A growing coalition, the Oakland People\u2019s Arms Embargo, has gained broad support in the Bay Area as it organizes to demand to end FedEx shipments of military equipment to Israel through the Oakland International Airport (OAK).<\/p>\n
Especially significant, according to the coalition, is the delivery of military hardware to Israel for the U.S. F-35 fighter jet, which has been used to drop 2,000-pound bombs on civilians in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Oakland Post, Rami Abdelkarim, a spokesperson for the Oakland People\u2019s Arms Embargo and a member of the Bay Area chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), discussed the goals and the organizing work of the coalition, which has expanded rapidly since it began in August 2025.<\/p>\n
Besides, PYM, other groups involved in organizing the coalition are the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.<\/p>\n
Backing the demand for an arms embargo are 150 local businesses and over 300 local organizations, including the faith community as well as more than 20 labor unions and the Alameda Labor Council, which unanimously endorsed the campaign.<\/p>\n
Support for the demand has also come from Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon, and Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunato Bas.<\/p>\n
Abdelkarim said the coalition has been tracking \u201chow our roads, our airports, and our infrastructure are being used to facilitate the Israeli military\u2019s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people, and not just the Palestinian people, but also in Lebanon and Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were able to uncover what is Oakland\u2019s complicity in this genocide, and what it looks like for our tax dollars to serve the Israeli military,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The coalition\u2019s findings were published in a 15-page report on the website of the Oakland People\u2019s Arms Embargo (armsembargonow.com), titled \u201cExposing Oakland Airport\u2019s Military Cargo Shipments to Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSince January 2025, at least 280 military cargo shipments to Israel have been identified departing from OAK, with Nevatim Airbase being the primary final destination,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
The shipments have occurred multiple times per week for nearly the whole year, \u201cincluding F-35 fighter jet components used to carry and release munitions, guide weapons, power surveillance and targeting systems, and support critical flight operations\u2014all essential to sustaining the combat readiness of Israel\u2019s Air Force,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe frequency of these shipments, particularly when compared to other U.S. airports, positions OAK as one of the few consistently active logistical nodes in the U.S. military supply chain to Nevatim Airbase (in Israel),\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
According to the report, a sample of 500 shipments to Israel transported through FedEx\u2019s Global Superhub in Memphis, Tennessee, between April and June 2025, OAK was the second-most frequent transit point nationwide, after Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n
Among the items that were shipped were \u201cbomb release units, weapons bay adapters, surveillance sensors, and flight-critical electronics \u2026 \u201cthe mechanisms that enable the F-35 to fly its bombing missions and to identify, target, and strike with lethal accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
These components were supplied or contracted through Lockheed Martin and \u201chave been used extensively by the Israeli Air Force in bombing campaigns in Gaza, including the airstrike on Al-Mawasi in July 2024, during which Israel dropped three 2,000-pound bombs on a designated humanitarian safe zone\u2014killing at least 90 people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a section of the report on the F\u201135 Lightning II fighter jet, the airplane is described as \u201ca highly advanced combat aircraft utilized in Israel\u2019s bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe F\u201135 can carry up to 18,000 pounds of munitions\u2014including 2,000-pound \u2018bunker buster\u2019 bombs\u2014and uses advanced sensor systems to identify targets, guide bombs, and conduct precision attacks,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese shipments typically arrive at OAK\u2019s FedEx cargo facility between Monday and Friday and are consolidated into outbound freight flights routed through hubs in other states. The flights identified in the report \u201cused for these transfers are civilian-operated cargo planes, not military aircraft. While they do not carry passengers, these FedEx Express flights operate out of a commercial airport shared with public air traffic, serving the broader Bay Area.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means that military cargo destined for the Israeli Air Force is routinely shipped through infrastructure embedded in densely populated civilian areas,\u201d with data showing that \u201cshipments departed OAK on multiple days every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
FedEx has strongly denied allegations that it transports military supplies.<\/p>\n
A FedEx spokesperson stated, \u201cFedEx is committed to complying with applicable laws and regulations. We do not ship weapons or ammunition internationally and have put in place strict screening procedures to prevent such shipments.\u201d<\/p>\n
International Amnesty International and European civil society groups have filed a criminal complaint against FedEx Belgium, alleging the unauthorized transit of F-35 fight jet parts without required regional licenses. Further, the Jewish anti-Zionist group France Action has filed a genocide claim against FedEx in France over cargo transporting through Paris.<\/p>\n
In a statement released in February, Mayor Lee said, \u201cAs you know, for decades, I have been opposed to the use of public property to militarize arms shipments, federal immigration enforcement, and public safety, whether it is in Oakland or anywhere else,\u201d she said. \u201cThus, I share your concerns about weapons and military cargo being shipped through the Oakland International Airport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Congresswoman Simon in September 2025, announced she is supporting a federal bill, the \u201cBlock the Bombs Act,\u201d to withhold the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel and demanding Israel\u2019s compliance with U.S. and international law.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come to Congress from a lineage of folks who know that war does not make us stronger, from a lineage of Ron Dellums and Barbara Lee, who were very clear that we as a nation cannot kill and slaughter our way to peace, that we cannot fund the machinery of death, and that safety is found in care \u2013 and not conquest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ken Epstein A growing coalition, the Oakland People\u2019s Arms Embargo, has gained broad support in the Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[115098,185670,185671,2351,185672,185673,93,45162,90220,4004,138424,340,10533,20366,185674,185675,143,145,18880,144,12851,185676,71664,185677],"class_list":["post-472966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-labor-council","tag-arab-resource-and-organizing-center","tag-arms-embargo","tag-barbara-lee","tag-block-the-bombs-act","tag-f-35-fighter-jet","tag-featured","tag-fedex","tag-foreign-policy","tag-gaza","tag-humanitarian-crisis","tag-israel","tag-lateefah-simon","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-military-shipments","tag-nevtim-airbase","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-international-airport","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-california","tag-oakland-peoples-arms-embargo","tag-palestinian-youth-movement","tag-rami-abdelkarim"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}