3 days ago
Dockworkers in southern France block military shipment to Israel
Workers at a port in southern France are blocking a shipment of 14 tons of military equipment to Israel, their union said on Thursday.
The workers refuse to participate in "the ongoing genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli government," the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union said.
The cargo, destined for the Israeli port of Haifa, is said to consist of machine gun parts manufactured by a company in the southern city of Marseille, which the CGT says are being used by the Israeli military against the Palestinian population.
The union said the container has been located and set aside at the port of Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille.
The French Defence Ministry said Israel was contractually obliged to re-export the military equipment and is not allowed to use the components itself, according to the broadcaster France Info.
Left-wing politicians in France supported the workers' action.
"Glory to the dockworkers in the port of Marseille-Fos who are refusing to load spare parts for machine guns that were supposed to be delivered to the Israeli army," the national coordinator of the left-wing France Unbowed party, Manuel Bompard, wrote on X.
Leader of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure also backed the move, writing: "Humanism is not for sale."
At least 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority in the territory.
The conflict was triggered by the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage.
