{"id":318435,"date":"2026-07-20T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=318435"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:09:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T18:09:53","slug":"a-stray-dog-with-a-toddlers-arm-how-israeli-atrocities-fuelled-palestine-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/07\/a-stray-dog-with-a-toddlers-arm-how-israeli-atrocities-fuelled-palestine-action\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Stray Dog with a Toddler\u2019s Arm\u2019: How Israeli Atrocities Fuelled Palestine Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

ScheerPost – Gaza Genocide<\/p><\/div>\n

Women tell Old Bailey jury why they helped raid Israeli-owned Elbit arms factory near Bristol.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

10 Jul 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0Two women have told a court how they felt compelled to join the Palestine Action protest group after watching \u201ca live-streamed genocide\u201d of Israeli attacks in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would see mothers scrape up tiny pieces of their children,\u201d 53-year-old Hannah Davidson told jurors at the Old Bailey this week. \u201cI saw a stray dog with a toddler\u2019s arm in its mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Co-defendant Teuta \u2018T\u2019 Hoxha, a 30-year-old care worker, said she watched a video of a Palestinian father carrying two bags. \u201cHe was wailing. It was the type of wail that comes from the soul.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he was saying was, \u2018I have my son in these plastic bags\u2019, and that devastated me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the realisation that if a state wants to exterminate people and it\u2019s in the interests\u2026of another state to collude, they will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both women were motivated to join Palestine Action after watching graphic videos from Gaza, but deny organising a raid on an Israeli-owned arms factory in Filton, Bristol, in August 2024.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hannah Davidson leaves the Old Bailey in London.
(Photo: Phil Miller \/ Declassified UK)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hoxha and Davidson are among eight defendants accused of helping plan the raid. Both women are charged with violent disorder and criminal damage, which they deny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe majority of the British public were calling for a ceasefire,\u201d Hoxha said. \u201cAn end to genocide was paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by her lawyer Raj Chada whether that would involve using \u201cany means necessary\u201d, she replied \u201cNo. By \u2018any means necessary\u2019- I\u2019d take that to mean Elbit, whose sniper drones target doctors going to treat families.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Palestine Action \u201chad done hundreds of actions and my understanding was there had never been any violence\u201d.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s aim was to \u201cdestruct the arms trade flowing from here in the UK to Gaza\u201d. Hoxha knew there was a \u201crisk of ending up in prison and people were willing to sacrifice their freedoms to make sure children ended up staying alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davidson, an artist, said prior to the incident she had handed in her notice at her job and struggled to sell her art while \u201cin tears for hours and hours a day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt very disingenuous to be advertising my art on Instagram and have 10 percent off my art and then the next thing you scroll to is bits of children.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had been a \u201cdeeply committed volunteer\u201d with Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee, a Scottish organisation which lobbied local councils to divest from Israeli weapons firms, according to a character reference given to the court.<\/p>\n

By January 2024, feeling \u201ccompletely helpless\u201d and done with letter writing, she became aware of Palestine Action on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a bit cheeky and they\u2019d already managed to shut down two Israeli arms factories sending weapons from this country to be used in war crimes,\u201d Davidson said.<\/i><\/p>\n

Who is Hannah Davidson?<\/h2>\n

On Thursday, questioned by her lawyer Hamish McCallum, Davidson talked about growing up with her four siblings on a council estate in west London.<\/p>\n

\u201cI struggled a lot,\u201d she said. \u201cI struggled with the school environment. I struggled with socialising with other children.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 12, Davidson, who has since been diagnosed with autism, dropped out of school.<\/p>\n

She babysat and washed cars until she was 15 when a neighbour who owned a horse offered Davidson a chance to learn to ride.<\/p>\n

A job at a stable yard turned into a career with horses, working for the Metropolitan Police and two charities helping disabled and under-privileged children. She also worked as an artist.<\/p>\n

But during lockdown, when her work with horses stopped, she headed to Edinburgh to live with a friend. She got a part time job and worked on building her art business back up until she was left distraught by the scenes in Gaza from October 2023, which led her to join Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

\u2018Behind the scenes\u2019<\/h2>\n

After a training day in April 2024 and a follow up phone call from someone in the organisation who wanted to know her motivation for getting involved, she started taking part in actions.<\/p>\n

In June, she received another call from someone in the organisation asking if Davidson would \u201clike to help out in some way behind the scenes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She started to explore what would be involved, joining calls and reading documents she was sent about how the group worked.<\/p>\n

On 29 July, a little over a week before the raid on Filton, she attended a gathering in Manchester of around 10 people involved with Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a general meeting and it was also a bit of a social event because people were chatting online and, like myself, wanted to meet people in person,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if I was going to do more behind the scenes, people would want to meet me, check me out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filton, she said, was discussed among other topics, but at that point, she thought it was \u201cbeing prepared for something in the future\u201d and her intention was \u201cto be involved behind the scenes and not be involved in actual actions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Driver<\/h2>\n

But in the following days, Davidson said her mental health \u201cwas deteriorating again\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was feeling quite desperate about the situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And when someone said they were short of a driver for the action in Bristol, Davidson agreed to step in, driving a rental car to take her and Madeleine Norman, another defendant, to go help out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019d be running errands for the weekend, helping people with whatever they needed help with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In Bristol, Davidson drove people around to pick up last minute items and delivered food to a local campsite where those involved were staying.<\/p>\n

In the early morning hours of 6 August, she drove the personal belongings of activists \u2013 alleged to have caused a diversion outside the factory \u2013 to a country road where they grabbed them quickly before they were driven away by three other cars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>
Madeleine Norman. (Photo: Phil Miller \/ Declassified UK)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She then returned to the Airbnb where the activists had been staying to pick up three people \u2013 Sean Middlebrough, Yulia Brigadirova, and Norman \u2013 and drop them at their homes on the way back to Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Around 4:30pm the next day, Davidson was returning from having lunch with a friend and found two detectives waiting at her flat who arrested her. She was transported from Scotland to counter-terrorism police cells in Newbury.<\/p>\n

It would take 31 and a half hours before she was allowed to speak to a lawyer. \u201cWe were going out of our minds, we didn\u2019t know what was going to happen to us,\u201d she said, crying. \u201cWe were asking and asking and didn\u2019t get a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in absolute shock and autistic meltdown. I could barely breathe in and out while I was in the counter-terror unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave me a piece of paper and pencil and I sat and drew\u2026We weren\u2019t given T-shirts, only jumpers, and it was as hot as this,\u201d she said, referring to the summer heatwave.<\/p>\n

After police custody, Davidson said she \u201cspent 46 days in [a prison] without any contact. I wasn\u2019t allowed to phone anybody,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all just have really chronic PTSD about that period. We just disappeared. We didn\u2019t know what had happened. We couldn\u2019t have known that would be the response . . . it was just horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Shocked\u2019<\/h2>\n

Both her lawyer and the prosecutor Deanna Herr, who cross examined Davidson, asked repeatedly about her knowledge of the raid given planning documents she had access to.<\/p>\n

Davidson maintained that she skimmed through much of the detail because she didn\u2019t think it was relevant to her role.<\/p>\n

She also said she thought that much of what was in evidence was unfamiliar to her and may have had details added about which she was unaware.<\/p>\n

This included a document which listed items including axes, kebab skewers and whips. The items were to be used by the \u201cblack team\u201d who were meant to distract security outside the factory as the \u201cred team\u201d gained access to the inside and destroyed weapons.<\/p>\n

Davidson said she didn\u2019t think any items had been listed when she looked at it and that she had only seen the completed document once it was in police evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019d been completed I\u2019d certainly have flagged that up and wouldn\u2019t have been involved in that action. Whips, BBQ skewers, absolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davidson further denied planning the break-in, saying: \u201cI did not coordinate this action. I did not instruct anyone\u2026I simply did not have an organisational role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heer put it to Davidson that she was \u201cintimately involved in this action. You knew full well it would involve the black team taking steps to stop the security guards intervening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davidson replied: \u201cI did not. I wish things had been different\u201d.<\/p>\n

Heer alleged she knew the action involved the threat of violence. Davidson responded: \u201cAbsolutely not what I agreed to at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her testimony echoed that of Norman\u2019s from earlier this week who also said not to have seen the axes and whips listed in the document, and believed Davidson had not seen it either because they were certain they would have discussed it.<\/p>\n

Norman had also suggested that others involved in the raid were \u201cpretty pissed off\u201d that the attack \u201cdidn\u2019t go down\u201d the way they had believed it would.<\/p>\n

Of the list referring to whips and axes, Davidson said on Thursday: \u201cThere is a lot I\u2019ve seen in evidence that is the first time I\u2019ve seen it. That is one of the things I was quite shocked about.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had seen it, I wouldn\u2019t have gone. I wish I had seen it. I wish I had seen some of the other documents as well because then maybe things would be different today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>
Co-defendants (from left) Aleksandra Herbich, Teuta \u2018T\u2019 Hoxha, Ian Sanders and Yulia Brigadirova. (Photos: Phil Miller \/ Declassified UK)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Important responsibility\u2019<\/h2>\n

Giving evidence on Friday, Hoxha also denied knowing that the raid would result in violent clashes with security guards and police.<\/p>\n

Hoxha had previously taken part in a Palestine Action blockade of a different Elbit factory in Bristol, where she had \u201clocked on\u201d to a van. She had been arrested but released with no further action taken against her.<\/p>\n

Despite being based in London, this prior experience in the Bristol area meant she volunteered to undertake a \u201creccie\u201d of the main Elbit site in Filton but did not know at that stage what was being planned.<\/p>\n

A meeting she attended on Formby beach near Liverpool, which prosecution allege was to plan the raid, was to celebrate a birthday of co-defendant Sean Middlebrough, she said.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage from Liverpool Lime Street station shows Middlebrough carrying what looked like a cake box through the station.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>
Sean Middlebrough arrives at Liverpool Lime Street station carrying a cake box on 24 July 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hoxha said she was involved in discussions about using Go Pro cameras in the raid. \u201cThe purpose of the Go Pro is to document the war crimes going on inside Elbit Systems,\u201d she said, adding that thousands of Palestinians are \u201cwithout arms and legs\u201d due to Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cDocumenting war crimes is an important responsibility,\u201d she told the jury. Hoxha said she provided Go Pros to two members of the red team, Fatema Zainab Rajwani and Samuel Corner, as well as a member of the black team.<\/p>\n

The lengthy process of configuring the Go Pros for live streaming via pre-paid phones left Hoxha \u201cextremely stressed out\u201d the night before the raid and meant she was not privy to final discussions about other details of the operation, she told the court.<\/p>\n

Once the Go Pro stream was working, Hoxha told members of the red team that: \u201cYou guys are amazing we are here with you online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by her lawyer what she meant by this, Hoxha said they were \u201cBrave spectacular young people with the moral clarity to damage weapons that have left children without parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather live in that kind of society than one run by the Epstein class\u2026They are amazing and they are brave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoxha denied watching the live feed but sent messages saying: \u201cStart smashing guys!!! Smash!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

She told the court that \u201cElbit advertised that their weapons are battle tested on Palestinians\u201d, but said there was \u201ccloudy language\u201d around what they make inside their UK factories.<\/p>\n

Hoxha wanted the red team to record evidence of \u201cQuadcopter drones, the Magni X drones, the servers and the other technology that means those drones in Gaza swarm\u2026and drop bombs on people.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the raid, another user in a Signal group who was watching the live feed, said \u201cThose are Israeli drones\u2026The quadcopter that they are not supposed to have here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoxha told the court: \u201cI think 40 drones were disarmed in 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Sentenced as terrorists\u2019<\/h2>\n

Chada described there being a \u201cflurry\u201d of Signal calls in the days after the action, which Hoxha said was because the Red Team was \u201cbeing held longer than 48 hours\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was worried\u2026One of the Red Team\u2019s mother was dragged all the way from Wales to London by counter-terrorism. I was arrested by counter-terrorism. We were all arrested by counter-terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all terrified. We didn\u2019t know how an action could turn into a terrorism case.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said they were held as \u201cterrorist prisoners\u201d and told the jury: \u201cThe red team have been sentenced as terrorists and I would never wish that on anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked by her lawyer, she said she \u201cdidn\u2019t assist or encourage\u201d criminal damage or violence, but said that the red team was composed of \u201cbrave individuals and I think it\u2019s disgraceful what has happened to them\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked why she did not think the raid would involve violence, Hoxha said, \u201cGiven that behind the scenes lobbying groups [were] lobbying the government, it wouldn\u2019t be in the interests of Palestine Action to be violent.\u201d<\/p>\n

During cross examination, prosecutor Emma Gargitter asked whether Hoxha\u2019s use of aliases in Signal groups was to guard against infiltrators.<\/p>\n

Hoxha confirmed this was the reason, adding that \u201cWe knew that officials from the Israeli embassy were having meetings with the government regarding members of Palestine Action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another prosecution barrister, Heer, then got to her feet and told the judge: \u201cI think there is a matter of law that needs to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jury was then sent out.<\/p>\n

Who is Teuta \u2018T\u2019 Hoxha?<\/h2>\n

Hoxha\u2019s family came to the UK when she was four-years-old and settled in Croydon, with her father working as a cleaner and caretaker at a school.<\/p>\n

Her mother passed away in 2016, leaving her to help care for her younger siblings.<\/p>\n

She graduated in English Literature at King\u2019s College, London and aspired to be an investigative journalist.<\/p>\n

Despite being short-listed for an award by the BBC for a piece on the Grenfell Tower disaster, she told the court she lacked the financial background to get into journalism.<\/p>\n

Instead she became a carer for disabled people in hospitals and worked in residential schools for children with autism.<\/p>\n

She had long been aware of the situation in Palestine due to her Muslim faith and went on marches, wrote to politicians and held fundraising stalls, but felt she was just \u201craising money for people that were going to be killed anyway\u201d.<\/p>\n

After seeing the video of the man in Gaza carrying his son\u2019s remains in plastic bags, she googled \u201caction for Palestine, and Palestine Action came up\u201d, before attending an online training day.<\/p>\n

She researched the group\u2019s co-founder Huda Ammori \u201cto understand what her principles were\u201d, and noted that Ammori was half-Palestinian and had \u201cturned to direct action\u201d after \u201cevery avenue\u201d, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, \u201cwasn\u2019t working\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hoxha was inspired by a quote from David Graeber, who said: \u201cProtest is asking the powers that be to dig the well. Direction action is digging the well yourself and daring the powers that be to stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trial continues.<\/p>\n

______________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Dania Akkad is an investigative journalist. She has won awards for her reporting on women\u2019s rights in the Middle East, Saudi Arabian dissidents and California\u2019s lettuce industry. She started her career covering crime and agribusiness at daily newspapers in California, and then reported from Syria as a freelance journalist before the war, including investigating the 2005 suicide bombing in Amman that killed members of her family. She served most recently as senior investigations editor at <\/em>Middle East Eye.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phil Miller is the editor of <\/em>Declassified UK. He is the author of <\/em>Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away With War Crimes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original – declassifieduk.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

10 Jul 2026\u00a0– Women tell Old Bailey jury why they helped raid Israeli-owned Elbit arms factory near Bristol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":318442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[3287,3729,1559,532,405,1854,101,100,1199,2242,87,865,1029,1966,88,2416,427,3534,2897,880,99,572,70,965,1025],"class_list":["post-318435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","tag-anti-zionism","tag-ceasefire","tag-collective-punishment","tag-colonialism","tag-colonization","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-cultural-violence","tag-direct-violence","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-famine","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-hamas","tag-hunger","tag-israel","tag-israeli-occupation","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-holocaust","tag-sociocide","tag-state-terrorism","tag-structural-violence","tag-torture","tag-usa","tag-war-crimes","tag-west-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318435"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318443,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318435\/revisions\/318443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}