Pro-Palestine organizations demand that Maersk stop shipping Israeli military cargo

Hundreds march in Jersey City, demanding that Danish shipping company Maersk stop shipping military cargo to Israel

December 18, 2024 by Peoples Dispatch
Hundreds march in Jersey City against Maersk's shipments to Israel through the state of New Jersey (Photo: Palestinian Youth Movement)

An investigation from early in November, conducted by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Progressive International, revealed that Danish shipping company Maersk has shipped millions of pounds of military cargo from the US to Israel since October of 2023. This includes weaponry such as tank engines, armored plates, bomb and bullet components, aircraft parts, and tactical military trucks. At the center of this deadly exchange of weaponry to aid the genocide of Palestinians is the Port of Elizabeth in New Jersey. Of the 2,110 shipments from the US to Israel analyzed by researchers, all but six went through the Port of Elizabeth. 

Pro-Palestine organizations are organizing in New Jersey to call attention to the state’s role in Israeli genocide. These organizations include the Palestinian Youth Movement, PAL-Awda (NY/NJ), the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the Palestinian American Community Center. Hundreds marched in Jersey City on December 14 to demand that Maersk stop shipping military cargo to Israel. 

“We’ve uncovered undeniable evidence of the link between New Jersey and the genocide currently taking place in Gaza, and that link is Maersk. We call on all people of conscience to join the movement for a people’s arms embargo, and take a stand against the war profiteering taking place in our own backyards,” said Munir Marwan, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement.

In November, the government of Spain announced that they were blocking two Maersk-operated ships which were carrying military cargo bound for Israel. This decision comes just days after the Palestinian Youth Movement released a report exposing the company’s regular use of the Spanish port for transferring cargo that enables the ongoing genocide against Palestinians, despite Spain’s stated arms embargo. 

Read more: Spain to block Maersk ships bound to Israel after pressure from activists

Progressive International and the Palestinian Youth Movement has recently found that the US Department of Defense has sent over a thousand tons of ammunition to Israel on a ship that stopped at a US military base in Spain, in violation of Spain’s arms embargo.