Embargo movement exposes Oakland airport’s role in weapons shipments to Israel

Unions and community organizations demonstrated at the Port of Oakland on Dec. 18 as part of an ongoing campaign to demand an embargo on the shipment of weapons to Israel from both the city’s sea port and air port (OAK).

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), in coordination with The People’s Embargo for Palestine (PEP), released a report titled “Exposing Oakland’s Military Cargo Shipments to Israel” last August. They were horrified to discover that Oakland, California, a city with a progressive history of solidarity with Palestine, had become one of the most frequent departure points for shipping F-35 bomber components to Israel.

The report details FedEx’s routine shipments of components for the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet to Israel’s Nevatim Air Base. It describes OAK as a “dependable conduit for critical military technologies,” concluding “beyond a reasonable doubt that military cargo being shipped out of OAK has been used by the Israeli Air Force to carry out airstrikes and commit genocide in Gaza.”

“At the same airport where we pick up and send off our loved ones, bomb droppers and surveillance systems for the lethal F-35 jet are being loaded and transported to Israel,” said Aisha Nizar of the Palestinian Youth Movement. “Oakland’s central role in the global F-35 supply chain was concealed from its union members, educators, city officials, and residents, and is now indisputable. Serving as a hub for military cargo to Israel is an attack on everything this city stands for.”

According to their research, the shipments included bomb release units for 2,000-pound bunker-busters, guidance systems, and targeting components — all transported through civilian infrastructure. 

The revelation was particularly shocking because Oakland passed one of the first ceasefire resolutions in November 2023, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 has long refused to handle Israeli military cargo at the maritime port.

Clarence Thomas, a lifelong resident of Oakland and a retired member of the ILWU Local 10, said at the Dec. 18 protest: “For three generations, my family has made their living working the docks at the Port of Oakland. As an executive board member of the ILWU San Francisco Pensioners, I am here today, speaking in support of the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo to demand that the port of Oakland halt the transportation of military materials to Israel, facilitating the genocide, displacement, and human suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza.

“ILWU Local 10 has a long history of taking solidarity actions in support of workers and people fighting against oppression. Nelson Mandela, speaking at the Oakland Coliseum in 1990 before 60 thousand people,  acknowledged that Local 10 refused to unload South African cargo for 11 days in 1984, contributing to the success of the anti-apartheid struggle.

“This history has served as the foundation for Local 10’s Palestinian solidarity actions for ‘Block the Boat’ by not crossing picket lines of AROC and the Palestinian Youth Movement protesting ZIM shipping lines.

“As a radical trade unionist, I believe that ‘Peace is Union Business,’ which is why I’m lending my voice to stopping the Port’s complicity in genocide.  That makes the Port of Oakland junior partners, with the defense contractors, who are benefiting from the killing of our sisters and brothers in Gaza.

“These defense contractors include: Lockheed Martin, which Supplies F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, Hellfire missiles, and components for other systems used in airstrikes; Boeing, which provides F-15 fighter jets, Apache helicopters; General Dynamics, which produces metal bodies for MK-80 series bombs and artillery shells used in Gaza.

“This explains why the Port wanted to keep the supply chain deal for the Oakland Airport transporting weapons of war materials to Israel hidden from the public. No transparency, no democracy, just complete the blood money deal. No one has to know. Well, guess what? Now we know and we want it to stop!! STOP the Genocide! FREE FREE PALESTINE!”

The People’s Embargo for Palestine has built strong roots in the Oakland labor movement, where, along with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10, others have pledged support, including: UNITE HERE Local 2; United Auto Workers Region 6; Oakland Education Association; California Faculty Assoc.-San Francisco State University, SEIU Local 1938; National Organization of Legal Service Workers, UAW Local 2320; Adjuncts Come Together – United Auto Workers, Local 7902; Bay Area Legal Aid Workers, UAW Local 2320; Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific – San Francisco region; California Nurses Association; Service Employees International Union (SEIU) LOCAL 1021; Berkley Federation of Teachers; Greenliners United – UAW; Local 2103; UAW Local 2350; United Educators of San Francisco (UESF); Labor for Palestine National Network; Trabajadores Unidos Workers United; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — Local 3299

Contact The People’s Embargo for Palestine (PEP): 

oakland@armsembargonow.com

https://www.embargoforpalestine.com