Three women charged under UK anti-terror laws after van driven into defence factory fence in Gaza protest
Police said on Sunday that three women, aged 31, 34 and 42, who had earlier been arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 had now been charged.
They were due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday.
Police Scotland said their counter-terrorism unit was leading the investigation and enquiries were ongoing.
The force also issued an appeal for information to trace the movements of two vehicles.
One was a blue Ford Transit van which was seen around Gorgie Road on Monday and Tuesday prior to the incident.
The other was a white Honda CR-Z which was found in a car park on Gorgie Road after the incident.
Police have asked anyone with information to get in touch by calling 101, quoting reference number 0416 of July 15.
Following the incident on Tuesday, a group called Shut Down Leonardo said the factory made laser targeting systems for Israel's F-35 fighter jets.
Leonardo has said it does not supply equipment directly to Israel and that its main customer is the UK Armed Forces.
"Leonardo UK is subject to UK government export controls and does not supply equipment direct to Israel,' it said.
"The right to peaceful protest is an important principle in our society, however, aggressive and violent activity should have no place in protest.
"The intimidation of our people, who work hard to support the security and defence of the UK, is not acceptable."
In response to the news of the charges, the Shut Down Leonardo campaign, which has been posting updates on the action, said: 'The three activists have now been charged under the Terrorism Act.
'Scotland has a proud history of direct action, and never before has it been labeled as terrorism.
'Mobilise from 9.30AM at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday 21st July and demand they're released.'
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Earlier this week, the renowned Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem released Our Genocide, an analysis of Israeli policy towards Palestinians since October 7, 2023. The report finds that, since October 2023, the Israeli regime has been responsible for carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The finding of genocide is based on two prior conclusions, supported by evidence gathered by the organisation: Mass crimes by Israel are being 'perpetrated systematically, as part of a coordinated attack aimed at annihilating all facets of life in the Gaza Strip'; The intent of Israel's political and military leadership is to 'irreversibly destroy Palestinian life'. The international community, B'Tselem argues, has not only failed to halt this genocide, but enabled it 'through statements affirming Israel's right to self-defense" or active support — including the shipment of weapons and ammunition' to Israel. The foundations for the genocide, the report states, have been laid through Israel's settler-colonial project, notably three of its fundamental elements: Apartheid, imposing separation, and ethnic cleansing; systematic and institutionalised violence against Palestinians, perpetrated with impunity; and the institutionalised dehumanisation of Palestinians, including through the framing of them as an existential threat. B'Tselem points to the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023 — which it finds 'included many war crimes and likely also crimes against humanity' — as 'the catalyst for the ruling system to carry out genocide". The B'Tselem report is based on 20 months of research and documentation of human rights violations committed by Israel against Palestinians. It was released on the same day as an equally damning and clear report by a second Israeli organisation, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has concluded the following: 'The destruction of life-sustaining systems, the cumulative patterns of destruction, the bodily and mental trauma inflicted, and the direct killing of civilians, when understood in light of the implemented policy and the public rhetoric, make clear that Israel's campaign in Gaza constitutes genocide under international law.' In publishing their reports, the Israeli organisations join a host of other internationally recognised human rights organisations — first and foremost Palestinian — in describing the slaughter being perpetrated by Israel in Gaza as genocide. On October 13, 2023, in light of the Israeli onslaught and statements by high-ranking Israeli politicians that followed the Hamas attacks of October 7 that year, Al-Haq, Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights issued a statement calling on the international community to urgently intervene to protect the Palestinian people from a genocide by Israel. The Palestinian organisations warned that other states not only had an obligation under international law to intervene to prevent the potential genocide, but that they may be held responsible if they failed to take all measures within their power to do so. Since then, all three Palestinian organisations have continued to document the mass crimes being perpetrated by Israel. They have denounced its actions as amounting to genocide, and have called on all states do all within their power to bring it to an end. Their work, and that of other Palestinian human rights defenders, has reverberated around the world It has been reinforced by international human rights organisations and UN mechanisms. However, it has been cruelly, callously ignored and disregarded by many states which continue to defend Israel's actions, provide weapons and other equipment for its army, and allow the crimes to continue. The result: A famine engineered by Israel with international support; more than 60,000 Palestinians killed by Israel with international support, including more than 1,000 Palestinians killed trying to access humanitarian aid; cities completely destroyed, and millions displaced with international support; hospitals, schools, mosques, and churches bombed one by one by Israel with international support; more than 100,000 Palestinians injured by Israel with international support; and companies profiting from these crimes with international support. The atrocities go on. 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