppose, both countries. After all, both the Russian and the Palestinian causes are about exterminating civilized people (Ukrainians and Israelis, respectively) in order to make more space for uncivilized people. Of course, there are some civilized Russians and probably Palestinians as well, but they are minorities without influence, which is due not only to their tiny numbers but also to the totalitarian, repressive nature of their societies.
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