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The Intercept
10-05-2025
- Business
- The Intercept
Explosive Materials Bound for Israel Are Flying Out of JFK Airport
Americans know that the U.S. government and defense industry exports huge amounts of military goods to Israel — but they may not be aware that in some cases these shipments travel beside them. On Saturday afternoon, a cargo airplane carrying 14 tons of explosive materials bound for an Israeli weapons manufacturing company is expected to fly out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Saturday afternoon, according to air cargo documents reviewed by The Intercept. The explosive material, grade A nitrocellulose, is a widely used industrial material that plays a key role in making ammunition — from sniper bullets to rockets. According to the air cargo documents obtained by journalists at Irish news site The Ditch and researchers with the Palestinian Youth Movement, 51 pallets of nitrocellulose are expected to be delivered to the Israeli weapons manufacturing company IMI Systems, headquartered outside of Tel Aviv in the city of Ramat Hasharon. The main client of IMI Systems, previously known as Israeli Military Industries, is the Israel Defense Forces. Saturday's cargo flight is the largest single shipment of explosives to pass through NYC's busiest airport. The cargo flight by Challenge Airlines Israel is scheduled to depart from JFK at 2 p.m. on Saturday and land in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday, according to flight information. The manufacturer of the materials is not known, but the cargo's sender is listed as deriving from a Los Angeles ZIP code. While other weapons-related shipments have been sent from JFK to Israel, Saturday's cargo flight is the first confirmed shipment of nitrocellulose and the largest single shipment of explosives to pass through New York City's busiest airport, said journalist and lawyer Roman Shortall, co-founder of The Ditch. Previously, The Ditch has reported on other military equipment flown out of the JFK airport, including ammunition propellants, detonating fuses, tear gas, F-35 combat jet parts, and firearms. Explosive materials, however, typically have been shipped in smaller amounts in separate flights, Shortall said. The concentrated amounts of nitrocellulose on Saturday are notable and prompt safety concerns for both civilians and workers at the New York airport, the researchers said. 'Over almost two years of genocide in Gaza, JFK airport has served as the coordination point for the shipment of ammunition primer, small arms cartridges, detonators, and aircraft parts to sustain the Israeli military,' said Aisha Nizar, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, a Palestinian solidarity group that has chapters across the U.S. and Europe. 'These arms are threats to our communities here in New York, and show yet again, the complete coordination between the Zionist project and the U.S. ruling class, who are currently waging a war of extermination against the Palestinian people.' IMI Systems' parent company Elbit Systems and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates JFK, did not immediately respond to The Intercept's requests for comment. Read our complete coverage The Israeli military regularly receives billions of dollars' worth in weapons from the U.S., whether transferred from U.S. military stockpiles or bought directly from U.S. defense companies. During the first year of Israel's war on Gaza, the U.S. military sent $17.9 billion in aid to Israel. The majority of Israeli military aid from the U.S. comes through grants for Israel to spend on buying new military weapons and materials directly from U.S. companies, which helps fuel the country's weapons industry. Researchers with the Palestine Youth Movement have previously uncovered sea shipments of ammunition and other material to Israel from the U.S. Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, or MOTSU, in North Carolina, including a Department of Defense shipment last year that violated Spain's arms embargo on Israel. A separate Israel-bound shipment of military goods by Danish shipping giant Maersk, which typically ships from Port Elizabeth in New Jersey, also violated the Spanish embargo. A media investigation into Challenge Air by Belgian news outlet RTBF has also shown the airline has transported weapons from the JFK airport to Brussels, then to Tel Aviv. Researchers with the Palestinian Youth Movement expressed safety concerns for workers and civilians posed by the highly flammable explosive materials. A U.S. Army report cited by the group described nitrocellulose as explosively equivalent to TNT. The group also pointed to China's Tianjin Port explosion in 2015 caused by nitrocellulose stockpiles, which had spontaneously combusted, killing 173 people and injuring more than 700 others. Both passenger flights and cargo flights at JFK share the same runways. Cargo flights can also be taxied to the runway while passing civilian planes and terminals. Since Hamas's attack on Israel in 2023, the Israeli military has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in its incursion on Gaza, which has escalated in recent months after Israel broke its ceasefire agreement in March. Israel's war cabinet recently announced plans for the Israeli military to indefinitely occupy all of Gaza and displace Palestinians from the territory. It comes amid an Israeli blockade on all humanitarian aid — food, water, fuel, and medical supplies — in violation of humanitarian law. The final destination for Saturday's shipment of nitrocellulose — the Elbit-owned IMI Systems — is known to manufacture a wide range of weapons, such as combat vehicles, rifles, missiles, rocket launchers, and cluster munitions. Nitrocellulose is also used in industrial and medical materials, including paint or aluminum foil, and in medical settings to create topical ointments. Other companies ship weapons and military materials through JFK, including Lockheed Martin, according to The Ditch. While Challenge Air has been the main airline to fly such military goods out of JFK, U.S. transportation giant FedEx has also transported military goods through the New York airport. Elbit, Israel's largest arms manufacturer, operates across the globe, including in the U.S, the United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland and Brazil. Palestinian solidarity activists in the U.S. have protested at Elbit facilities in Virginia and South Carolina, as well as a factory in Merrimack, New Hampshire, where four women attempted to halt production.
Irish Times
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Jane Shortall: ‘If I feel like dancing in an outfit, I know I have chosen well'
The energy and dynamism of dancer Jane Shortall is palpable the minute you meet her. Restless, bright eyed and usually dressed in camouflage sweatpants or bright leggings and bra tops, she radiates good health. When we meet in a Dublin cafe she is evangelical about dance and its benefits. 'I'm good at motivating people and helping women get their mojo back through dance,' she says. 'When we dance, listen to music, squeeze in playtime and have more fun, we are more inclined to dress up and feel better mentally and physically.' Shortall is a motivation coach on film and TV, and her recent work was on the second series of Netflix's Wednesday , from director Tim Burton , filmed in Ireland last summer with Joanna Lumley, Jenna Ortega and Catherine Zeta Jones . 'I had to help the actors, referred to as 'outcasts', move like monsters and creatures,' she says with a giggle, brandishing her arms wildly and making faces. Today we are discussing the kind of clothes she likes to wear when dressing up to go out, as distinct from what she wears at dance classes. When teaching, 'I love big and baggy, sloppy, oversized tees and baggy bottoms. I like scruffy,' she says, laughing. When going out, 'I dress in what makes me look good and feel confident, and if I feel like dancing in an outfit, I know I have chosen well.' READ MORE Her target audience for her ConfiDance classes are women 'who want to have fun, want to dance. I make the classes fun and easy to follow, so people are energised by the music and the whole social experience. We start with a warm-up, always to music, and they learn a routine'. Her classes have attracted many who make the journey to the Stillorgan venue from around the country. Shortall started dancing at 19 after leaving school in Mount Anville in Dublin and moving to the US. 'I wanted to be in the movies. There was no such thing as drama or the arts as a career choice then and I didn't want to follow the norm. I was noisy and showy-off at school.' It was in the Bronx in New York that she first encountered breakdancing, hip-hop, free-spirited street dancing 'that comes from the heart', and was immediately captivated. She points out how it later became a phenomenon embraced by singers like Michael Jackson and Beyoncé. Back in Ireland in the mid-1990s, she started teaching this style of dance in Digges Lane in Dublin. Then, with a J1 visa, she moved back to live in New York for three years, attending classes in the city to further her interest and expertise, teaching herself. Contacts made there at that time included leading stylists for singers and music artists. Her big break was with Canadian country pop singer Shania Twain , helping her with stage presence and a music video involving Irish dancing. When she returned to Dublin, Shortall's career developed quickly. Her events and workshops were sponsored by VHI for three years from 2005 to 2008. 'Trained dancers came to me to be inspired – all this before YouTube and I was jam-packed,' she says. 'There is a whole style that goes with any kind of dance – if you feel you look the part, you act the part so how you present yourself will enhance your performance. How you look, how you walk, how you dress, how you present yourself to the world is how you communicate.' Vintage dress, €38, from Om Diva: 'I want to dance the tango in this' Black fringed short dress, €80, Siopella Dress by Tim Ryan: 'I have worn this to weddings and parties over the years with flats or heels' Jersey denim jeans, €80, Lennon Courtney, Kilkenny Design Centre. Vintage gold top, €45, A Store Is Born Simone Rocha layered skirt €780, and bow-tail easy T-shirt, €235 The outfits she has chosen to wear in these pictures to express her own style are the clothes that make her feel confident when dressing up to go out. They include everything from a Simone Rocha pink tutu from Havana to an inexpensive tulle skirt from Dance World, with a thrift shop buy and vintage slip dress (to do the tango) among the other looks. 'Like a lot of women now, I buy less, mostly from vintage and online as well as wearing favourite dresses bought way back.' In her opinion, 95 per cent of what makes a grown woman stylish 'is not just clean-cut, classic clothes, good grooming and proper reading glasses, but the way she wears the clothes, her posture and how she holds herself when dressed up.' Dance, of course, improves posture and helps with flexibility, conditioning and mobility, as well as being a good mood-booster. In that sense, Shortall is her own best advertisement. Spring ConfiDANCE classes start on Friday, May 9th, in Glenalbyn in Stillorgan, Co Dublin for six weeks, 10am-11.30am, €25. The Sisterly Summer Solstice Dance Party is on Saturday, June 21st, 1.30pm-3.30pm at Dublin Studios, Montague Lane, Dublin 2. For information and bookings see . Photographs: Barry McCall, Anastasia Redko; creative director Maeve Staunton; make-up Tara McHugh
