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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Zionist Organization of America
head calls for arrest of Block the Boat protesters</h1>
<div class="submitted">
<span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2014-10-08T22:36:50+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username"
xml:lang="" about="/users/charlotte-silver"
typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Charlotte
Silver</span> on Wed, 10/08/2014<br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/zionist-organization-america-head-calls-arrest-block-boat-protesters">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/zionist-organization-america-head-calls-arrest-block-boat-protesters</a></small></small></small></b><br>
</span> </div>
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media-element file-full" style="width:618px;"><br>
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<p dir="ltr">Activists preventing the unloading of Israeli cargo
ships at the Oakland Port in protest of violations of
Palestinian rights have drawn the ire of Israel advocacy groups.</p>
<p>Last week, Morton Klein, president of the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/zionist-organization-america">Zionist
Organization of America</a>, wrote a letter to the chief of
the Oakland Police Department, Sean Whent, chastizing his
department for failing to “intervene and ensure that the Zim
ship could unload its cargo.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Anti-Semitic protesters have been blocking vessels
owned by Zim Integrated Shipping Ltd., an Israel-based shipping
company, from docking at the Port of Oakland, and preventing
dockworkers from unloading the cargo,” Klein complains in his
letter. “This problem occurred for several days in August and it
occurred again last week.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Klein’s letter, excerpts of which were printed in <a
href="http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Zionist-Organization-of-America-protests-blocking-of-Israeli-ships-377974"><em>The
Jerusalem Post</em></a>, seizes on a dockworkers union’s
characterization of the protesters as “<a
href="http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2014/09/ilwu-statement-on-blockage-of-zim-vessel-by-protestors-at-port-of-oakland/">threatening</a>,”
and questions why the police did not do more to squelch the
demonstration.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The International Longshore and Warehouse Union <a
href="http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2014/09/ilwu-statement-on-blockage-of-zim-vessel-by-protestors-at-port-of-oakland/">stated</a>
after the last protest on 27 September that “Longshoremen and
Clerks trying to report to work were threatened physically at
some points of ingress and their personal vehicles were
physically blocked.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The Zionist Organization of America’s Klein writes:</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Why didn’t the police intervene and ensure that
international commerce could proceed unimpeded? Why didn’t the
police arrest the protesters, who may well have violated the law
by physically threatening dockworkers, physically blocking
personal vehicles, and preventing the ship from docking and
unloading as authorized?”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Klein’s public relations manager declined to give The
Electronic Intifada the full letter because he did not want his
client to be “conveyed in any negative context.”</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">JCRC intervention</h2>
<p dir="ltr">In August, another Israel advocacy group, the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/jewish-community-relations-council">Jewish
Community Relations Council</a> (JCRC), issued a <a
href="https://jcrc.org/uploads/JCRC_Block_the_Boat_Statement.pdf">press
statement</a> condemning the port protests as an “overt
expression of extremism” that “unjustly singles out” Israel.</p>
<p dir="ltr">A <a
href="http://records.oaklandnet.com/request/5568">public
records request</a> to the City of Oakland reveals that the
port managers met with leaders of the JCRC on 31 July in
preparation for the protests scheduled for August.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a
href="http://documents.scribd.com.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/5vvmjyr3eo420mqg.pdf">Emails</a>
between Myrna David, JCRC East Bay Regional Director, and city
councilmember Dan Kalb indicate the latter was invited but
declined to attend the meeting.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Following the meeting, David wrote to Kalb, “We got
the impression OPD [Oakland Police Department] is expected on
the scene and should be well prepared.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Rabbi Doug Kahn, executive director of the JCRC, was
included on the email thread. Kahn is a <a
href="http://forward.com/articles/203519/-back-israel-at-san-francisco-rally/">leading
anti-Palestinian voice</a> in the Bay Area and <a
href="http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/A-campaign-to-delegitimize-Israel-2373982.php">vocal
opponent</a> of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (<a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/bds">BDS</a>)
movement. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The JCRC and Kahn have a long history of organizing
against and stifling Palestine support work in the Bay Area, as
has been <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-childrens-images-war-censored-under-pressure-us-israel-lobby/10373">documented
previously by The Electronic Intifada</a>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In 2006, the JCRC characterized a proposed mural at
San Francisco State University, designed to honor the late
Palestinian scholar <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/edward-said">Edward
Said</a>, as “threatening” to Jewish students on campus. The
group helped pressure the university administration to censor
the imagery in the mural.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Using a similar charge, in 2007, the JCRC worked with
the Anti-Defamation League to pressure the San Francisco Arts
Commission to compel artists working on a local mural to
eliminate Palestinian symbols from it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And in 2011, the JCRC played a central role in
pressuring the Museum of Children’s Art (MOCHA) in Oakland to
cancel an exhibition of drawings done by Palestinian children
from Gaza which Kahn said could “potentially create an unsafe
atmosphere for Jewish children.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The JCRC did not respond to The Electronic Intifada’s
request for comment.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Port shutdowns</h2>
<p>Seeking the intervention of the police and local government
leaders, port representatives have expressed concern that the
site has become a regular target for political protests since
the Occupy movement emerged in late 2011.</p>
<p>On <a
href="http://documents.scribd.com.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/5fxvlbnutc41macj.pdf">8
August</a>, the president of the Pacific Merchant Shipping
Association <a
href="http://documents.scribd.com.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/5fxvlbnutc41macj.pdf">wrote</a>
to a handful of state leaders, including Governor Jerry Brown
and the Oakland mayor, that:</p>
<p>“The Port has become a focal point for demonstrators as an
outgrowth of two prior shutdowns of the Port due to the Occupy
Movement. The Port of Oakland was the only port in the United
States in which operations were halted due to the Occupy
demonstrations. Given that well publicized success, the Port of
Oakland is now a constant target of those who want to amplify
their voice regarding their opinions of any number of issues.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Robert Bernardo, spokesperson for the Port of
Oakland, told The Electronic Intifada that he was not aware of
any ongoing conversations with community groups such as the
JCRC, but emphasized that the port is “working closely with law
enforcement and our business partners to ensure flow of commerce
continues even in the case of a peaceful protest.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">“We at the Port of Oakland support free speech, but
our main priority is to keep goods flowing,” Bernardo said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">When asked to describe how they would “ensure” that,
Bernardo conceded that it was not possible to predict or go into
the details.</p>
<h2 dir="ltr">Undeterred protests</h2>
<p dir="ltr">Activists in California prevented two vessels
belonging to Israel’s largest <a
href="http://documents.scribd.com.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/5fxvlbnutc41macj.pdf">shipping
company</a> from unloading any of its cargo at the Oakland
port for two weekends in the last two months, and the <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/tags/block-boat">Block the
Boat Coalition</a> is planning another protest for 25 October.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The coalition which planned August’s protest that
brought out thousands of demonstrators to the port and prevented
the ship’s unloading for <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-ship-blocked-unloading-oakland-four-straight-days">four
consecutive days</a> say they hope to build a broad base of
support for the actions by strengthening ties between the
workers and Palestine solidarity groups. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“The Zim Line reflects the huge flow of capital from
Israel into the Bay Area and it is an opportunity for building a
relationship between workers and Palestine solidarity
activists,” Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab
Resource and Organizing Center, said in August.</p>
<p dir="ltr">And despite the language used by the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union in their 27 September statement,
Block the Boat organizers have <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/thousands-march-california-port-prevent-israeli-ships-arrival">stressed</a>
their outreach to dock workers and organized labor for the
protest later this month.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Contrary to some media reports as well as a <a
href="http://www.longshoreshippingnews.com/2014/09/ilwu-statement-on-blockage-of-zim-vessel-by-protestors-at-port-of-oakland/">statement
issued by the ILWU</a>, the repeat of the picket line last
month was not organized by the same Block the Boat coalition
which plannd the August action. A new group calling itself the
“Stop Zim Action Committee” called for the picket line, and
successfully convinced workers to abstain from working the Zim
Line on the morning of 27 September.</p>
<p>ILWU has a long history of refusing to load ships from
countries engaging in gross violations of human rights. In the
1930s, West Coast dockworkers refused to load and offload ships
belonging to Italy after they invaded Ethiopia, and Japan after
it invaded Manchuria.</p>
<p>In 1978 and 1980, ILWU refused to load military cargo headed
for Chile and El Salvador, respectively. And in 1984, the union
refused to unload a South African ship for eleven consecutive
days.</p>
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