Anti-Israel Activists miss the boat. Block the Boat fail.

In 2010, anti-Israel activists at the Port of  Oakland  sought to block a Zim cargo ship from docking. They issued press-releases declaring victory well before the targeted Zim ship had even steamed through the Golden Gate. Mainstream media was complicit in spreading their lies.

Photo from the San Francisco chronicle

Fast forward.

Its deja vu all over again.

The same activists, spearheaded by the extremist Arab Resource and Organizing center planned a similar action for this weekend, organizing largely via social media.  Originally calling for  activists to meet at the West Oakland BART station at 5 am, they inexplicably changed direction, re-issuing a call for action at 3pm.

There is some speculation that they knew they would be unable to achieve critical mass at 5am, while most of the local anarchists were still sleeping off their beer hang-overs, and that was the primary reason for the change. 

From Jane Jewell, of  the Marin county group 14 friends of Palestine

But there is also some speculation that the organizers were made aware that they were targeting the wrong ship.  Although it appears on the Zim website, the EverLasting is not a  Zim vessel. It was a fools choice for the Block the Boat organizers: Do they block the wrong boat, or do they block a boat that hasn't arrived yet?

Via twitter:
The Everlasting was off-loaded without incident, and the Piraeus became the focus of the action.

At 3, several hundred gathered at the West Oakland Bart station, and began the march to the docks. It was a typical Bay Area "peace" rally.

And as usual in the Bay area, not a single of the sponsoring "human rights" groups said a word about this glorification of violence . And as usual, although the protesters were happy to declare "victory", there was no real effect on port functions.

From the Oakland Block the boat march

The flag of the terror group Hamas was proudly displayed.

Hamas terror flag at Oakland block the boat march

No one would ever mistake the Block the boat activists for patriots, as they joked about burning American flags

From John Driscoll, of the Port of Oakland

At about 4:30 pm today, approximately 500 protesters entered the Port's maritime area (seaport) and demonstrated along Middle Harbor Road, near the Oakland International Container Terminal.  The protest was related to the Gaza-Israel conflict in the Middle East.

As of 5:30 pm, the protesters were leaving the seaport.  As a cautionary measure, law enforcement is maintaining a presence on-site.  Seaport operations were not impacted by the protest.  Operations scheduled for tonight and tomorrow are currently expected to proceed as planned.

As of 6:30, the Piraeus had not yet docked.
 

Wishing the haters of peaceful co-existence many more such victories.

The protesters did accomplish one thing from this utterly pointless maneuver.  A fundraiser for "The Vagina Monologues."  scheduled for the waterfront was cancelled and forced to relocate. The organizers scrambled to find a last minute venue to relocate their event

The Block the boat action has done more than hurt the reputation of the Port of Oakland as a stable hub for U.S. shipping.  The block the boat activists have proven themselves to be bad neighbors all around.  I'm certain no one is surprised.

UPDATE: In spite anti-Israel activists claims to the contrary,  the Longshore and Shipping News reported  Thirty ILWU members worked the ship, starting at 10 PM Tuesday and completing the work at 4 AM Wednesday.