Demanding a ceasefire amid Israeli bombings in Gaza, protesters rose before the sun Friday morning and descended upon the Port of Oakland with the goal to stop a vessel believed to contain military aid for Israel.
Those on-site estimated there to be about 200 demonstrators working to block the entrance to Berth 20, where U.S. Military reservist vessel MV Cape Orlando is currently waiting to depart.
Wassim Hage, a spokesperson for the Arab Resource and Organizing Center -- the protest's organizer and a social justice organization fighting for liberation of Arab and Muslim communities -- said the protesters had gathered because a confidential source had intimated to them that the vessel would be picking up weapons in Tacoma, Washington, before making its way to Israel.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) did not respond to requests for comment. MARAD is responsible for America's waterborne transportation system and also maintains the country's National Defense Reserve Fleet ready to support the rapid deployment of U.S. military forces.
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"It is unconscionable that, as Israel has murdered 9,000 people, including 4,000 children ... our government is using our tax dollars to pay for U.S. bombs to be dropped on Palestinian children in Gaza," Hage said.
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a plan to provide nearly $14.5 billion in aid to Israel in its fight against Hamas, a U.S. Department of State-designated terrorist organization with members located in Gaza where innocent civilians are caught in the crossfire of the Israelis' retaliatory bombing following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. The Senate has yet to approve the plan.
"We say this money should be used for schools, for education, for health care, for our people here -- not to murder and massacre Palestinians in Gaza," Hage said.
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Oakland protester Waeil Elbhassi is in daily contact with family members in Gaza and shared his grief of losing several of them since the bombings began.
"On Oct. 12, my first cousin, his son and his (2-year-old) granddaughter were killed," he said, adding that a week later, his other cousin's son had been killed in a mosque. "The horrible part is that her son is still under the rubble ... (my cousin) was telling me, 'I can't even say goodbye to my son properly.'"
Others in his family are living minute by minute, gathering wood to make fires for cooking and drinking salty, unpurified water. Another family member with a house still standing opened it to about 100 extended family members seeking safe haven.
Between the calls from home and social media timelines with reports of parents digging up dead children, Elbhassi is tired of questions about Hamas, noting the conflict was taking place long before Oct. 7.
"We're talking about, really, a century of colonization, displacement and systematic violence against our people," he continued. "I mean, Gaza has been under siege for 16 years ... People cannot look at all this -- at this condition and all this violence -- and just continue to talk about Hamas."
During the protest on Friday, Marilyn Sandifur, spokesperson for the Port of Oakland, said "the demonstration outside the marine terminal where the vessel is berthed is not hampering any port operations at this time."
Oakland Police Department officers were dispatched to the scene as protesters knocked over barrier fencing and some even tied themselves to the vessel, according to Hage. OPD spokesperson Paul Chambers confirmed that OPD officers were on-site to assist but said no arrests were made.
Elbhassi went on to say, "Our families and our personal stories are important. If there is one message we want to convey, it's how frustrated we feel and how betrayed we feel to be considered subhuman -- for our government to be so complicit and be the biggest enabler of this massacre. We want action. We want this to stop."
