BDS Fails, Great and Small

Shhhh. Its a clip show, er, post.

Where are we after 21 years of BDS?

Well, there's this. According to a Gallup poll released this week as part of its annual World Affairs poll, Israel ranks seventh on list of countries rated favorably by Americans.

After multiple attempts to rid our port cities from the scurge of the Israel-affiliated Zim Shipping line, whats the net result of Block the Boat, and Block the Boat, the sequel?

*  ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd  stock has risen 226.06% over the last 12 months, and the average rating from Wall Street analysts is a Buy.

* ZIM generated $10.7 billion in revenue and $4.64 billion in net profit, also growing shareholders' equity to $4.6 billion.

*  For 2021, Zim saw a 787% profit rise. 

Maybe that celebration party was a bit premature, eh, Lara?

But, But, But you say, Ben & Jerrys!  Thats was a BDS victory.  Right?  Right?  

Maybe its a Pyrrhic victory at best.   Since the Unilever owned business made the decision to stop selling ice cream over the Green line,  seven states have taken action against  the company.  Most recently, Colorado has joined New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Arizona divesting state pension funds from the company. Florida and Texas have also taken action against Ben & Jerry’s.   Other states are likely to take action as well.

Unilever’s stock has plunged in the last six months.  Its been estimated that the boycott  has led to a $26 billion loss.

Unilever- this is your stock on BDS.

Israel tech continues to thrive. Total funding in 2021 reached a new peak of $27 billion — more than doubling the amount raised in 2020. Israel consistently produces more "unicorns" per capita than any other nation, with 48 last year alone.  Israel's exports reached a record high of $140 billion in 2021, up 18% from last year.

Perhaps the biggest BDS fail are the Abraham accords, and the expansion of Israeli  diplomatic relations across the Middle East and North Africa. The BDS movements goal of isolating Israel has failed.  The expansion of social, political and economic ties across the region has laid the foundation for a real and lasting peace.

When a second tier liberal arts college removes Sabra hummus from the school cafeteria, or a B list performing artist cancels a trip to Israel, the BDS holes shout their  "victories" from the rooftops.   Its all they've got.    Remember the big picture.

Oakland Block the Boat Fail. 5th Anniversary edition. And Zim keeps on Truckin.

San Francisco's Arab Resource Organizing Center is celebrating the 5th anniversary of their failure to permanently prevent Zim cargo from off-loading in Oakland.

The  2014 action, dubbed "Block the boat" was a triumph of bullying, ultimately achieving nothing.  Zim trailers still abound in the Bay area.

Oakland Block the boat fail

Oakland Block the boat fail

Oakland Block the boat fail

Even in the tumultuous world of international shipping, with the on again, off again tariffs, Zim's doing just fine financially, with total revenue of $834.3 million in Q2 2019, a 3.9 % increase from last year. Thats in spite of the best efforts of the BDS holes.

In the 2nd quarter of 2019, ZIM carried 731 thousand TEUs, its' second highest carried volume ever.

Zim's doing quite well, thank you

AROC's narrative and the reality of their attempt to keep Oakland free of the scourge of olives and artichoke hearts are far removed

Rather than an action reflective of "activists working in close partnership with members of ILWU Local 10, "  as claimed by AROC, the gates to the docks were physically blocked, with activists using their bodies, their bikes, and their children to prevent workers from uploading the ships.

Yeah, nothing says "close partnership" more than yelling obscenities.

Oakland Block the Boat Bullying

Is this what solidarity looks like?
                                                                 

AROC and  the Block the Boat campaign made it clear that the "B" in BDS stood for bullying.

Its not surprising that AROC would consider this event as one of the "most successful" in US history.  Sound and fury, signifying nothing.  Wishing them many more such "victories"

Read what really happened 5 years ago at the Oakland dock here: 

No Solidarity in Oakland, as protesters bully Longshoremen

Block the Boat has morphed into Operation Annoy Zim's Customers

Lies the BDS holes tell.

Lies the BDS holes told.

Via Noura Khouri.

She tweets: "2014  will forever go down in history as when we stopped Zim from coming to the US."

No, it won't Noura.

Zim Shipping still has a robust American presence , in spite of your best efforts.

Just this week, the Zim Istanbul off loaded in New York harbor.(That's in the US, Noura) before moving down to Norfolk VA (That's also in the US, Noura)

Again, Noura Khouri proves that in the absence of any concrete victory,  BDS holes are more than happy to lie. 

ZIM reported ready to abandon Oakland Port

From The Marine Executive:

On Sunday night, after not being able to unload at the Port of Oakland, the ZIM Shanghai headed to the Port of Los Angeles. According to The Jewish Press, ZIM may not call on the Port of Oakland again. Other shipping companies wary of the port’s unreliability may also consider the same.

With an estimated 150 ZIM visits a year, that’s a lot of business and perhaps even jobs for the City of Oakland to lose, says the news agency.

The longshoremen of Oakland have claimed that they were physically threatened by the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) protestors involved in the blockade of the vessel and that the leadership of their union, the ILWU, is not involved in the demonstrations. The union released a statement after claims arose that some in their leadership were using the BDS protest to bolster their contract negotiating position with the port.

As far as the union can ascertain, the protests are organized by a coalition of individuals and organizations that plan events and create action alerts under the name of "Block the Boat for Gaza" online.

The Port of Oakland is the only port in the United States so far where BDS protesters have been able to intimidate and physically threaten the longshoremen into not working.

Curiouser and curiouser.

On Monday Sept. 29, Clarence Thomas from Local 10 of the ILWU participated in a talk at Laney College, where he described coordinating the protest at the docks with members of the Arab Resource organizing center. This is in direct contradiction to the Union’s formal written statement. Is the union leadership sacrificing the rank and file by making back room deals with extremist groups? Is the union deliberately hiding their role in organizing the protests so they can claim victimhood? Are they using the protests as a bargaining chip in their contract negotiations with the port? Or is Clarence Thomas simply lying?

These are all questions that need answers.

It has been reported that Zim has made the decision that the Port of Oakland is too poorly managed to be a reliable partner in the international shipping business, and is moving their business elsewhere. Other shipping companies, seeing how vulnerable the port is to disturbances may follow suit. And Oakland Mayor Jean Quan is too caught up in her own re-election campaign to pay this issue any attention.

While the BDS holes will likely claim victory over this, there are no winners. The Port of Oakland will now live with the consequences of weak leadership. It has lost more than jobs. It has lost credibility.

UPDATE
Zim has denied reports that it will stop shipping through Oakland. 
From a Statement in American Shipper, issued October 2:

 ZIM disputed reports that suggest it might end service to the Port of Oakland after demonstrators disrupted cargo operations over the weekend and a ship had to divert of the Port of Los Angeles to discharge cargo. There was a similar protest in August, but that ZIM ship was eventually able to work at a different terminal in Oakland. An article on the website of the Jewish Press newspaper Wednesday reported that "there are questions if ZIM ships will continue to try to use the Port of Oakland anymore." The report was also cited by Maritime Executive . But a spokesman for ZIM said Thursday that "this report isn't accurate. ZIM is not pulling out of Oakland; the customers there are important for the company....

The lack of accurate information from the union, the port and from the media is a continued source of frustration for people attempting to track the situation at the docks.

No Solidarity in Oakland, as protesters bully Longshoremen

From Emunah,  who made a guest appearance at the Oakland waterfront yesterday afternoon, to bear witness to the latest day of rage against the Zim lines

***********

It did not compute. There were only two-dozen protesters at the Oakland docks for the September 27th  morning protest, yet activists claimed  their picket line was honored "in solidarity" by the ILWU

 

I decided to see for myself, arriving at the Oakland docks in time for the evening shift. There were only 6 people lolling around at 4:30, so I drove around a bit. The  whole area is a red zone- with no parking. The nearest legitimate parking was nearly a mile a way.  But it was obvious  that the protesters were ignoring the red zones, and as more and more came and parked in the red, I finally did the same. 

Jack Heyman (a retired longshoreman from the ILWU, and an organizer /instigator of block the boat campaign) came up to me, oblivious to the fact that I was holding an Israeli flag and an "Israel wants peace sign" and asked me to use my car to block the ILWU parking lot entrance.  

Um, I don't think so, Jack.

I couldn't help but wonder, if the union stands in "solidarity" with your cause,  why is it necessary to block their egress?

Oakland Block the Boat featured a motley collection of career activists,  wacky conspiracy theorists and  Occupy Oakland leftovers. 

Come, on, really?  Who graffitis their own van?

Paul Larudee,  Marina and Andrew Gutierrez , Terry O'Brien, Russell Bates, Toby Blome  and Peter Tcherneff were there. Was that Kate Raphael, sporting a bouncy new hair style?  The days events featured aging hippies, not young  jihadis.  Its the jihadis turn Oct 25.

Oakland  anti-Israel activist  and psychedelic relic Madrone Mofeeta  (aka Madrone Jack), made a dramatic display of photographing my  license plates, while hissing "Zionist filth" at me.

Protesters used cars, lawn furniture, bicycles and small children to block the entrance to the ILWU union parking lot.

Their signage was the usual cliches of eternal victimhood, finger-pointing, and down-right anti-Semitism

Psst. Block the Boat- both the West bank and Gaza have called for a nation ruled under Sharia law. A secular state is your pipe dream, not theirs

By 6 , there were about 60 people present. Jack  Heyman  was receiving information directly from the union hall and was orchestrating the protest.  He claimed  the union told the port they would guarantee the ship would be unloaded if there was no police presence.  There was no police presence. The union had put in a work order for the evening, and the group could vote on whether or not they wanted to stay, or to attempt to block the  workers.  He told me I wasn't allowed to vote. : - (  There was no democracy on the streets on Oakland that evening.


The group voted to stay and prevent the union workers from coming in- Jack spread people out between the 5 gates. Describing their numbers as "thin",  Jack urged the protesters to call their friends and bring in reinforcements.

Cars were physically blocked and prevented from coming to work. The drivers were photographed, in a crude attempt to intimidate them.  ILWU workers  became increasingly angry.
 

I spoke to a few of the longshoremen who were clueless about the politics. Not pro, not con, just completed baffled  as to why they  were being dragged into this.
 
In spite of the intimidation and the  physical obstruction of workers,  anti-Israel activists  claimed  "solidarity". Their "picket" was "honored".

I recognize solidarity when I see it.  An engineer operating on the tracks behind me stopped his engine, and thanked me profusely for being there.

On his second pass for the evening, he brought me cold water.

He stopped by again when his shift was over, bringing more water, and again effusively thanking me.

The Zim ship left port without being unloaded. The Port of Oakland has proven its impotence, and its unreliability as a place to do business.

Who will pay the ultimate cost of this cheap symbolic "victory" ?  The port will suffer for this. And the thousands of people who rely on the port for their livelihood will suffer.  Ultimately, Oakland will suffer. 

Oakland Block the Boat: Bad for Oakland

Agitprop site Indybay declared that the  Oakland Block the Boat action "won the support of ILWU Local 10 and ILWU Local 34 longshore workers who refused to cross the line." 

Yet lying comes as natural to the anti-Israel cru as breathing.  There was no "solidarity". The posts on Twitter from the Oakland Block the Boat showed the activists bullying  union members, and physically  blocking them as they tried to get to their jobs. 

 The dockworkers apparently fought back.

 

There was no "solidarity",  only selfish and thoughtless maneuvering by a self absorbed group of activists blinded by their seething hatred for the world's only Jewish state. But others could anticipate the consequences.


In a letter to Oakland mayor Jean Quan, the Pacific Merchants Shipping Association expressed their    concern, writing    

"...while demonstrators are entitled to their opinions regarding a geo-political struggle that goes back centuries, they are not entitled to harm businesses and workers in Oakland as the result of their opinions"

The letter, courtesy copied to Gov. Brown and others, continues:

"If port operations are easily shut-down by any group with a political agenda, the damage to its reputation will be immense, immediate and hard to repair. That this takes place at a time when port competitiveness is extremely intense, with cargo owners having many options through which to move their goods and our California ports only now recovering to pre-recession volumes, only makes the protection of the port more imperative."

Block the Boat. Bad for business. Bad for Oakland. And its happening again on October 25.

Block the Boat Vancouver: Another BDS Fail.

We know whats bugging the Zim Djibouti.

The cargo ship arrived in Vancouver Deltaport on September 5th, and abruptly left.

Declaring a BDS victory when only 6 people showed up to the protest seemed a bit grandiose even for the reality challenged anti-Israel cru.  Yet in their warped minds what possible explanation could there be for the sudden departure of the Zim Djibouti other than a victory for their noble cause?

Faced with no concrete evidence, the anti-Israel activists did what they do best. They lied.

The headline at the Popular resistance agitprop site blared: Vancouver Activists Block Israeli Container Ship Zim Djibouti :Tremendous Victory: Four-Day Vancouver Conflict Blocks Israeli Ship. The lies tumbled out fast and furious"...Israeli shipping giant Zim, the giant was defeated today in Vancouver, Canada."  "This is a huge victory for the Vancouver coalition..."

It was more of the same on Social media

Vancouver #BlocktheBoat is a resounding success!  Canada Blocks Israeli Container Ship Zim Djibouti http://t.co/t2rZWZdjzl
— Mirah (@mirahwood) September 10, 2014

#BlockTheBoat 'Zim Djibouti' still idle at sea http://t.co/nL1vHcd7qH Great sucsess for #BlocktheboatVAN. Example to follow! @Bea4Palestine
— Tingnett (@Tingnett) September 11, 2014

For ten days, the Block the Boat activists have tracked the Zim Djibout's movements with the obsessive fanaticism of a jilted lover.

Yet for all their rabid attentions, the activists missed something rather obvious.

Multiple US-bound ships delayed by Asian Gypsy Moth

Asian Gypsy Moth season runs from May through about November. Last year, Customs in L.A. stopped nine vessels in total. So far this season, which is only just over halfway through, 12 ships have been forced back into international waters after arriving at port with moth larvae discovered on board.

“We are in the worst Asian Gypsy Moth season that we can remember,” a CBP spokesman said.

From the JOC.com 

The Asian Gypsy month has recently been detected, in some instances in high numbers, on vessels arriving in North America,” the USDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a bulletin to shipping. “These detections have led to delayed entry to ports in the United States and Canada and could result in refusal of entry.”

Hapag-Lloyd informs about schedule deviations on its North Pacific 1 Service

Hapag-Lloyd informs, that after ZIM Djibouti berthed in Vancouver on Friday September 5, 2014, the vessel failed the Asian Gypsy Moth inspection held by CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency), the company said in its press release.

The vessel was ordered out to international waters as quarantine for cleaning. The crew commenced cleaning this past weekend and is expected to arrive back in Vancouver on Tuesday September 16, 2014 to be re-inspected. The OOCL London will pass the ZIM Djibouti and be the next NP1 service vessel to arrive and sail from North America.

Alternate arrangements are being made to move all of the cargo expeditiously. Shipment related notification will be communicated in a timely manner.

To the Block the Boat activists: If moth larvae could better achieve your collective goals and objectives maybe your attentions are best directed elsewhere.  Have you considered taking up macrame?

Vancouver Block the Boat Fail. The Free Palestine Movement Lies, and issues a hasty retraction.

On September 9, the Free Palestine movement sent out a whopper of a lie calling a non event at the Vancouver port a "4 day stand-off".  Social media reports showed only 5 protesters at the dock.

Photo via Twitter

Only a handful of activists showed up to  Block the boat in Vancouver

The Free Palestine Movement stated:

Vancouver Canada Blocks Israeli Ship: Tremendous Victory

In a four-day standoff pitting human rights groups and organized labor against Israeli shipping giant Zim, the giant was defeated today in Vancouver, Canada.

The huge container ship Zim Djibouti first docked at the high-tech Deltaport facility on September 5, only to discover that the workers had agreed to respect a picket line set up by human rights advocates. The coalition of picketers, under the name Block the Boat Vancouver, were trying to prevent the unloading and loading of the ship, as a solidarity protest against Israel's 47-year blockade of the port of Gaza and the recent Israeli sttack on Gaza that killed more than 2000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, as well as 72 Israelis, almost all soldiers.

The ship then returned to open water along the Pacific coast and stayed there several days, until midnight last night. At that time it set course for Port Angeles, on the US side of the passage to Vancouver. By unloading at an unexpected US port, the company apparently hoped to circumvent the blockade.

It didn't work. Perhaps the logistics of arranging passage by land through another country for the hazardous cargo on board was too much, or perhaps the docking facilities were inadequate for the huge ship, but it turned back and returned to the open sea. At the time of this report, it has still failed to declare a new destination and arrival time.

This is a huge victory for the Vancouver coalition, undoubtedly costing Zim enormous sums in fuel, delays, and having to carry excess cargo to unintended destinations, impeding the other operations. It also continues the string of Block the Boat actions at ports on the US west coast that began with the August picket in Oakland, California of another Zim ship that ended with similar results.

Let's all congratulate Vancouver and encourage ports all over the world to refuse Israeli ships and ships from Israeli companies. Customers will have to think twice about using an Israeli line for their cargo, as delivery becomes less certain. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a world wide campaign against Zim and all other Israeli shipping, until Israel reconsiders its policy of blocking all shipping to and from Gaza.

After issuing this obviously false statement declaring a "tremendous victory", the Free Palestine movement retreated, tail between its legs and issued a retraction, of sorts. The next day they issued another email, readily admitting there was "no picket line or blockade", but still attempted to take credit for the delay, claiming "it seems probable" it was on the basis of a union decision.

Their current email states:

We apologize for erroneous information in the item below. Although the sequence of the boat actions is correct, there was no picket line or blockade. Instead, the organizers provided information to the union, ILWU Local 502, and its members, including flyers distributed at the Deltaport facility. Beyond that, we have no information on how and why the ship was turned away, but it seems probable that it was on the basis of a union decision.

 

Currently, after trying to dock at Port Angeles, the ship has returned to a stationary position off the coast of British Columbia, and is listing a destination of Vancouver but an ETA that has already passed.

Please accept our regrets for the false information.

To the lying, scheming (just until they are caught in the act) Free Palestine Movement, I have just this to say about your alleged "victory" at the Port of Vancouver.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc 

Seattle: Block the Boat fail

The Seattle block the boat party fared about as well as the Tacoma action, with the targeted Zim Chicago docking and unloading right on schedule

From our neighbors to the north, via the Mike Report

Following embarrassing efforts in the Bay Area and a complete flop in Tacoma, the block the boat circus finally made it to the Port of Seattle's Terminal 18 on Harbor Island where the Zim Chicago was scheduled to dock this afternoon.

Demonstrators began to arrive around 3:45pm and at their height numbered about seventy. What they lacked in numbers though, they made up for in unrestrained obnoxiousness. The pro-Hamas activists taunted and provoked police officers and harassed the hard working truckers and union workers who depend on the port for their livelihood.

Screaming in a glass shattering high decibel voice, a woman self identified as Mary Jane ordered truckers to turn off their vehicles and to honor their picket line. Her pleas were universally ignored as truckers and dock workers pressed through the thin cordon. Eventually law enforcement offered the terror-groupies the choice of getting off the street or facing arrest. One chose arrest, the rest reluctantly complied.

Officers were pelted with epithets, one protester screamed "what the hell are you doing you f*cking pig!" Another offered a police officer the one finger salute.

Read it all here. (Pssst. He's got photos!)

 

And what did the Block the boaters do in the face of incontrovertible failure?  They declared victory.

Congresswoman Hahn Releases Statement on Protests Regarding Zim Ship at the Port of Oakland

Rep. Janice Hahn represents California's forty-fourth District in the U.S. House of Representatives. She is a member of the House Committee on transportation and Infrastructure and issued this statement on  August 19th regarding the fiasco that was taking place at the Oakland docks.  With Seattle in the cross-hair of the anti-Israel activists tomorrow, it is still relevant.

SAN PEDRO, CA—Today, Congresswoman Hahn released the following statement on the ILWU Local 10’s decision not to unload a Zim ship docked at the Port of Oakland that has been the subject of ongoing protests:

“It is critical to the state’s local economy that this ship be unloaded. I urge the local police department to take steps to ensure ILWU Local 10 workers’ safety so that they may reconsider their decision and unload this Zim ship. This issue is about commerce in the United States not the political situation in the Middle East . Failing to unload this ship threatens the local economy and jobs this community relies on. I have been assured that the local police can guarantee the safe passage of workers at the terminal while allowing the peaceful protests to continue.”

“With cargo diversion a constant threat to our West coast ports, not unloading this cargo, simply sends the wrong message.”

“Last week in my San Pedro office, I convened a meeting with the local ILWU, the Israeli Counsel General, clergy, and representatives from Jewish Labor and the Port of Los Angeles to discuss this issue. We were assured by our ILWU leadership that they are neutral on the political situation in the Middle East and guaranteed that the ships in LA and Long Beach would be unloaded. As the co-chair of the Congressional PORTS Caucus, I hope that we can hold similar meetings in Northern California to bring key leaders to the table to find a resolution.”

“Finally, I stand with the Teamsters in calling on the ILWU to unload the Zim ship and allow important commerce to continue.”

Congresswoman Hahn is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional PORTS Caucus. She represents America ’s Port – the Port of Los Angeles . With the Port of Long Beach , it is the largest port complex in the nation.

Breelyn Pete
(202) 225-8220
Breelyn.Pete( at)mail.house.gov

Tacoma Block the Boat: Anatomy of a fail

Block the Boat Tacoma has followed the same trajectory as so many other BDS actions. A period of manic self promotion and a failure to achieve an tangible aim has been followed by a rapid series of "even when we lose, we win statements", and the defeat, now wearing the laurel wreath of "victory" is never spoken of again.

The Seattle Times reports

About 100 people opposed to Israel’s military action in Gaza formed picket lines outside Washington United Terminals gates on Port of Tacoma Road shortly after 7 a.m., in an attempt to keep longshore workers from unloading the vessel Chicago, owned by the Israeli company, Zim Integrated Shipping Services.

Instead, longshore workers were taken to the terminal by an alternate route and began their shift as usual. “We’re not going to talk about how they got in,” said Tara Mattina, a Port of Tacoma spokeswoman. “The ship did come in as expected, and the longshore workers started working at 8 a.m.”

The Police were also well prepared for this action

Tacoma police kept their distance Saturday morning, but they set up a roadblock on the Port of Tacoma Road for about 45 minutes, allowing access only to port workers with identification. Port security officers refused to allow parking in the vicinity, threatening to tow cars along Marshall Avenue and Port of Tacoma Road.

The self reporting from the anti-Israel activists provides a different perspective. They distributed leaflets promoting the scurrilous and discredited  apartheid meme

When thwarted in their efforts gain access to the docks , some activists discussed forging press passes.

Via Twitter:

Despite claims of ILWU "solidarity" with their aims,  the local ILWU was unimpressed. ILWU Local 23 President Dean McGrath firmly declared via Twitter  'No organization will hijack our 'muscle' for their purposes."

With no worker "solidarity" for their cause, the protesters tried to physically prevent union members from reaching their destination.

KIROTV, Channel 7 reports:

A fight erupted when about 50 protestors tried to prevent workers at the Port of Tacoma from getting in and out of their parking lot.  The protestors were part of a growing group called "Block the Boat,” which was attempting to keep an Israeli cargo ship from unloading in Tacoma Saturday morning.

Protestors swarmed a man's minivan at the entrance of the parking lot.  When he finally got out to approach the gate, there was a physical confrontation. Other workers were trying to get home after their shift but they were trapped by the group. 

The anti-Israel activists were filled with self-righteous indignation that dock employees might actually care about their work responsibilities

Protesters shamelessly bragged about using their young children to obstruct  the workers.  (Children as human shields? Where have we seen that before?) What kind of parent would do this?

As the protesters slowly realized they were on the brink of failure, their rhetoric escalated. The talk was no longer of unions and solidarity.  Thinly veiled threats were made to the port. The action was no longer about the Zim ship. It was about shutting down the entire port.

Zim's customer line was next in the cross-hairs.  This is nothing short of  economic terrorism.

In spite of the protest, The Zim Chicago docked and was unloaded  without major incident.

Cue the "When we lose, we win statements", in all their infinite variety

On Monday, the "block party" continues, with Block the boat Seattle. 

Block the Boat Fail: Unleashing the scourge of red lentils upon the world

Its all about the "occupation", they’ll tell you. 

And that’s why dock workers and longshoremen at the Port of Oakland were harassed for four days.

All to prevent crates of sparkling wine, olives and ceramic tiles from Spain, cheese and rice from Italy and organic red lentils from Turkey from being unloaded from the Zim Piraeus. Or perhaps the fanatics were targeting the irrigation equipment and solar heaters that happened to be manufactured in Israel.

More likely the protesters simply didn’t care. 

They didn't care that the Piraeus ZIM Piraeus wasn’t Israeli-owned or flagged. They didn’t care that ZIM America contracts with a Greek company Costamare to manage and operate ZIM Piraeus. Slightly more than 30% of Zim is owned by Israeli interests and that was good enough for them

For years, anti-Israel activists have been struggling to grow their movement, to find linkages with progressive causes. Unions were a natural target, and the International Longshore Workers Union Local 10 has been courted by the haters for years. What role the union and the local in particular played in this fiasco are yet to be determined.

Paul Larudee on Block the Boat: Truth-impaired and clueless.

 The clueless of anti-Israel agitators is a remarkable thing to behold.

In an article published in Middle East Monitor, Paul Larudee of the Free Palestine Movement displays not only an unusual denseness but a casual willingness to ignore reality. For its part, the Middle East Monitor invested no effort in fact-checking or verifying Paul's testimony

Paul Larudee in happier times. Photo from the Contra Costa times

From Middle East Monitor:

 According to Dr Paul Larudee, a co-founder of the Free Palestine movement, thousands of activists waving Palestinian flags turned out to blockade the Israeli cargo ship Ever Lasting, which pulled into a harbour in the San Francisco Bay on Saturday morning.

 The protesters intended to form a picket line to prevent work crews from unloading the ship, responding to the Palestinian General Federation Trade Union's BDS call for workers around the world to refuse to handle Israeli goods. "The Ever Lasting and its sister ship ZIM Piraeus were both due to be unloaded that day," Dr Larudee told MEMO.

"As it approached the docks, however, the Ever Lasting was ordered by the port authority to return to the entrance and moor to the side until further notice. In the meantime, the ZIM Piraeus had been treading water off the coast of Monterey since the previous evening."

In reality, the EverLasting is not an "Israeli cargo ship"  It's Hong Kong flagged and owned by a Chinese company. It does not even doesn't sail to Israel. Its not a "sister ship" to the Piraeus. Its not even a distant cousin.


The Ever Lasting sailed into Oakland harbor early Saturday morning.

and was unloaded without incident. There was not a single protester on the docks. The protest call , originally issued for 5 am, had been changed to 3pm.

Ever Lasting unload at Oakland harbor early Saturday morning

No, Paul. The 500 protesters that showed up at the Oakland docks late in the afternoon  at had no effect whatsoever on the docking or unloading of the Ever Lasting.

According to John Driscoll, of the Port of Oakland  

"Seaport operations were not impacted by the protest.  Operations scheduled for tonight and tomorrow are currently expected to proceed as planned."

And yes, Paul, he's a more trustworthy source than you. Paul Larudee's block the boat: It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Block the Boat earns the endorsement of the PFLP terror group

The Aug 16 blockade of a Zim cargo ship in the port of Oakland has the endorsement of the PLFP terror group, who write

 "The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine praises the direct actions taken by various groups around the world to shut down the operations of the war machine assaulting the Palestinian people, and calls for increasing and escalating these actions everywhere the occupier and its supporters are present.

The Front commended the multiple direct actions around the world targeting Israeli embassies, consulates, institutions and corporations, including the 2-day occupation of an Elbit arms factory outside Birmingham, UK; the blockade of the Israeli embassy in The Hague; the shutdown of El Al’s ticket counter in Athens; popular de-shelving and removal of Israeli products in Ireland; and actions in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Albuquerque in the United States at Israeli missions and consulates, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin, as well as a upcoming blockade of an Israeli ZIM Ship in Oakland, California."

To the other endorsers:
American Friends Service Committee
American Muslims for Palestine
ANSWER Coalition
Arab Youth Organizing (AYO)
AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center
ASATA
BAYAN-USA
Black Organizing Leadership and Dignity (BOLD)
Catalyst Project
CodePink Washington
Descoloniza a Oakland/Decolonize Oakland
Free Palestine Movement
Freedom Archives
Friends of Deir Ibzi'a
General Union of Palestine Students – SFSU
Global Women’s Strike
Haiti Action Committee
International Action Center
International Jewish Anti Zionist Network
International Socialist Organization
ISM-NorCal
Jewish Voice for Peace
Justice for Palestinians
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
NorCal Friends of Sabeel
ONYX Organizing Committee
Palestinian Youth Movement
Queers Undermining Israeli Terror
San Francisco Green Party
SOUL: School of Unity and Liberation
Students for Justice in Palestine – Cal
Totally Radical Muslims
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
US Committee for the Academic and Cultural Boycott
US Palestinian Community Network
World Can't Wait Bay Area
Workers World Party
Xicana Moratorium

You are known by the company you keep. How can you  stand in solidarity with a terrorist group, responsible for heinous murders, kidnapping and hijacking throughout the globe?  According to a  recent report by the Shurat HaDin (the Israel law center) the "PFLP is responsible  or numerous suicide bombings, airplane hijackings, and assassinations, including some of the most notorious international terror attacks of the 1970s."

From the report

There is overwhelming evidence that the PFLP is continuing its terrorist activities. In 2001, Israel’s domestic security service, the Shabak (a.k.a. The Israel Security Agency), broke up a series of coordinated PFLP terror cells in Ramallah. The Shabak report states that the network was planning to kidnap an Israeli soldier in order to demand the release of Palestinian terrorists, similar to Hamas’ kidnapping of Gilad Shalit in 2006. 

In addition, plans were in place to attack Jewish settlements, bomb the roads around Jerusalem, and murder suspected collaborators. Two similar networks were uncovered in 2012, and a third in May 2013. As recently as January 2014, two PFLP terrorists in Gaza were killed in an Israeli airstrike due to their involvement in firing rockets at Israeli civilians.

Its yet another example of the increasingly unhinged  and shameless hypocrisy of groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee, who self-righteously provide cover for the forces of evil and of terror.

Block the Boat Interruptus: Blockade of Zim Ship at Oakland Docks Postponed

If anything, the enemies of Israel excel at self-promoting.  A proposed plan by Islamists and anarchists  to  march on the Oakland port to prevent a Zim ship  from off-loading was widely publicized,  with the San Jose  Mercury news and other media outlets picking up the story.    Zim is one of the leading carriers in the global container shipping industry, and was targeted because of its close ties with  Israel.  The Zim fleet’s illustrious history began by transporting refugees from war-torn Europe back home to the land of Israel.

This tactic was tried before in 2010, with mixed results.   The Father’s Day action in 2010 ultimately claimed to have prevented a Zim liner from off-loading, though the claim of  ‘victory” was issued well before the ship had actually docked.   Again, the mainstream media was complicit in the spread of misinformation, printing verbatim press releases issued by activists.

This years’ march on the docks, coordinated by an extremist anti-Israel group, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center ( AROC ), in conjunction with local anarchist groups and the pitiful remnants of the Occupy Oakland contingent was to take place on Saturday, Aug 2.  After an initial wave of self-congratulatory press releases, there are now wide-spread reports of cancellation. 

The coalition had failed to make inroads with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union ( ILWU)  , who were justifiably skeptical  about having their names linked  with these extremist groups.

Some anarchists groups itching for a fight  have expressed their desire to march on the docks nonetheless. Nothing like some random chaos and destruction and good old fashioned breaking and smashing in the name of peace, after all.

UPDATE:
"Block the Boat" is now scheduled for August 16, with or without union support