UK police spent thousands protecting Israeli arms firm

A police force in England has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds protecting an arms factory owned by Israel’s ministry of finance, Declassified can reveal.

Based in Newcastle, Pearson Engineering manufactures “mobility equipment to armed forces around the world”, including the British military.

The arms firm was acquired by Israel’s state-owned arms giant Rafael in 2022. Its financial records show how the country’s ministry of finance now has “significant control” over the company.

Documents seen by Declassified reveal Northumbria police have spent £209,755 policing pro-Palestine protests at Pearson Engineering’s site, as well as at the University of Newcastle since October 2023.

The bulk of this money was likely spent protecting the Israeli-owned factory. The data includes just one incident at the university while it covers at least four protests at Pearson’s factory between October 2023 and February 2025.

Northumbria police said the £209,755 in policing costs accounted for a total of 337 hours of police work – amounting to £622 per hour.

The revelation comes as the UK government sanctions Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, raising concerns about the ongoing operation of the factory in Newcastle.

Jason Hussein, the vice chair of Newcastle Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told Declassified: “When activists jam the gears of genocide, they are frequently met with a huge police presence and a disproportionate use of force resulting in the assaults and arrests of peaceful protestors, with Palestinians and people of colour often targeted.

“Just a day after the UK sanctioned the Israeli finance minister, business continues as usual and the weapons keep flowing. This factory is not welcome in Newcastle and we urge the UK government to back up their rhetoric with action”.

Police arrest an activist outside the Pearson Engineering factory, 18 February 2025. (Photo: Martin Pope / Alamy)

Pearson Engineering

Chaired by Britain’s former defence and trade secretary Lord John Hutton, Pearson Engineering has been the subject of several pro-Palestine protests since October 2023.

In December 2024, activists gathered outside the factory to highlight the presence of an Israeli state-owned factory in Britain.

Northumbria police officers rushed in “entirely unprovoked” and ordered people to move, according to Middle East Monitor.

A protester from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said: “Individuals were dragged along the ground, pushed to the tarmac and grabbed around the throat by police officers”.

The site has also been hit by Palestine Action, with activists climbing onto the factory’s gatehouse earlier this year and dropping rubble in front of the gates to prevent access.

“The profits that they make, the money that they make here is funnelled into Rafael – an Israeli-owned weapons manufacturer”, declared one activist.

Rafael’s resources are also shared with its subsidiary. The company’s accounts for 2024 note “progress regarding the transfer of technology from Rafael into Pearson Engineering”, with a turnover of £79 million.

Bezalel Smotrich

Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees the same Israeli finance ministry which owns Pearson Engineering, was sanctioned by the UK government this week.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said Smotrich and national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights”.

It continued: “Extremist rhetoric advocating the forced displacement of Palestinians and the creation of new Israeli settlements is appalling and dangerous. These actions are not acceptable”.

UK foreign secretary David Lammy has described Smotrich’s views as “monstrous”.

Smotrich has also claimed humanitarian aid is only being allowed into Gaza “so the world does not stop us and accuse us of war crimes”. Israel’s goal, he said, was to “conquer, clear, and stay” in Gaza.

And last year he argued that starving two million Gazans may be “moral… but no one in the world would let us”.

Smotrich is now subject to an asset freeze, travel ban, and director disqualification “in his personal capacity”, meaning the finance ministry that he oversees has been exempted from UK sanctions.

Palestine Action’s Huda Ammori told Declassified: “It seems convenient that the government imposed sanctions on the Israeli minister of finance, but not the ministry itself – especially as the Israeli ministry of finance owns a weapons factory in Newcastle.

“The government is clearly attempting to protect the Israeli weapons industry and save face by imposing meaningless sanctions. The Israeli government, which is committing genocide, should not be able to own a weapons factory in England”.

This content was published prior to the proscription of Palestine Action on 4th July 2025. It was not an expression of support, nor does it invite support, for a proscribed organisation.