Not that I am condoning vandalism, but it sounds like OIP was targeted because they are a subsidiary of Israeli company Elbit Systems. So profits from this production for Ukraine would go partially to Israel.
That said company ownership is a complex matter (Canadians are grappling with a similar issue whether to boycot Canadian subsidiaries owned by American companies). This action does not do much to harm Israel, it does a lot to harm Ukraine, and to harm the Palestinian cause.
Yeah, I’m all for pro-Palestine activism; fully support this cause, and I have no moral objections to destroying some property to do it. Human lives are more important than inanimate objects. But I really wish they could have come up with a version of this plan that didn’t involve fucking over Ukraine.
Unfortunately I suspect a lot of these people may be of the stripe of Leftist that treats anything relating to war - including arming the victims of unprovoked territorial aggression - as morally wrong, meaning they likely saw this as killing two birds with one stone.
I saw this item pass by on the local news the other day, including an interview with Versluys, and I don’t recall any of them mentioning the exports bound for Ukraine. Looking at the article from a few days back, that doesn’t mention it either. Just saying, there’s a good chance the protesters did not intend to impact Ukraine.
Seems like that isn’t going to be particularly productive for anybody but russia?
I think most are proper activists, not russian saboteurs, but all it takes is one or two compromised people to misdirect their rage. Moral of the story, confirm what you are doing before you go on something like this, before looking like total idiots.
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Am I crazy for wanting to live in a society that condemns vandalism, full stop?
Yes. People are more important than property. If your reaction to vandalism in service of protesting a genocide is to be upset about the vandalism, you need to sit back and really think about whether your moral compass needs some recalibration.
Genuinely curious what the logic is here. So vandalism is ok as long as the person doing it is doing it in-service of a cause they believe to be on the correct side of? January 6 was objectively bad, but it’s ok because they thought they were patriots “saving” the country?
… according to Israeli genocide-supporting arms manufacturer.
OIP’s operations in Belgium have been focused primarily on Ukraine. The company specializes in maintenance, repair, and upgrades of military equipment. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, OIP has supplied the Ukrainian army with about 260 armored vehicles.
Versluys emphasized that his company has not produced defense systems for Israel in over 20 years. He added that OIP does not even hold an export license to supply equipment to that country.
These facts can be easily verified and the very least you can do if you decide to go destroy stuff. This is not just an innocent protest anymore.
OIP is just a branch of Elbit, so yes 100% of profits go to a company fueling genocide. I don’t see you dispute that.
OIP doesn’t even claim that these protestors destroyed equipment destined for Ukraine (nor is there any corroborating evidence), only that it was delayed.
I think if we shut off anything that sends any profits to israel tomorrow, you’d probably go back to the 18th century. Meanwhile, russia continues its own genocide…
This sounds a lot less incriminating if you replace OIP with Eblit.
OIP, the Belgian subsidiary of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.
yes, very sad. Anyway.
Also kinda urelated but there’s a weird point about the protesters being women because of behavior and how they wield the hammers, because women are girly and men are manly ig
