Wealthy aristocrat joined a gang of anti-Israel activists who trashed the office of an Israeli firm in England and were charged with criminal offenses.
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
A British university student arrested for vandalizing the offices of an Israeli company in England is proof that just because you come from a wealthy family doesn’t mean your values are worth much.
Doone Stormonth-Darling, 26, a member of a British aristocratic family, fell in with a bunch of anti-Israel agitators in university who were all in court this week, charged with vandalizing the outside of Elbit Systems’ premises in England last October, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.
Stormonth-Darling and four accomplices used fire extinguishers loaded with red paint to coat the front of the defense contractor’s building. Local media reports said the estimated bill for damages was £50,000 ($70,000).
Elbit Systems, which makes a wide range of defense-related products, including electronics and unmanned aerial drones, has been targeted by the BDS movement in England whose campaign to delegitimize Israel tries to convince people to boycott anything and everything Israeli.
The well-to-do Stormonth-Darling currently lives in London but hails from a family that lives on a vast estate in Perthshire in northern Scotland. Five years ago her ritzy 21st birthday party was featured in the upper class magazine Tatler. She can likely afford a good lawyer to defend her on charges of criminal damage to property and conspiracy to destroy or damage property.
Prosecuting attorney Damla Ayas told the Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court that the protestors occupied the roof of the Elbit factory armed with the paint-filled fire extinguishers and tubs of red paint that “caused criminal damage to the building in question.”
Stormonth-Darling entered no plea to criminal damage and conspiracy to destroy property. She was allowed out of jail on bail under the condition that she not enter any area in the proximity of the Elbit factory ahead of her next court hearing, scheduled for April 2, the report said.
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