Anti-Israel protesters in Oakland, California prevented a Zim cargo ship from unloading its goods at the city's port, Israel Radio reported Sunday morning.
According to the "Stop ZIM Action Committee" head Steve Zeltzer, the 200-some protestors waited at the port in day and night shifts in order to accomplish their goal.
American and Canadian BDS activists have been working since August to prevent Israeli cargo ships from docking at the ports of Oakland, California, Seattle and Vancouver, according to a report by Aljazeera, also as part of a protest called "Block the Boat."
Justifying their action, Aljazeera quoted the organization s stating that, “From its founding in 1945 by the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Histradut, Zim has served Israeli settler-colonialism, bringing settlers to Palestine and serving as Israel’s only maritime connection during the 1948 war, supplying ‘food, freight, and military equipment’ used of course to carry out the Nakba. The worldwide commerce conducted by Zim today funds the occupation of Palestine with revenue generated on every continent.”
The International Longshoremen and Warehousemen Unions (ILWU), who refused to unload a Zim ship's cargo in 2010 as a response to the Mavi Marmara incident, has stated that it has no plans to participate in this year's protest.