On May 26, I posted a press release on the May 22, 2026 activist blockade of Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine Terminal. This post below is a reprint, with permission, of an item describing an earlier action of theirs that took place on October 3, 2025. For the original post,and more material, visit their Substack, Zoomed Out. I’ve supplied the hyperlinks.

I would just underscore the fact that if “[h]undreds of tons of tax-payer funded weapons are being shipped weekly from its docks to the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa via commercial shipping companies, Maersk (Danish) and ZIM (Israeli),” then ostensibly civilian infrastructure and workers are being used as human shields, not just at Port Newark/Elizabeth itself, but at every point in this supply chain from beginning to end.

This implies that if Israel’s adversaries had the military capability, they could, consistent with Israel’s own rules of engagement, destroy much of north and central New Jersey in order to destroy this weapons supply line, treating the entire nearby civilian population and infrastructure as collateral damage. Since it’s unclear where the supply chain begins, these adversaries would (once again, consistent with Israeli rules of engagement) be permitted some latitude in speculating as to where it might plausibly begin. Jersey City? Picatinny Arsenal? Fort Dix? Unclear. Infallible knowledge and perfect precision are of course impossible.

The residents of New Jersey are only kept safe by the contingent fact that Israel’s adversaries lack the requisite military capacity–not that that rules out the use of any lesser capacity. So it is for the residents of any port city in the United States, from Boston to San Diego and beyond, and any airport or rail depot (or tracks) being used in a similar capacity. We’re all targets, kept safe only by the contingencies of dumb luck.

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Zoomed Out
originally posted Jan 26, 2026

At 5 a.m., in the dark chill morning of Oct. 3rd 2025, 100 autonomous activists gathered, ready to prevent illegal weapons shipments to Israel from Port Elizabeth, NJ. We knew the count of the dead in Gaza that morning, many of them children. Time, for us, was being measured by the number of weapons shipments and casualties. Even though we couldn’t hear the bombs going off in Gaza, our hearts were beating hard in preparation for what we were about to do.

For some time, Israel has relied heavily on weapons shipments from the East Coast. Port Elizabeth, N.J. is the third largest port in the country. Hundreds of tons of tax-payer funded weapons are being shipped weekly from its docks to the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa via commercial shipping companies, Maersk (Danish) and ZIM (Israeli).

These shipments which enable Israel’s genocide are in violation of five US laws: the Arms Export Controls Act, the U.S. War Crimes Act, the Leahy Law, the Foreign Assistance Act, and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act. We were gathered at this port precisely to uphold these laws nonviolently.

At 5:30 a.m., a red light gave us 30 seconds to sprint across seven lanes of North Avenue, the main access road to the Port, setting up traffic cones, signs and banners. Fifteen shrouds representing the murdered children of Gaza, with a flower on each, were placed in front of the stopped traffic. All 100 of us stayed in the crosswalk to prevent Maersk and ZIM trucks from delivering their cargo of deadly weapons. Some of us chanted. Some of us prayed.

We asked the police to inspect the trucks for weapons and join us in upholding U.S. federal law, but they had no answer. Drums and bagpipes upheld our spirits and resolve. Eventually, Port Authority police came to push us to the the sides of the road. Four of us were arrested as our intention was to uphold the law.

Our stand for Gaza was a stand for human rights globally in the midst of the waves of protest and repression. Recently, the International Federation For Human Rights‘ recent report stated: “from Paris to Washington, Berlin to London, support for Palestinian rights has been censored, criminalized, or violently repressed under the pretexts of combating antisemitism and protecting national security.”

Our action was in tandem with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which was “a call to awaken the conscience of the world,” according to organizer, Huwaida Arraf. We acted in tandem with port shutdowns in France, Ireland, U.K., Italy, Spain, Ecuador, and the US West Coast. People power has pushed back nonviolently, directly challenging those in power in increasingly authoritarian governments. We feel a re-awakening of hope for a world where apartheid and wars cease, and genocide will be a thing of the past.

To be clear, our action was civil resistance, not civil disobedience, since we acted to uphold US federal laws that state that it is illegal for our government to send weapons to a genocide. We have a right and a duty to resist such a government.

As we prepare to return to court we think of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, of Sudanese, Venezuelans and Colombians whose lives are being taken in unspeakably evil ways. We must act! Silence and inaction equals complicity. Our action was a public prayer for justice and a cry for mercy for those we are called to love.

• Danny, Teresa Grady, Mark Scibilia-Carver, Ellen Grady