As part of the Stop Arming Israel Belgium campaign, the Action Palestine Braine-Ecaussines collective is calling for a rally in front of the Thales factory in Tubize on Friday March 27 at 6 p.m. (opposite the station). Duration: approximately 1h30.
Thales must:
- Stop its arms trade and more generally all trade and collaboration with Israel,
- Stop all trade and collaboration with far-right regimes, including for example the United States government, which uses ICE to divide the population and lock up certain categories of people in “detention” camps.
- Reorient its activities towards civilian activities.
Thales and industrial complicity in the Palestinian genocide
Behind the terms “defense technologies” and “innovation”, the arms industry hides an opaque trade whose products serve wars and crimes committed elsewhere. Thales, a French company in which the State holds around 25%, is firmly established in Belgium and at the heart of the global military industry.
Thales manufactures military electronic equipment, participates in drone programs – notably with Elbit Systems, which claims drones “tested in real conditions” in Gaza – and sells components integrated into military systems. According to the NGO Disclose, Thales sold between 2018 and 2023 for 2 million euros of components linked to the use of drones that killed Palestinians.
Despite this, there are no sanctions or legal convictions. Thales claims to respect the law, cites the “non-lethal” nature of its components and hides behind export licenses granted by states. In Belgium, attempts in Wallonia to limit the transit of arms to Israel have been legally blocked, and no national embargo has been put in place. In Flanders, the government even actively opposes unfavorable judicial decisions.
As long as licenses exist, states protect their manufacturers and no binding decisions are taken at the international level, nothing forces Thales to stop. Arms companies do not self-limit for moral reasons.
Faced with this impunity, all that remains is citizen mobilization.
The Bedex arms fair was held in Brussels with the support of the Belgian government, the Ministry of Defense, NATO and arms manufacturers on March 12-14. During this show, the CEO of Thales welcomed the fact that rockets manufactured in Belgium could equip the F-16 fighter planes produced by Lockheed Martin. Yet, according to Amnesty International, these planes – along with the F-35s – are central elements of Israeli military aviation and were used extensively during the bombing of Gaza.
Behind the speeches about “security” and “values”, a reality remains: war is a market. A market where the big winners are the arms dealers and the banks, while the populations pay the price of the destruction and deaths.
On March 12, demonstrators denounced this show with an antimilitarist bloc “Smash Bedex”. The authorities' response: traps, tear gas, police violence and arrests.
Without social and political pressure, nothing will change. Let's reject the war industry.
