Elbit Out of SC, a coalition of Charleston based pro-Palestine groups, and other concerned community members today picketed against Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems at their Ladson facility. The group released the following statement:
"Elbit Systems, LLC is an American subsidiary of the larger Israeli company Elbit Systems, Ltd. which has produced similar weaponry and surveillance technology used in global conflicts in Palestine, Myanmar, Armenia, and apartheid South Africa. Community members also learned that the Ladson facility received a package of tax breaks, including a $700,000 Set-Aside grant from the SC Coordinating Council for Economic Development, and a Fee in Lieu of Taxation (FILOT) agreement with Charleston County that will reduce the private company’s property taxes for decades to come. While the total amount of lost public revenue as a result of these agreements is unknown, Charleston County School District lost $34M in funding in tax year 2019 alone to similar corporate giveaways.
This is a despicable use of taxpayer funds that does not reflect the values of many Charlestonians who would prefer support for public education, affordable housing and other local initiatives over war profiteering. Chris Tittle, a Charleston County resident, said, “As a parent in the Charleston County School District, I am outraged to learn that tax money which should be funding our children’s education is instead producing weapons to be used in the destruction of Gaza’s entire school system. Gaza is already the most dangerous place in the world to be a child, and subsidizing Elbit Systems with our public money is making it even more dangerous for both the children of Gaza and the children of Charleston County.”
We recognize Elbit workers as members of the working class seeking to provide for themselves and their families. However, the labor requisite of employment at Elbit Systems inherently renders these workers active participants in supplying a genocide. We urge the workers of Elbit Systems to stand with the Elbit Out of SC coalition and reject war profiteering in our community by pursuing alternative employment.
As we stand in solidarity with the workers, we also stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and members of our own community who are also subjected to heightened surveillance, violence, and other forms of oppression, including the Gullah people. As Fez, a Gullah-Geechee resident of Charleston County said, "The oppression of Gullah-Geechee people and Palestinians come from the same snake. The same tactics and technology is being trained to our police. Peep the deadly exchange. The namesake for our jail, Al Cannon, even gave seminars to Israeli military and police. The same people biting us is the same biting them."
Our demands are as follows:
1. An immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank, a bilateral release of hostages, and an immediate restoration of humanitarian aid. We support the ICJ’s findings of plausible genocide committed by Israel against Palestine, and firmly believe Israel must be held accountable for the war crimes they are committing.
2. An immediate halt to all arms shipments from South Carolina to Israel and other serial violators of international law and an end to public subsidies for war profiteering in South Carolina, including Elbit Systems. In 2023, Elbit Systems opened in Ladson, South Carolina with the aid of several tax incentives authorized by the South Carolina Coordinating Council for Economic Development and Charleston County Council.
3. A Free Palestine. The only path towards peace and justice begins with the liberation and self-determination of the Palestinian people. Palestine has the absolute right to a sovereign, contiguous state."