A discussion between 5 participants in a civil resistance action carried out on Oct. 3rd, 2025. Port Elizabeth, the third largest port in the US, is a major transshipment point for companies such as Maersk and Zimm, whose trucks carry weapons bound for Israel. In doing so these companies support and enable Israel’s ongoing genocide, which according to Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, has claimed at least 680,000 lives, most of them innocent women and children.

An autonomous group of about 100 activists stopped truck traffic for about an hour as they stood on a major road in Port Elizabeth with banners such as “Stop Sending Weapons to a Genocide.” It was a peaceful act in solidarity with the people of Gaza, the Global Sumud Flotilla, and port shutdowns across the world, most notably in Italy.

Supplying these weapons for Israel’s genocide is a blatant violation of the U.S. War Crimes Act, the Leahy Law, the Foreign Assistance Act, the Arms Export Control Act, and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act. To prevent unlawful weapons shipments, protestors peacefully came to uphold all U.S. and international laws against genocide.

The discussion, which took place in Ithaca, NY eight days later on Oct. 11th, 2025, was led by Mary Anne Grady Flores, who avoided arrest at the Port Elizabeth action because she was the designated police liaison. The other participants, all of whom were arrested at the action, were Daniel Creamer, Mark Scibilia-Carver, and two of Mary Anne’s sisters, Ellen Grady and Teresa Berrigan Grady.

After the intro, Mary Anne Grady Flores reads a short essay written specifically for this program by Eric Cheyfitz, the Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies and Humane Letters at Cornell University. The essay, titled “Seeds of Gaza”, provides background information on the events leading to the genocide.

Next is a short audio clip from Drop Site News, compiled from people on the scene of the civil resistance action in Port Elizabeth, NJ on Oct. 3rd, 2025, and then the discussion in Ithaca.

https://www.dropsitenews.com