Demonstrators protest against FedEx’s arms shipments to Israel. [Brooke Anderson/TNA]
Three years after the outbreak of Israel’s war on Gaza, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of a FedEx building in Oakland, California to protest the shipping company’s arms deliveries to Israel.
FedEx, one of the world’s largest package shipping companies, currently sends weapons parts to Israel for its F-35 fighter jets, which has led to demonstrations against their role in Israel’s assault on Gaza. The shipments have been tracked from Oakland International Airport to their final destination of Nevatim Air Base in Israel.
On a warm Friday morning, demonstrators – represented by members of the Palestinian diaspora, labour unions, students, faith leaders and environmentalists – gathered in front of the FedEx entrance, holding signs reading: “No jets for genocide”, “Stop arming Israel” and “Arms embargo now”.
Speakers of different backgrounds took turns talking about their opposition to FedEx’s shipments of weapons parts to Israel, as well as other grievances with the corporation. Mohamed Shehk, an organiser with Arab Resource and Organising Centre (AROC) Action, spoke before a large crowd of demonstrators,
“We know that this did not start three years ago,” he said. “This genocidal apartheid state of Israel has been attempting to erase us, has been engaged in an ethnic cleansing campaign for 70 years.”
He said, “We’re here demanding that FedEx, this war profiteer, put an immediate end to military cargo being shipped to the apartheid state of Israel.”
He also criticised FedEx’s role in union crackdowns and alleged voter disenfranchisement in their home state of Tennessee.
“It’s also worth noting that FedEx isn’t just engaged in complicity in genocide. They are notoriously anti-union and anti-worker,” he said.
“Everyone remembers earlier this year when the Supreme Court shamefully gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1964. The state of Tennessee was the first state to exploit this ruling. Far-right politicians took the only majority Black district and split it up to weaken the Black vote and silence the Black voice,” he said.
“This why it is important for us to unite across all of these issues in this powerful coalition,” he said. “Solidarity with Palestine means solidarity with workers, solidarity with Black communities, and all communities that are oppressed by the capitalist and colonial class.”
Mick Glenn, a local resident, told The New Arab: “I wanted to make whatever difference I could by being there.”
He added, “The speeches were heartbreaking and motivating. I keep going to these demonstrations, but I hope they don’t have to go on much longer.”
A report by the Palestinian Youth Movement published in August 2025 noted that the Oakland airport is second only to Dallas-Fort Worth for the shipment of weapons parts to Israel.
The 15-page report, based on human rights investigations and on data exports, has found that since January, at least 280 military cargo shipments via FedEx have departed from Oakland International Airport, with Nevatim Airbase in Israel as the final destination. These shipments, supplied by Lockheed Martin, have included F-35 fighter jet components for carrying and releasing munitions and guided weapons.
More specifically, the report found that the shipments were consistently frequent (with only one week of a lull in transfers in six months); the materials delivered are wide-ranging, from lethal systems to small bolts; Nevatim is identified as the final destination for the materials; the shipments are coming from the Defence Logistics Agency in San Joaquín; and F-35s are confirmed to be used by Israel in Gaza.