Palestinian Activists Urge Oakland to Stop Military Shipments to Israel

Palestinian activists are calling on Oakland officials to halt military cargo shipments through the city’s airport to Israel, saying the shipments have supported Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.

In a report released Thursday, the Palestinian Youth Movement said it documented at least 280 shipments of military equipment this year routed through Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, often via FedEx, to Israel.

Shipping documents obtained by PYM and viewed by KQED show shipments appear to include replacement parts for the U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has used in aerial bombardments of Gaza. Nearly all were bound for Nevatim Airbase, where Israel stations its F-35 fleet.

The report calls these shipments “a striking example of civilian infrastructure being used to sustain and enable a military campaign that leading human rights organizations have described as genocide under the Genocide Convention.”

“This is happening at an alarming frequency, multiple days per week. Every single week,” said Aisha Nizar, a Palestinian Youth Movement organizer.

Kaley Skantz, OAK’s public information officer, said in a statement to KQED that the airport has no information about the contents of shipments by cargo carrier tenants and that all of FedEx’s flight and loading operations are carried out directly by FedEx employees.

She added that FedEx — which has recently faced criticism for its role in shipping military cargo — is the airport’s largest cargo carrier and accounts for most of the 1.1 billion pounds of air freight passing through annually.

One of the most notable items listed in the shipping documents is the BRU-68, a bomb release unit made for the F-35 Lightning II and capable of dropping 2,000-pound bombs.

“These are the same bombs that we have seen destroy hospitals, churches, mosques. They have leveled entire refugee camps over these past two years,” Nizar said. “And it’s concerning to us because this is being flown out of a civilian airport in a city that was one of the first cities to call for a ceasefire.”

On July 13, 2024, Israel bombed the al-Mawasi camp in southern Gaza, where officials said two senior Hamas members were hiding. The local health ministry said the strike killed at least 90 people and injured hundreds of others.

After the strike, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Minister of Defense at the time, posted to social media a photo with fighter pilots, seated in front of what appeared to be an F-35.

Other F-35 parts in the shipments included components used to “guide weapons, power surveillance and targeting systems, and support critical flight operations — all essential to sustaining the combat readiness of Israel’s Air Force,” the report said.

“We are able to conclude, beyond reasonable doubt, that military cargo being shipped out of OAK has been used by the Israeli Air Force to carry out airstrikes and commit genocide in Gaza,” the report said.

International human rights groups have sharply criticized Israel for what some describe as indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.

A United Nations special committee investigating Israeli practices cited the use of heavy bombs in a report last year, concluding that Israel’s campaign in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide.

“Israel’s means and methods of warfare, including its indiscriminate bombing campaign, resulted in the widespread killing of civilians and mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, raising grave concerns of violations under international humanitarian law,” the committee wrote.

Israel has rejected allegations of genocide and defended its actions, saying civilians receive advance notice to evacuate areas targeted for military operations. Israeli officials have also blamed Hamas for operating within population centers.

Documents reviewed by KQED, along with FedEx tracking data, show the cargo originated from the city of Tracy, home to a military equipment distribution depot operated by the Defense Logistics Agency.

A 2021 post from the agency’s website said that, “Defense Logistics Agency Distribution San Joaquin, located in Tracy, California, was selected as the Wholesale Air Vehicle Storage and Distribution location for F-35 Lightning II aircraft parts.”

Organizers stressed that they were limited by information accessible through public or commercially available datasets and that the total number of shipments could be higher.

An investigation by Belgian news outlets De Morgen and La Soir reported in June that FedEx transported F-35 parts through Belgium on their way to Israel. They also list Tracy as the origin of some of those shipments.

“As a matter of policy, FedEx does not disclose customer shipment details,” FedEx wrote in a statement.

PYM also examined a sample of 500 shipments to Israel routed through FedEx’s Global Superhub in Memphis, Tennessee, between April and June. Oakland was the second most frequent U.S. transit point, accounting for 16% of Israel-bound shipments, the report said.

“The frequency, consistency, and content of these shipments underscore Oakland’s role not as a peripheral transit point, but as a dependable conduit for critical military technologies,” the report said.

The group is calling on Oakland officials to end these shipments.

“Oakland has a history of standing against apartheid, standing against war. We are a city of social justice and shared values from different liberation struggles around the world,” Nizar said. “So what’s happening here is actually our responsibility as civil society organizations and civilian institutions to stop our participation in a genocide that we never consented to.”