A protester holds a sign decrying Oakland International Airport’s role in arms shipments to the Israeli military. Photo courtesy of Palestinian Youth Movement
A new report from the Palestinian Youth Movement has exposed Oakland International Airport’s (OAK) central role in the logistical supply chain responsible for sending American-made weapons to the Israeli military. This shipping network, which is indispensable to Israel’s war effort, has been kept hidden from Oakland’s city officials, union workers, and residents for more than a year.
Weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and commercial shipping companies like FedEx have transformed OAK into a central hub for shipping fighter jet components to the Israeli military. Since January 2025, at least 280 of these shipments have transited through OAK, with the majority bound for Nevatim Air Base, home to Israel’s F-35 fighter jet fleet.
The warplanes Israel uses to bomb Gaza are extraordinarily complex, expensive machines. As a result, Israel requires a near-constant flow of components to maintain the operational capacity of its fighter jets. This is particularly true for Israel’s U.S.-supplied F-35 fleet—the “crown jewel” of its air force.
We never expected that our city would become an enabler of one of the greatest atrocities of our generation—but now that we have this knowledge, we have a responsibility to stop it.
Israel would not be able to drop bombs on civilian apartment complexes in Gaza City without components such as the BRU-68, a bomb release unit used to outfit Israel’s F-35s with 2,000-lb bunker buster bombs. The new report on Oakland Airport’s military exports to Israel tracks multiple shipments of BRU-68 units, along with other essential components for F-35s.
Oakland’s role in Israel’s F-35 supply chain is second only to Fort Worth, Texas. The Defense Logistics Agency, which manages the distribution of shipments from the U.S. to Israel, has declared its intention to shift the main warehousing and distribution of F-35 shipments from Fort Worth to Northern California.
We never expected that our city would become an enabler of one of the greatest atrocities of our generation—but now that we have this knowledge, we have a responsibility to stop it. If we don’t put an end to these shipments flying out of OAK now, it will only get worse.
In response to the revelations of OAK’s role in supplying genocide, the people of Oakland have launched the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo, a grassroots campaign and coalition of over 20 Bay Area organizations—led by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) Action, and the US Palestinian Community Network. This coalition is united around the demand to end our city’s complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
We are calling on our city officials, the mayor, and the port authority to immediately put an end to these military cargo shipments. We are calling on the people of Oakland to take back their city, and uplift the demand for a comprehensive arms embargo against Israel.
In response to the revelations of OAK’s role in supplying genocide, the people of Oakland have launched the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo, a grassroots campaign and coalition of over 20 Bay Area organizations.
Since OAK is one of the most frequently used U.S.-based civilian airports sending military cargo to Israel, a campaign against these shipments has the unique potential to intervene in the most destructive and fatal bombing campaign of the 21st century.
Israel has dropped 100,000 tons of explosives on Palestinians in Gaza—the equivalent of three nuclear bombs being dropped on Oakland. As Israel proceeds with its planned invasion of Gaza City, the scale of bombardment has only ramped up, targeting healthcare infrastructure, so-called “safe zones,” and refugee camps. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured, with countless more left carrying trauma that will last generations.
Oakland’s reputation as a guiding light in anti-war struggles has always been rooted in organized, grassroots resistance. By drawing on this history, the people of Oakland—workers, city officials, and organizers alike—have the power to reclaim their city from genocide profiteers and demand true accountability, transparency, and action.
When it comes to Oakland, it is the people who are the beating heart of the town. From the Black Panthers to the solidarity of the International Longshore Workers Union Local 10 with the struggle against Apartheid, human rights abuses in El Salvador, and Palestine—Oakland has long been an epicenter of struggle against injustice and oppression.
It is the people who will make sure Oakland’s legacy remains on the right side of history by ending its complicity in genocide. It is the people who have spoken up, and our demand is clear: Arms Embargo Now!
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Voulette Mansour is a member of the Bay Area Chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, a grassroots, transnational organization of Arab and Palestinian Youth struggling for the liberation of their homelands from colonization and US imperialism.
Rami Abdelkarim is a member of the Bay Area Chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, a grassroots, transnational organization of Arab and Palestinian Youth struggling for the liberation of their homelands from colonization and US imperialism.
