UK anti-Israel activists target defense workers’ homes in 'sinister escalation'

(Oct. 19, 2026 / JNS)

Anti-Israel activists in the United Kingdom have shifted strategy from targeting military sites and defense firms to vandalizing the family homes of defense company executives and workers, whom they accuse of supporting Israel’s military, The Sunday Times reported.

A group calling itself “The List” has claimed responsibility for a series of incidents in recent weeks in which hooded individuals vandalize property and cars under cover of night and post video of their crimes online. The List said it targeted more than half a dozen senior employees tied to defense firms in the United Kingdom.

The vandals struck three times last weekend. They slashed car tires and threw red paint across the front of a home of a female executive in Fleet, Hampshire, who works for Ultra Intelligence & Communications (Ultra I&C), which reportedly supplies military hardware to Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems.

In another case, vandals sprayed red paint over a home of a Keysight Technologies executive just outside Edinburgh. Keysight provides drone parts to Elbit. In a third case, a defense worker for Leonardo UK, which makes laser targeting systems for F-35 fighters used by the Israeli military, had red paint sprayed over his vehicles in Dumferline, Fife.

The third case is particularly concerning because the employee is not believed to be a company director and so wouldn’t have his address publicly available, raising the prospect that the vandals tracked him on social media or followed him home from work, the Times reported.

“Through research, hacking, whistleblowers and leaks we have built up an extensive bank of addresses and personal information of those whose lives are dedicated to the Palestinian people. Our message to anyone working for companies abetting the genocide is this: you are responsible for the work that you do and the countless lives that your work takes. Quit your job, or risk a visit from The List,” the group said on its website, which is registered in Iceland due to that country’s strict privacy laws.

The tactics are a throwback to those employed by animal rights extremists who “firebombed and vandalized the homes of directors and investors in Huntingdon Life Sciences, Europe’s biggest animal testing laboratory, in the 2000s,” the Times reported.

On Saturday, John Woodcock, aka Lord Walney, the U.K.’s former adviser on political violence and disruption (2020-2025), condemned The List’s tactics, which he called “a sinister escalation of Palestine Action’s playbook.” In July 2025, the British government outlawed Palestine Action and declared it to be a terrorist organization after its followers vandalized aircraft at a Royal Air Force base.

It’s not clear if The List is an offshoot of Palestine Action, the Times reported.