By World BEYOND War, December 14, 2023
On Monday December 11, Zim, Israel’s largest cargo shipping company, was disrupted across the country of Canada. Zim offices in Montreal and Toronto were taken over by peace activists and workers in the morning, and Vancouver offices were taken over in the afternoon. A banner was also dropped in downtown Toronto over the CN rail tracks used to transport Zim containers in the morning, while a blockade of CN rails in London, Ontario, took place in the evening. These actions are responding to calls from Palestinian trade unionists to disrupt the global transport of Israeli weapons.
Zim is the main provider of shipping services to Israel. The company has a long history of supporting Israel’s military operations, and said last month that it would offer its ships and infrastructure to serve the “national needs of Israel.” Zim is deeply complicit in the current assault and has transported weapons that are being used to enact this genocidal violence on the people of Gaza. Among those, the company is allegedly responsible for transporting white phosphorus, an incendiary substance which Israel has deployed against civilians in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. Zim exploits Canadian ports and railway lines to ship arms and goods to fuel the Israeli war machine.
“The majority of people in the country would be outraged if they knew that Zim was exploiting Canadian rail lines and ports to fuel the Israeli war machine,” said Rachel Small, World BEYOND War Canada Organizer. “Logistics companies, arms manufacturers and politicians in every corner of the country are shamelessly supporting and profiting from the mass murder of Palestinians; and while Prime Minister Trudeau refuses to do the right thing, those with a moral conscience are forced to take whatever actions we can to stop a genocide.”
For two months, the Israeli military has indiscriminately bombed civilian neighbourhoods and infrastructure in Gaza, and killed over 17,000 people, almost half of them children. Schools, hospitals, communications systems, water sources, and agriculture have been hit in targeted attacks, and food and fuel blocked leading to an unimaginable catastrophe being live streamed to our phones. Nearly 2 million people have been displaced, forced to march from one end of the Gaza strip to the next as bombs are dropped in “safe zones”. In response, hundreds of thousands of people across Canada have taken to the streets, and demanded that Prime Minister Trudeau call for a permanent ceasefire and end Canada’s economic and military support for Israeli war crimes. Over two-thirds of voters support a ceasefire.
“We are taking action alongside workers across the globe, from Italy to Australia and beyond, who have organized impactful #BlockTheBoat actions targeting Zim over the last month”, said Aidan Macdonald with Labour for Palestine. “Workers in Canada are taking up the call from workers in Palestine to disrupt the flow of weapons, and we will not allow our cities and ports to be part of the supply chain for the bombs raining down on the people of Gaza.”
Yesterday we disrupted Israeli shipping company Zim’s operations at their offices in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, and with a rail blockade in London! Here’s a great tv segment from City News that aired every hour. #ShutZimDown #CanadaStopArmingIsrael pic.twitter.com/gRFn5lZefQ
— World BEYOND War Canada (@WBWCanada) December 12, 2023
Zim is the main provider of shipping services to Israel and one of the top ten largest shipping lines in the world. The company has a long history of supporting Israel’s military operations, and said last month that it would offer its ships and infrastructure to serve the “national needs of Israel.” Zim is deeply complicit in the current assault and has transported weapons that are being used to enact this genocidal violence on the people of Gaza. Among those, the company is allegedly responsible for transporting white phosphorus, an incendiary substance which Israel has deployed against civilians in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Solid coverage in Israeli and Québécois media from yesterday's actions to #ShutDownZim. "Zim is taking advantage of [Canadian] railway networks and seaports to feed the Israeli war machine."
— World BEYOND War Canada (@WBWCanada) December 12, 2023
🔺Israel National News: https://t.co/KhioS0zmaf
🔺@PivotQc: https://t.co/ZyuHV50k19 pic.twitter.com/o31SeaCWVG
“We are joining the masses of people from around the globe who are mobilizing against the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza”, explained Dalia Awwad, with the Palestinian Youth Movement. “We are holding those complicit and profiting off the genocide of Palestinians accountable. There will be no business as usual while Canada continues to permit the sale of weapons to Israel, and while those bombs are being used with impunity to commit mass atrocities against Palestinians.”
Monday’s coordinated actions were planned by a number of local groups, and have been endorsed by national organizations including World Beyond War, Independent Jewish Voices, Labour for Palestine, and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
The day in photos
Toronto
Montreal
Vancouver
4 Responses
God loves You.
Where is the part where they ask Has to release all of the remaining hostages? Where is the part where they demand Hamas stop hiding among civilians? Where is the part that mentions Hamas has been in control of Gaza since 2005, not Israel? Where is the part that mentions every ceasefire was broken by Hamas?
And how did this all start ???! Israelis were minding their own business in their homes, civilians, when Hamas outright murdered 1500+ of them, beheaded, raped, intentionally killed parents in front of their children, and kidnapped hundreds….! Did you forget about that so soon?
This is not a case of Israel initiating attacks on Palestinians..
It was the other way around–Hamas has in their doctrine to kill all the Jews of the world,
like Hitler–remember him??? Israel has no such doctrine–many people of all ethnic groups,
races, religions, etc., live peacefully in Israel, the way it should be…Hatred is not part of our religion or nationality..See what’s there, please!! Before October 7 , there was already a cease fire in place–and look what Hamas did with it!! Are you stupid or something?? Can’t you easily see that if given the chance, they’d do it all again in a minute???
Hamas intentionally puts Palestinian civilians in front of/under, etc., peaceful institutions, like
schools, hospitals, etc., so that in order to get at the weapons, etc., Israel has to kill these poor civilians…Israel does not like killing civilians..and then the Palestinians cry victim….
Israel was the original victim, don’t you see??
I am a pacifist, but we had to fight Hitler in World War !!–he declared Jews the enemy of the people, & vowed to exterminate them all–this is Hamas today…if we do nothing, they’ll do it again–get Hamas to stop, & the problem will disappear–guaranteed!
Don’t make this simplistic, it’s just the poor Palestinians getting killed–
they voted in Hamas–but Hamas doesn’t care about them, obviously….or they wouldn’t be doing this to them–can’t you see that? Put on your thinking caps, & quit the herd mentality…
this is not a case of just 2 dissenting parties fighting…that would be easy….then you call for a cease fire…makes sense..but you can’t make peace with a terrorist organization..
I’ve been on many peace marches in my time…but until Hamas is forced to stop its barbarism, it’s not possible…
Hi Sharon, actually, all the accusations in your first paragraph have been revealed to be false. The IOF itself perpetrated many of the crimes on its own citizens in order to manufacture consent for the genocide that is taking place in Gaza. https://twitter.com/michael_david41/status/1740186180753436734/photo/1