On May 26th and 28th, I mentioned a group of activists who’ve put their bodies on the line at Port Newark/Elizabeth, not far from Delaney Hall, to stop military shipments through those ports to Israel. These activists are part of a little-discussed worldwide effort–spanning Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Denmark, the UK, Canada, and the U.S. (Newark, Norfolk, Houston, Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, Los Angeles) to block the flow of military hardware to Israel.

The October 3 Port Newark activists were arrested at the scene, and are going on trial tomorrow, July 2nd, at 10 am at Elizabeth Municipal Court, 1 Police Plaza, Elizabeth, New Jersey in Court Room 002, before Judge Roman Montes. They could use the support of anyone able to attend the trial. They could also use monetary support to help cover their legal expenses. For more information and to donate, go here.

From the May 22, 2026 action at Port Newark. From Gerard Dalbon via WAWOG

For general background on the movement, read this informative piece by Michael Leonardi at Counterpunch. For discussion of the October 3 action at Port Newark last year, see this piece at Bob Witanek’s Fight Back Better site. And for discussion of the more recent May 22 action at Port Newark this year, see this piece by William Hartung at Waging Nonviolence.

I have contacts within the Jersey side of the movement, and my girlfriend Kate is in contact with the Oakland Arms Embargo; sometime this summer, I hope to post a longer report here on what’s going on in both places. Meanwhile, here’s a well-written and well-documented report by the Palestinian Youth Movement (15 page PDF), “Exposing Oakland Airport’s Military Cargo Shipments to Israel.” And here’s a video of a recent May Day protest shutting down Oakland Airport, an action I fully support, despite relying on that airport to travel to the Bay Area.

This link contains a list of the alternative news sites (including this blog) that have mentioned the October 3 action. It’s unfortunate that there are no mainstream media outlets on that list. The Port Newark activists shut Port Newark down twice for hours at a time, creating miles of backup in each case. If Bridgegate was news, if ordinary transportation disruptions are news, then certainly the Port blockages are news. They have yet to become news. That’s the task before us.