The Palestinian Youth Movement says hundreds of military shipments passed through OAK this year. A coalition is calling for them to stop.
by Darwin BondGraham and Esther KaplanAug. 28, 2025 (Oaklandside.org)
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Hundreds of shipments of US armaments have departed for Israel from the Oakland International Airport this year, according to a report published today by the activist group Palestinian Youth Movement.
The authors of the report found that over 250 civilian cargo planes carrying weapons or military equipment have left OAK since January for the Nevatim Airbase, an Israeli military installation. The shipments have included “F-35 fighter jet components used to carry and release munitions, guide weapons, power surveillance and targeting systems, and support critical flight operations,” according to the report.
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The findings, the report says, are based on an examination of a sample of 500 records of shipments routed through FedEx’s Global Superhub in Memphis, Tennessee, from April through June of this year. Lily Fahsi-Haskell, an organizer with the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, one of the groups launching a campaign around the new report, said the researchers could not immediately provide the underlying documents to The Oaklandside, but they were reviewed by KQED.
KQED reported that the shipping records “appear to include replacement parts for the U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has used in aerial bombardments of Gaza. Nearly all were bound for Nevatim Airbase, where Israel stations its F-35 fleet.” One of the most striking items in the shipping documents, confirmed by KQED, is the BRU-68, a unit that allows an F-35 to release a 2,000-pound bomb.
Documents reviewed by KQED show some of the cargo originated in Tracy, where a military equipment distribution center and logistics hub, operated by the Defense Logistics Agency, is based.
The new campaign, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center Action, and the US Palestinian Community Network, seeks to halt all shipments of military cargo from Oakland to Israel.
“At the same airport we pick up and send off our loved ones, bomb droppers and surveillance systems for the lethal F-35 jet are being loaded and transported to Israel,” said Aisha Nizar of the Palestinian Youth Movement. “Oakland’s central role in the global F-35 supply chain was concealed from its union members, educators, city officials, and residents, and is now indisputable. Serving as a hub for military cargo to Israel is an attack on everything this city stands for.”
Kaley Skantz, a spokesperson for OAK, said the airport does not have information about the specific contents of shipments made by cargo carrier tenants. “FedEx is the largest cargo carrier that operates at OAK, and accounts for the majority of the 1.1 billion pounds of air cargo that passes through the airport annually,” Skantz said. “All of FedEx’s flight and loading operations are carried out by FedEx employees directly.”
The Oakland International Airport is owned and operated by the city of Oakland. Joan Walsh, a spokesperson for the city, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023 after an attack on Israel on October 7 of that year, in which Hamas fighters killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted 251, mostly civilians. Israeli forces have killed at least 62,000 Gazans since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, also mostly civilians. Huge swaths of Gaza have been destroyed by Israel’s bombing and more than 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes.
Last week, the United Nations confirmed that Gaza was experiencing a famine, as the “direct result” of Israeli government actions.
In November 2023, early in the war, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The council resolution also called for the release of hostages taken by Hamas and the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Debra Israel, an aide to Carol Fife, who introduced the resolution, said the council member was not immediately available for comment.
The Port of Oakland has been the target of pro-Palestianian protests in the past. Two years ago, activists attempted to block and delay a cargo ship from moving military equipment to Israel.
In 2024, Oakland middle school students staged a walkout and rally in solidarity with Palestine, and before that hundreds of Jewish antiwar protesters occupied Oakland’s federal building in an act of civil disobedience to demand a cease fire.
Other protests calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza are planned for the East Bay. On Friday, a group called National Parents’ Solidarity Fast for Gaza is planning to hold a demonstration in front of Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre to raise awareness about the famine in Gaza. Also tomorrow, activists with the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America and other groups say they plan to rally in Berkeley to urge people to boycott Chevron because of the company’s role in supplying fuel to the Israeli military.
DARWIN BONDGRAHAM
Before joining The Oaklandside as News Editor, Darwin BondGraham was a freelance investigative reporter covering police and prosecutorial misconduct. He has reported on gun violence for The Guardian and was a staff writer for the East Bay Express. He holds a doctorate in sociology from UC Santa Barbara and was the co-recipient of the George Polk Award for local reporting in 2017. He is also the co-author of The Riders Come Out at Night, a book examining the Oakland Police Department’s history of corruption and reform.More by Darwin BondGraham
ESTHER KAPLAN
Esther Kaplan was most recently the investigations editor at Business Insider. Before that, she was executive editor at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, where she oversaw a reporting team that led investigations for a national podcast, and editor-in-chief at the New York City nonprofit Type Investigations. She launched the Ida B. Wells Fellowship, a program dedicated to diversifying the field of investigative reporting.More by Esther Kaplan
