New York, New Jersey activists planning to block Israeli cargo ship

Thousands of activists in New York City and New Jersey are set to mobilize at the Port of New York Sunday morning to block an Israeli-operated cargo ship from unloading in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, reported by Israeli paper, The Jerusalem Post.

Scheduled for 6 a.m. EST at the Maher Terminal in Elizabeth, New Jersey – which, despite being in New Jersey, is still part of the Port of New York – the activists are set to block the ship ZIM Qingdao, operated by the Israeli international shipping company ZIM, from unloading.

According to a press release, this is part of a global movement, with over 8,000 people worldwide pledging to mobilize at different ports around the world to #BlockTheBoat.

This is not the first time BDS activists have mobilized at ports to stop Israeli cargo ships from unloading.

On June 2, 2021, protesters flocked to Seattle to stop another ZIM cargo ship.
 

Later, BDS activists blocked another ZIM cargo ship in Oakland. That effort ended in a victory for the activists, with the ship turning back to sea after workers with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 declined to cross the line of protesters to unload the ship’s cargo.
 

The Oakland incident was led by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center, or AROC, as part of its weeklong “Block the Boat” campaign conceived as a response to Israeli actions in Gaza during the 11-day conflict last month, known as Operation Guardian of the Walls.However, it is rooted in a similar incident from 2014, when protesters in Oakland gathered to stop another ZIM cargo ship from unloading during Operation Protective Edge.
 

This time, the spark behind the campaign was something else.

"We’re responding in large part to Palestinian workers themselves, with trade union federations having put out a global call to action against ongoing violence again Palestine," organizer Wassim Hage told The Jerusalem Post.

"This call for solidarity has been met by activists worldwide, from Oakland to Livorno, Italy, to Durban, South Africa, to NYC. While it’s difficult to know what will happen, we see our success in Oakland [and] Seattle... and the basis for our action in NYC, as tied to the stand organized labor has taken globally against Israel and for Palestinian’s right to return and to be free of violence on their homelands."