Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Pro-Palestinian activists chained themselves to the gates of OIP Sensor Systems in Oudenaarde on Monday morning, which is owned by the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems. The demonstrators demanded a day's halt to production to denounce "Belgium's complicity in the Gaza Strip massacre."
The activists announced in a press release that access to the inside of the OIP company will be closed today, Monday, to stop production. “In our country, the OIP company produces electro-optical systems for defense, such as thermal imaging cameras, day and night vision goggles, and fire fighting systems. Its parent company, Elbit Systems, is the largest private weapons company in Israel.
“As long as Elbit Systems is able to operate in Belgium, this country is partly responsible for the horror and war crimes in Palestine,” activists say. According to them, our country cannot reliably call for a ceasefire “if at the same time it supports the Israeli military industry.” They therefore demand, among other things, the closure of Elbit Systems and all other Israeli arms companies, demand that the Flemish region cancel the permits for the establishment and operation of Elbit and prohibit any permit for arms exports to Israel.

The factory headquarters was also in the news last week, after Anona De Wever, the figurehead of Youth for Climate for many years, shared a video in which she defaced the company with paint and pro-Palestinian slogans. Earlier, on November 12, local police caught De Wever and her companions red-handed. The company's headquarters has been under increased surveillance for some time, with police patrolling it several times.
According to CEO Freddy Versluis, the company has not supplied the Israeli army for twenty years, as he said in the newspaper Nieuwsblad last week. “We have not had an export license for 20 years. We are not allowed to supply anything to the Israeli army as the end user.” This was also confirmed at the time by Diederik Kops, a researcher at the Flemish Institute for Peace. “Since 2006, exports to Israel are only allowed if “They were not intended for the Israeli armed forces.” Exported parts may only be used by the Israeli arms industry, which turns them into complete weapons and then sells them abroad. “They must provide official proof of this to the Flemish supervisory authority.”