Pro-Palestinian protesters douse Israeli defence firm’s stand with red liquid at Polish arms fair

Two pro-Palestinian protesters have been detained by police in Poland after throwing a red liquid over the stand of Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems at an arms fair in the city of Kielce.

Elbit’s participation at the International Defence Industry Exhibition (MSPO) has previously drawn protests due to the use of its weaponry by Israel in Gaza. Elbit drones were used in the strike on a humanitarian convoy that killed seven people, including a Polish aid worker.

Yesterday’s protest was captured in a video later published by Kolektyw Bas, a group that describes itself as “tired of remaining silent in the face of the genocide in Palestine”.

It shows a man shouting that Elbit is cooperating in “the murder of defenceless Palestinians”, while a woman beside him pours red liquid on the stand.

“There’s no place for something like this in Poland,” the man says, comparing the company’s presence to “collaborating with Nazi Germany”. The pair also held up Palestinian flags during the protest before being detained by military police while shouting “Free Palestine!”

Kolektyw Bas described the liquid as “fake blood”, saying that the substance was “harmless but foul-smelling” and likening it to the “skunk water” used by Israel against Palestinians, which they said causes illness and suffering.

A fire department chemical team investigated the substance and found it was not harmful to health or life.

The two demonstrators – a 21-year-old woman from Poznań and a 26-year-old man from Warsaw – were handed over to local civil police, who have launched an investigation into the damage or destruction of property, a crime carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison

Kolektyw Bas has staged other similar protests in Poland. Earlier this week, two women doused Israeli opera singer David D’Or with red paint during his performance at Warsaw’s Jewish Culture Festival.

One threw paint at the singer while the other attempted to climb on stage, waving a Palestinian flag and shouting “Free Palestine.” Both, aged 22 and 28, were later arrested.

 

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The presence of Israeli companies at MSPO, which is Poland’s biggest arms fair and Europe’s third largest, sparked debate even before the event began, with activists, as well as MPs from the small left-wing party Together (Razem), calling for their exclusion.

Elbit is Israel’s largest military manufacturer and a major supplier of equipment to the Israeli Defence Force. Critics of its presence at MSPO also point to the use of an Elbit drone during the April 2024 attack on a World Central Kitchen convoy that killed, among others, Polish aid worker Damian Soból.

However, a deputy prime minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski of The Left (Lewica), rejected such calls, saying that Poland, which has in recent years been rapidly expanding its military capabilities following Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, cannot “easily reject any company”.

“It would give the impression that we’re not using the best equipment,” he told broadcaster TOK FM, adding that the Gaza conflict “would not be resolved by making decisions about companies”.

At last year’s Eurosatory arms fair in Paris, 74 Israeli exhibitors were scheduled to attend, but the French government barred them, citing the context of President Emmanuel Macron’s appeal to halt Israel’s then operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah.

This year, at the Paris Air Show, organisers closed the stands of four major Israeli defence companies, including Elbit Systems. Israel said the French decisions were “policy-driven and commercial considerations,” according to The Guardian.

Israeli defence companies will also not participate in this year’s NEDS trade fair in Rotterdam.

Main image credit: Targi Kielce/press materials

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.