Port of Oakland Commission Hears Increasing Demand to Stop Arming Israel

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

(Oakland, Dec. 18) - The Commissioners in the well-appointed Board Room on the second floor could not have avoided hearing the rally in front. The protest by Jewish Voice for Peace, the Palestinian Youth Movement, AROC (Arab Resource Organizing Committee), California Nurses Association, Arms Embargo Now.org, Bay Internationalists, and others was the biggest yet of the many held at the 30 Water Street Location.

"Not In Our Name" t-shirts, keffiyehs and Union t-shirts were ubiquitous.

Speakers blasted the use of civilian infrastructure to support Israel's ongoing genocide of Palestine. The demonstrators wrote messages on red, blood colored "hands" that were taped to the building's large front window.

Activists filled all seats in the board's meeting room, requiring the use of the linked overflow facility. Going beyond the allocated hour for public comment, speakers made impassioned pleas to the commissioners to take an ethical stand against the genocide.

Faith leader, teachers, airport workers and students spoke, many recalling the stand Oakland had once taken to end South Africa's apartheid. It was again time, they said, to preserve that legacy and be counted.

To deafening silence and some snickers, a couple of opposing remote callers claimed that an arms embargo would end airport jobs and was "divisive". This was promptly refuted by union airport workers who noted that the number of jobs involved was tiny and that there was plenty of other non-lethal work to do.

One caller said the he did not know who "these people" were or what they wanted but knew that they were antisemitic.

Another claimed that any opposition to Israel's actions was, a priori, antisemitic.

A person in the audience created a bit of a disturbance but was promptly talked down by one of the Board members and was given a chance to speak. Order was easily restored.

Marjorie Mukels, a lawyer, brought up an interesting point. By law, a landlord may evict a tenant that engages in criminal activity. This can apply to the Port Commission, the Airport's landlord.

See all high resolution photos here.