In 2024, Charleston DSA opened a Palestine ad hoc subcommittee in order to organize around the genocide being carried out by the apartheid zionist state of Israel against the people of Gaza.
Our chapter is currently working in coalition with several other local organizations such as Lowcountry Action Committee, Free Palestine Charleston, Charleston Chutzpa, and Lowcountry Rising for Palestine. Our primary initiative is to shut down Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons contractor which operates out of Ladson, and is currently producing Howitzer artillery weapons to be used in flattening of homes and critical infrastructure in Gaza and Southern Lebanon.
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Elbit Systems is an Israeli weapons and surveillance manufacturer who opened a facility in Ladson, SC where truck mounted Howitzer cannons are being produced for exportation to Israel. These weapons have a singular purpose: to kill and maim. Despite Elbit’s proclaimed respect for human rights, the company produces up to 85% of the Israeli Occupation Forces’ supply of weapons, which are currently being used to commit a genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Over 40,000 have been killed (including over 16,000 children) since October 2023. These weapons are then avertised as ‘battle tested’ and sold to other countries.
Elbit’s Ladson facility opened with financial support from Charleston County Council, receiving a $700,000 Set Aside Grant proposed by the South Carolina Coordinating Council for Economic Development. Additionally, the county and the state’s Department of Commerce provided Elbit Systems with tax incentives including a fee in lieu of tax credits, known as a “FILOT” and a Special Source Revenue Credit. These tax incentives divert millions of dollars away from Charleston’s public schools and ailing infrastructure and into the hands of private war profiteers. When our tax dollars support the production fo weapons used to commit war crimes, and our local eocnomy profits off genocide, we all become complicit in creating a violent and unjust world. Let’s come together to shut down the Elbit facility in Ladson!