By Mary Anne Grady Flores, World BEYOND War, May 26, 2026

Over 30 activists blockaded the entry point to the Maher Terminals of the Port of Newark-Elizabeth, attempting to prevent a shipment of ammunition and weapons components to Israel by the vessel ZIM Virginia. The activists called for the eviction of the Israeli shipping company Zim Integrated Shipping Services (ZIM) and its Danish competitor, Maersk—the two primary shipping-logistics companies responsible for transporting U.S.-manufactured weapons components to Israel.

Anti-genocide protesters displayed signs and banners reading “ZIM and Maersk Ship Genocide and Ecocide,” “Block the Bombs,” and “Stop Genocide, Ecocide & Deportation,” while obstructing the entrance to the terminal with an R.V. and a truck with a boat hitched to its carriage. Activists fastened themselves to the vehicles and locked themselves to one another using PVC pipes.  Almost immediately, Port Authority police attempted to disperse the activists. The blockade lasted for four hours, with ten activists ultimately arrested. The arrestees were released Friday afternoon. All were charged with two crimes in the third degree – Interference with Transportation and Resisting Arrest –  and two disorderly persons offenses: Failure to Disperse and Obstructing Administration of Law or Other Governmental Function.

Danny Creamer, one of the arrestees, said: “Weapons companies like Zim and Maersk cannot be allowed to perpetuate and profit from the violence and genocide committed by the United States and its allies. I believe every single person has the responsibility to resist the actions of our government and these corporations, regardless of consequence.”

“We blockaded the terminal to stop the US government fromviolating it’s own laws by sending weapons to Israel to commit war crimes and genocide” added Mark Colville, another of the arrestees.

Friday’s action at the marine terminal followed a picket a day earlier at the same location by Port Workers and Communities for Palestine, also protesting the ammunition and weapons shipment to Israel by the vessel ZIM Virginia.  Anti-genocide activists previously protested the ZIM Virginia in August 2025—when the vessel was docked in Elizabeth to receive shipments of bullets destined for Israel. Following a successful boycott of the ship by Italian port workers in February 2026, the Virginia returned to New Jersey and was again protested on March 4, 2026.

ZIM left Oakland in 2014 after a campaign of sustained community pressure and protest organized by AROC (Arab Research and Organizing Center) and honored by ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) Local 10  and didn’t return for seven years. When they finally tried to dock again in 2021, they were turned away.

Operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Elizabeth Marine Terminal and the neighboring Port Newark together form the principal container shipping complex for goods entering and leaving the New York metropolitan area and the entire Northeast region of the U.S., additionally serving as the largest point of business on the East Coast for both ZIM and Maersk.

A November 2025report by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Progressive International found that “the vast majority of all U.S. military sea cargo sold to the Israeli Ministry of Defense (IMOD) passes through a single warehouse in Jersey City. Owned by Interglobal Forwarding Services (IFS), this facility handles over 1,000 tons of IDF-bound military cargo every week,” which it transfers to the Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal complex for transport aboard ZIM and Maersk vessels.

Danish shipping giant Maersk is the second largest shipping company in the world, while ZIM is the tenth largest shipping company as well as the fifth largest company in Israel, and is critical to keeping the Israeli economy afloat. Combined, the companies deliver thousands of tons of military weapons weekly that are directly implicated in what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Israel’s own B’Tselem human rights group, Doctors Without Borders, and .the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel have all concluded is a genocide in progress in Gaza.

ZIM not only ships military cargo to Israel directly responsible for the killing of Palestinians, Lebanese, and Iranians, but also ferries goods of ancillary use including food for military contractors and components for Israeli surveillance technology. ZIM CEO and President Eli Glickman—a former commanding officer of Shayetet 13, Israel’s equivalent to the US’ Navy SEALs—pledged to deploy all of the company’s vessels, ships, and infrastructure to support and expand Israel’s genocidal military campaign in Gaza.

A number of arms embargo campaigns across the globe havesuccessfullyevicted ZIM from ports, but the mass flow of weapons continues largely unimpeded. The largest shipper of weapons and explosives to Israel remains the federal government itself, via Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point in North Carolina and Dover Airport in Delaware.

The post Ten Activists in New Jersey Arrested for Blockading Israel-Bound Weapons Shipment appeared first on World BEYOND War.

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