Pro-Palestine supporters block US ship loaded with arms for 'Israel'
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Protesters attempt to stop a ship loaded with weapons from departing for "Israel at the port of Oakland.
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Protesters at the port of Oakland on November 3, 2023. (1alyssakang, X photo)
Pro-Palestine protesters have stopped a ship docked at the Port of Oakland from leaving with weapons supplies for “Israel” on Friday.
Social media videos have circulated showing some of the protesters physically putting their bodies on the ladder of the ship to stop it from undocking.
Protesters at the Port of Oakland, California, are blocking a ship from leaving which is transporting US arms to Israel.
— dana (@dana916) November 3, 2023
Protesters objecting to Israel’s war in Gaza attempted to block the departure of a large military ship from the Port of Oakland on Friday morning, with at… pic.twitter.com/YFyfneOe26
Others held signs demanding a ceasefire and calling for an end to Israeli war crimes.
The protesters also blocked the entrance to Berth 20 where the container carrier Cape Orlando is moored. Protest groups say the ship is bound for "Israel" after being loaded with weapons and military equipment in Tacoma, Washington.
Protest at Oakland’s port blocks a ship, the Cape Orlando, reportedly carrying weapons and military equipment eventually headed to Israel. pic.twitter.com/yXnyIWG8jD
— Amir Aziz (@amirazizphotos) November 3, 2023
The protest was organized by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource Organizing Center.
Police were seen on-site with protesters holding Palestinian flags and signs demanding an end to US military aid to "Israel", CBS News reported.
The protest began at 6:45 am and has not disrupted any other cargo handling activities, according to a spokesperson for the Port of Oakland.
The folks on the ladder are putting their bodies on the line to physically #blocktheboat from leaving, risking arrest. This ship headed to Israel to deliver weapons & military equipment.
— Alyssa Kang (@1alyssakang) November 3, 2023
In the video, a worker expressed solidarity and may have walked off the job. #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/LvgYCkKGT5
This comes as the US continues to rally behind the Israeli occupation as it continues its ruthless aggression against the people of Gaza.
While the US sends the occupation more “aid”, the Israeli occupation forces have targeted an ambulance convoy departing from Al-Shifa Hospital heading to the Rafah border crossing.
The IOF have previously targeted ambulances, as well as hospitals, committing numerous massacres against the people of Gaza, with a death toll that has surpassed 9,000.
Protestors at the Port of Oakland are blocking a ship from leaving which is transporting US arms to Israel. pic.twitter.com/VgJQlaWEbM
— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) November 3, 2023
Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who only yesterday claimed he was pained by images of innocent Palestinian children, reiterated the US support for the Israeli occupation by expressing that so long as the US stands, "Israel will not stand alone.”
This bold expression of solidarity was also communicated to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog along with the war cabinet during his visit to the occupation.
The US has rejected the increasing number of appeals from around the world for a ceasefire.
During a press conference in "Tel Aviv", Blinken expressed that "a number of legitimate questions were raised in our discussions today," adding that some issues need to be "tacked urgently".
Before meeting with Herzog, Blinken touted "Israel's" never-ending right of "self-defense" to ensure that October 7 "never happen again."
Sayyed Nasrallah to the US: We are all set for your fleets
During his address on Friday, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese Resistance, expressed that “what is happening in Gaza reveals the direct American responsibility for all this killing accompanied by US hypocrisy, and it also reflects the brutal and barbaric nature of the usurping entity that they planted in our region.”
He also affirmed that "Washington is entirely responsible for the ongoing war in Gaza, while “Israel” is merely a tool for execution, stressing that “America is the side preventing the cessation of the aggression against Gaza and rejecting any ceasefire decision."
As a matter of fact, the Americans are the ones running the war in Gaza, according to Sayyed Nasrallah, “which instigated the Islamic Resistance in Iraq to initiate attacks on the American occupation bases in Iraq and Syria,” describing it as "a wise and courageous decision."
