Katherine Hearst<\/a>, July 10, 2026.<\/i><\/p>\nA defendant charged in connection with a Palestine Action raid on an Israeli arms factory has said that he and his co-defendants \u201estill suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)\u201d following their arrest by counter-terrorism police.<\/p>\n
Hannah Davidson, 53, and her co-defendants \u2013 Ian Sanders, 47, Aleksandra Herbich, 41, Teuta Hoxha, 30, Sean Middlebrough, 33, Julia Brigadirova, 33, and Madeleine Norman, 31 \u2013 are facing charges of violent disorder and criminal damage in connection with a burglary at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, in August 2024.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Judge Patrick Field acquitted 35-year-old William Plastow of a violent gang disorder charge, finding that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence against him. He remains on trial on a charge of criminal damage.<\/p>\n
The eight defendants are accused of organizing the break-in, conducting reconnaissance operations and procuring equipment, but they are not alleged to have entered the factory premises during the raid.<\/p>\n
\u201eThey are being charged under \u201djoint enterprise,\u201d meaning that while they do not claim to have committed the crimes themselves, they face the same charges as the defendants who actually broke into the premises.<\/p>\n
All eight defendants deny the charges.<\/p>\n
During his testimony at the Old Bailey on Thursday and Friday, Davidson sobbed and recounted how, following his arrest from his Edinburgh home the day after the raid, on August 7, he was transferred to a counter-terrorism unit in Newbury, where he \u201esimply disappeared\u201d and was held \u201efor four to six days without any contact whatsoever\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201e"They didn't call a lawyer for me. I think we all have chronic PTSD from that period. We just disappeared," she told the court, sobbing.<\/p>\n
\u201e"We didn't know what was happening. We didn't know this was going to be the answer to the situation. It was just horrible."\u201d<\/p>\n
Davidson initially told jurors that he did not see a lawyer until the fourth day of his detention. But when it was revealed under cross-examination by prosecutor Deanna Heer that Davidson had spoken to a lawyer on August 8, 31.5 hours after his arrest, he admitted that his \u201eperception was distorted.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Heer then asked him if he had chosen to remain silent during the interrogation to \u201ewait and see what the police had to say.\u201d Davidson replied that he was \u201enot in a state of mind to make many decisions,\u201d had been having an \u201eautistic meltdown,\u201d and was having difficulty breathing at the time.<\/p>\n
He denied any involvement in organizing the raid.<\/p>\n
\u201eI felt completely helpless\u201d<\/h3>\n
Davidson recalled growing up on a \u201epretty rough\u201d council estate in west London. \u201eI struggled a lot. With the school environment, with other kids, just with life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He left school at 12 and worked odd jobs such as babysitting and washing cars before learning to ride and finding work with the London Police and a charity that provides riding lessons to vulnerable people.<\/p>\n
He said that during the 2019-2020 Covid-19 pandemic, his equestrian work dried up and he lost his apartment. He moved to Edinburgh and managed to restart his career as an artist.<\/p>\n
\u201eIn the second half of 2023, I felt like I had recovered and I was proud of myself,\u201d he told jurors. \u201eBut by October, I found myself watching a livestream of genocide on my phone,\u201d he said, calling the experience of seeing videos of Israel\u2019s attack on Gaza on social media platforms \u201ecompletely devastating.\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201eI just realized that all this letter writing wasn\u2019t going to work, it wasn\u2019t going to happen\u201d<\/i> \u2013 Hannah Davidson, defendant<\/p>\n
\u201eI remember seeing mothers scratching their children and a stray dog with a toddler\u2019s arm in its mouth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He told the court he was unable to function and was forced to quit his warehouse job because he was \u201esobbed for hours every day\u201d.<\/p>\n
Davidson volunteered with a local group, the \u201eGaza Genocide Emergency Committee,\u201d which involved writing letters to government ministers and lobbying the local council for Israel to withdraw.<\/p>\n
The turning point came in February 2024, when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer instructed his MPs to vote no on a motion tabled by the Scottish National Party (SNP) calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201eI felt completely helpless,\u201d Davidson told the court. \u201eIt just made me realize that all this writing wasn\u2019t going to work, it wasn\u2019t going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court heard that Davidson subsequently volunteered and attended a Palestine Action training day in Edinburgh in April 2024.<\/p>\n
Hamish McCallum, Davidson's lawyer, noted that he was involved in some other actions after the training day, unrelated to the Filton raid.<\/p>\n
Davidson said that around June or July 2024, he received a call from Palestine Action asking if he would like to participate and, if so, in what capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201eI didn\u2019t feel confident enough to try to coordinate actions,\u201d Davidson told the court, adding that he preferred to stay \u201ein the background.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Davidson said that on 29 July 2024 he attended a meeting in Manchester regarding various operations, including the planned Filton raid. When McCallum asked him whether he intended to take part in the operation at that stage, he said no, because he assumed it would happen in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201e"Desperate, sad, angry"\u201d<\/h3>\n
A few days before the August 6 raid, someone in a Palestine Action chat group said they were struggling with a shortage of drivers for the planned Filton operation.<\/p>\n
\u201e"I thought I was just doing weekend errands, helping people with whatever they needed help with."\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he didn't know much about the plan at that stage. After agreeing to be a driver, he was given access to the planning documents, but only read in detail those that were relevant to his role.<\/p>\n
When McCallum asked him if he expected the raid to result in criminal damage, he replied, \u201eYes, there was no secret about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the court that at the time he felt \u201edesperate, sad, angry and wanted to help\u201d.<\/p>\n
On August 4, Davidson took his co-defendant, Maddie Norman, to the \u201esafe house,\u201d an Airbnb rental in Bristol. She recalled that there were about 20 other people there, but she only knew a few of them.<\/p>\n
\u201eAs an autistic person who doesn\u2019t like crowds, it was a bit problematic for me,\u201d he told the court.<\/p>\n
When McCallum asked if he understood the roles of the red team\u2014the group of activists who broke into the factory itself\u2014and the black team, whose goal was to distract the security guards on site, Davidson said the black team's job was to "shoot smoke and fireworks into the air and line up so the van could drive in and break through without security approaching.".<\/p>\n
\u201eWhat I meant\u2026 is that security probably won\u2019t go there,\u201d Davidson said.<\/p>\n
He said he had limited interaction with black team members and was not included in any discussions about their roles.<\/p>\n
When Heer asked if he remembered a document drawn up in preparation for the raid that detailed an equipment list that included kebab skewers and whips, Davidson said the table was \u201enot filled out\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201eIf I had seen that, I would have spoken up or not gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Heer claimed that Davidson knew before leaving for Bristol that he would be \u201eengaging in a factory raid, causing as much damage as possible.\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201eWeren\u2019t you concerned about understanding exactly how this was going to happen?\u201d Heer asked.<\/p>\n
\u201eNo, beyond the fact that there\u2019s a red team going in and a black team,\u201d Davidson replied. \u201eIt sounds terribly naive, given the trouble we\u2019re in now, which I couldn\u2019t have foreseen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heer suggested that Davidson received the preparatory documents \u201ein the form we see them\u2026 because he was involved not only as a driver but also in the planning of the incident.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Davidson denied the accusation.<\/p>\n
\u201e"The last drop in the glass"\u201d<\/h3>\n
On Friday, while taking the witness stand, the defendant, Teuta Hoxha, asked to be allowed to sit because "her legs felt like jelly.".<\/p>\n
Responding to questions from his legal representative, lawyer Raj Chada, Hoxha told the court that before his involvement with Palestine Action, he wrote letters to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local mosques, and set up fundraising stands in support of Palestinians in Gaza following the events of October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201eI felt like I was raising money for people who were going to be killed anyway,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Hoxha attended a Palestine Action training day after seeing a video on social media of a Palestinian man from Gaza holding the dismembered bodies of his children in plastic bags.<\/p>\n
She sobbed as she recounted the experience, which she called "the last straw.".<\/p>\n
Hoxha told jurors that he learned on the training day that Elbit Systems was \u201enot an Israeli-linked, but an Israeli-owned arms supplier.\u201d.<\/p>\n
When Chada asked if he meant that Palestine Action would \u201eact violently against individuals,\u201d he replied, \u201eNo.\u201d.<\/p>\n
The court heard that before the Filton action, Hoxha had participated in a number of actions coordinated by Palestine Action, which included \u201elock-ons\u201d \u2013 a non-violent direct action tactic where protesters physically chain themselves to other people, buildings, objects or the ground.<\/p>\n
The prosecution accuses Hoxha of organizing the Filton operation, as he allegedly conducted reconnaissance at the Filton site prior to the raid. Although Hoxha admits to conducting reconnaissance prior to the raid, he denies knowing that it was specifically related to the Filton operation and that he was involved in coordinating the raid.<\/p>\n
He told the court he joined a Palestine Action \u201escouting\u201d Signal group because \u201ethe genocide was escalating\u201d and he felt he was \u201enot doing enough\u201d.<\/p>\n
He described the chat as a \u201egeneral group\u201d for activists willing to do reconnaissance for a range of actions and locations across the UK.<\/p>\n
He told Chada that any reconnaissance he conducted would be \u201eused for a number of actions.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Between July 29 and August 2, Hoxha said he received a call asking if he could help handle GoPro cameras for an operation.<\/p>\n
When Chada asked if he knew at this stage that the request was about Filton and his reconnaissance of the scene, he replied: \u201eNo\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hoxha said he traveled to the Airbnb in Bristol on August 5, where his primary task was to manage the GoPro cameras used in the operation. He described the process as \u201every laborious,\u201d involving \u201echarging phones and GoPros, setting up each phone with a SIM card,\u201d and ensuring they had the right apps.<\/p>\n
When Chada asked what he thought the purpose of the GoPros was, he said they were to \u201epopularize direct action\u201d and \u201ecapture Israeli drones.\u201d.<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hannah Davidson egyike annak a nyolc v\u00e1dlottnak, akik ellen b\u0171ncselekm\u00e9nyb\u0151l ered\u0151 k\u00e1rokoz\u00e1s \u00e9s er\u0151szakos csoportos gar\u00e1zdas\u00e1g miatt emeltek v\u00e1dat az Elbit Systems gy\u00e1ra elleni rajta\u00fct\u00e9ssel kapcsolatban. Katherine Hearst, 2026. j\u00falius 10. Egy izraeli fegyvergy\u00e1r elleni Palestine Action-rajta\u00fct\u00e9ssel \u00f6sszef\u00fcgg\u00e9sben v\u00e1dat emelt v\u00e1dlott azt mondta, hogy \u0151 \u00e9s v\u00e1dlott-t\u00e1rsai \u201em\u00e9g mindig poszttraum\u00e1s stressz szindr\u00f3m\u00e1ban (PTSD) szenvednek\u201d a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,13,118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-izrael-igazi-arca","category-politics","category-pro-palesztin-kozossegek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antipropaganda.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}