A powerful new documentary, How to Kill a War Machine, brings audiences face-to-face with one of the UK’s most urgent moral crises: the country’s active role in arming and enabling illegal Israeli apartheid and genocide. Through unprecedented access to the direct-action group Palestine Action, the film reveals how ordinary citizens are risking their freedom to expose and dismantle British complicity in war crimes.
Palestine Action: The Frontline of UK Resistance to Israeli Apartheid
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action has quickly become one of the most impactful grassroots movements in the UK. The group takes direct action against Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, which operates multiple sites across Britain and supplies drones, munitions, and surveillance systems used in attacks on Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Palestine Action’s strategy is unapologetically disruptive: factory shutdowns, rooftop occupations, sabotage operations, and building occupations are all part of their campaign to end the UK arms trade with Israel. And it’s working — two of Elbit’s ten UK sites have already been forced to close.
“This is a war machine. We’re not here to protest it — we’re here to stop it,” says Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori.
Their work directly challenges British complicity in war crimes, highlighting how UK-based companies profit from weapons used in what human rights experts have called genocide.
“How to Kill a War Machine”: A Documentary of Resistance
Produced by Rainbow Collective, How to Kill a War Machine is a raw, urgent documentary filmed in real time with bodycam footage, mobile phones, and first-person narration. It immerses viewers in the chaotic, high-stakes world of direct action — from 4 a.m. factory raids to tense courtroom battles.
The film doesn’t merely capture protests. It builds a damning case against the UK government and the military-industrial complex by tracing how weapons made on British soil end up in the hands of Israeli forces accused of war crimes.
This is not abstract. The documentary juxtaposes scenes of UK police arresting nonviolent activists with the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza — a stark reminder of the UK’s arms trade fueling real-world atrocities.
“They can arrest us, but they can’t hide the truth,” one activist says. “Elbit builds weapons to murder Palestinians. And the British government lets them.”
State Repression and Public Support
More than 100 Palestine Action members are currently facing prosecution — some under serious public order laws, others potentially facing terrorism charges. This intensified crackdown has drawn the attention of legal scholars, civil rights groups, and the public.
In June 2025, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, prompting a wave of backlash from rights groups and legal experts.
“The government’s proposal is a desperate attempt to criminalise dissent,” said Jeremy Corbyn, Independent MP for Islington North. “Palestine Action is confronting the real violence: the industrial-scale murder of Palestinians enabled by our own government.”
Despite this repression, support for the movement is growing rapidly. Academics, trade unions, legal observers, and thousands of ordinary people are rallying behind the group. Legal defence funds have raised tens of thousands of pounds, and screenings of How to Kill a War Machine have sold out across the UK.
Why This Film Matters Now
The timing of How to Kill a War Machine is critical. Since the conflict began in October 2023, over 56,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in Gaza, with the majority of victims being women and children. Entire neighbourhoods have been destroyed. Hospitals, refugee camps, and aid convoys have been repeatedly bombed.
The United Nations has warned that Israel’s systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and obstruction of humanitarian aid may amount to genocide and war crimes. One senior UN official recently stated that the “weaponisation of food” in Gaza could itself constitute a war crime.
And yet, the UK government continues to license arms exports to Israel, with no indication of independent compliance checks or accountability. Investigations by advocacy groups suggest that British-made components — including drone parts and precision optics — have been directly used in military operations against Palestinian civilians.
How to Kill a War Machine confronts the viewer with this stark reality: a UK arms trade linked directly to Israeli apartheid and war crimes. It asks each of us: if we know, can we remain silent — and if not, what will we do?
“This is not about distant politics,” the narrator says. “This is about weapons made here, exported from here, and used to kill people over there.”
Watch the Film. Join the Movement.
How to Kill a War Machine is now streaming [HERE].
Sign up [HERE] to receive regular updates from Palestine Action, including calls to action, legal fundraisers, and ways to get involved in dismantling the UK arms trade with Israel.
Palestine Action’s fight is more than a protest — it is a demand for accountability, for justice, and for an end to British complicity in Israeli apartheid. In a world increasingly silenced by corporate and political interests, this film offers a rare and urgent opportunity to speak — and act — against war.
