It took a police crackdown to get the Israeli-operated ZIM San Diego ship unloaded in the Port of Seattle.

For weeks, pro-Palestine Block the Boat protesters had prevented the ship from unloading its cargo in the port. The group recently scored a victory in Oakland when another ZIM ship, the Volans, was forced to leave without unloading. ZIM is Israel’s largest shipping company, and one of the biggest in the world, and the protests targeting it are part of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Block the Boat actions, led by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), focus on the “boycott” part of BDS. Participants do so not via consumption choices but rather in coalition with workers who can boycott Israel by refusing to unload goods transported by Israeli vessels. These actions are a response to appeals from Palestinian unions for their comrades in the US labor movement to boycott the Israeli occupation by taking “courageous and brave stances against the occupation and stand with us as we demand freedom, justice, and human dignity.”