FOUR Palestine supporters accused of criminal damage at an Israeli-owned weapons factory in Britain have had their charges dropped.

It is the third occasion that charges against Palestine activists targeting factories owned by Elbit Systems in Britain have been dropped in the last two months.

The latest withdrawal involved four supporters of direct-action group Palestine Action, which blockaded an Elbit military drone factory at Shenstone in Staffordshire in November 2020, halting production.

Two sets of charges against other activists were dropped in January. In all, 11 people have had charges against them dropped.

A Palestine Action statement said: “Over the past two months, the Crown Prosecution Service has failed to secure successful prosecutions against any of the 11 Palestine Action activists whom they had handed charges to.”

The group said the CPS was “recognising that it has little chance of securing prosecution against individuals taking conscientious action.”

Elbit factories supply the Israeli military with drones, which have been used in attacks on Gaza.