Israel cannot conduct its genocide against the Palestinians alone. Without US-led diplomatic support to backstop its impunity to international law, British surveillance flights, US financing and weaponry and global energy shipments, Israel’s war machine would grind to a halt.
That’s why efforts to disrupt the flow of arms and energy are so vital — and why they are so heavily repressed. This disruption and repression takes many forms.
In the UK, direct action group Palestine Action has targeted Israel’s biggest arms company Elbit Systems, as well as its lobbyists, bankers, accountants and suppliers. They have caused direct damage to manufacturing, disrupted the supply chain, forced Barclays Bank to divest from the company — and much more. In response, the British state has arrested dozens of activists and dragged them through the courts, many under the Terrorism Act.
In Spain, the Progressive International and the Palestine Youth Movement produced explosive evidence revealing tonnes of Israeli military cargo transiting through Spanish ports on Maersk ships — despite the suspension announced by its government. The findings were covered in detail in the Spanish and US press and led to immense pressure on the Spanish government from civil society groups, like RESCOP, and from across the Spanish political left.
The Spanish government then announced, via a story in El Pais, that it would bar two Maersk shipping containers — the Maersk Denver and the Maersk Seletar — likely containing weapons for Israel, from docking as planned in the port of Algeciras.
Now Spain faces a showdown not only with shipping giant Maersk but also with the US state. Last week, the US Federal Maritime Commission announced it had opened an investigation into Spanish denial of port entry to vessels transporting US weapons to Israel. If the investigation finds that Spain has indeed prevented these ships from docking, it will fine the Spanish authorities millions of dollars.
All eyes will now turn to the Spanish government to see if it stands up to US pressure and transforms its ad hoc denial of weapons ships from using its ports into a systematic policy of inspections and exclusions.
These efforts to throw sand in the wheels of the US-Israeli war machine extend far beyond Spain. In October, workers at the Piraeus Port in Athens successfully blocked a shipment of ammunition bound for Israel on the ship Marla Bull, owned by Israeli company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services. In November, Moroccan dockworkers in the port of Tangiers refused to load the Nysted Maersk after the vessel was found to have received at least 46 US military shipments for Israel during the genocide in Gaza, following an investigation by the Progressive International and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Two weeks ago, new research from the Stop Fuelling Genocide campaign, supported by Progressive International, revealed that Türkiye is still exporting oil to Israel despite its own embargo. The study, which was covered by the Middle East Eye and in great depth by Turkish outlet Duvar, found Azeri crude oil was shipped directly from Ceyhan Port located in Türkiye’s southern Adana province to Ashkelon, Israel.
Since the revelation, protestors have dogged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, demanding that Türkiye institute the economic blockade on Israel that it has announced. Nine protestors from Filistin İçin Bin Genç, a youth movement for a Free Palestine in Türkiye, were arrested on Monday 2 December by the Turkish government and face charges of insulting the president.
The research was also used by a member of the Turkish Parliament Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu this week to challenge Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, over his government’s material support for Israel despite official opposition to the genocide.
Across the Mediterranean, the arms and fuel that power Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinians, as well as its bombing of Lebanon and Syria, are being challenged by workers, activists and political leaders. There must be No Harbour for Genocide.
In solidarity,
The Progressive International Secretariat
