Israel\u2019s biggest arms company wants to build its largest production facility in a sleepy East German town. \u201cNot many people want to work for a genocidal arms company in their hometown,\u201d said Noah Boehme, an 18-year-old high schooler who joined a group of his neighbors organizing in opposition to the facility. When he isn\u2019t in class or studying, Boehme says he devotes much of his time to planning or attending protests. One cold, rainy day in October, he traveled over an hour from Sangerhausen to Leipzig to participate in a protest against arms production in East Germany as part of the nation\u2019s renewed rearmament efforts. \u201cFor me personally it\u2019s a very big deal,\u201d said Boehme, \u201cand also for the people who are here today. But I totally get that [a lot of people] just want to sit in their home and drink hot tea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dressed in a beige canvas work coat and red gaiter, Boehme stood apart from the others in the crowd, who were mostly wearing black. He waved a flag telling a weapons company that recently opened a facility in Leipzig to \u201cPiss Off!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Boehme and his compatriots are representative of a growing number of Germans discontent with the country\u2019s race to rearm. Ensuing political debates surrounding remilitarization projects not only reinforce disagreements with political parties on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but are also serving as ripe ground for infighting, especially within Germany\u2019s rising far-right faction, Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland, or AfD. As these discussions play out in legislative forums, people on the ground are caught in the middle, working to get their voices heard in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n
The demonstration Boehme attended was organized by a group formed to oppose a facility operated by US-Israeli defense startup Covenant. Reports of the factory began circulating in August and in September, the company announced a $70 million contract from the US Navy to produce its flagship Anthem missiles at factories in Dallas, Israel, and Saxony, which borders Saxony-Anhalt, where Sangerhausen is located.<\/p>\n
Covenant quickly opened up shop at its Leipzig factory in October and plans full-scale production by January 2027.<\/p>\n
Boehme came to represent his group from Sangerhausen called \u201cKeep Elbit Out,\u201d which opposes a proposed facility operated by the titular Elbit Systems, Israel\u2019s largest defense firm. He said that he and the other protesters were acting out of solidarity with the people of Palestine and to stand against the presence of any companies that benefit from the genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Last year, an Amnesty International report identified Elbit Systems as one of 15 companies that have \u201c[contributed] to Israel\u2019s unlawful occupation, genocide, or other crimes under international law.\u201d The report outlined Elbit\u2019s role in supplying the Israeli Defense Forces with surveillance and armed drones used in its occupation of Gaza.<\/p>\n
Elbit was the only arms company that responded to Amnesty\u2019s report, rebuking its characterization and stating that it supplied \u201ca sovereign, unsanctioned government, recognized by the international community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers with the Keep Elbit Out movement claim that 80% of Sangerhausen\u2019s residents stand in opposition to the project. And Boehme said that many people living in and around Sangerhausen see Elbit as an enemy of peace. He remarked on the fact that people from all corners of the community \u2014 schools, churches, and political organizations \u2014 came together against the proposed facility.<\/p>\n
That coalition was put to the test after the AfD\u2019s decisive victory in Saxony-Anhalt\u2019s state elections in September, when peace activists in the region realized the facility\u2019s fate lies largely in the hands of the far-right faction.<\/p>\n