GRAFFITI has been daubed on the County Hall building in Taunton town centre.
The Block A of the Somerset Council building was covered in red paint and black graffiti reading ‘Elbit out’, ‘Evict Elbit’, and ‘Blood on your hand’.
It is unclear at this stage who perpetrated the attack.
Elbit Systems is an Israeli-based defence contractor which had supplied the Israeli army with equipment since 1966.
In February, a Somerset Council’s executive committee meeting at Deane House in Taunton was temporarily halted following a vocal protest against the war in Gaza.
To tackle the current financial crisis the council proposed to close the budget gap by selling off the commercial investments it inherited from the four district councils – including offices at Aztec West 600, within a business park on the northern edge of Bristol.
At the time, members of Palestine Action urged the council to evict the current tenant of the offices – Elbit System.
The offices at Aztec West 600 – near junction 16 of the M5 – were purchased by Sedgemoor District Council in 2020, with Somerset Council inheriting the investment when it assumed power in April 2023.
The leasehold of the property lists both Elbit Systems UK and Elbit Systems Ltd (based in Haifa, Israel) as named parties.
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