On March 7, 2024, 23 brave protesters, the Garland 23, shut down the General Dynamics manufacturing plant in Garland, Texas. Sitting in the heart of a residential neighborhood, General Dynamics operates a factory that produces shells for bombs that are sold to Israel to destroy the Gaza strip and kill Palestinians. Protesters were loud and clear – General Dynamics, and all other war criminals and profiteers, are NOT welcome in our neighborhoods, cities, or state.

Now, the Garland 23 are facing criminal charges by the Dallas District Attorney, with five facing Obstruction of a Highway or Passageway charges and 18 facing Criminal Trespass charges, all class-B Misdemeanors. Join us in telling John Creuzot that protesting war criminals is NOT a crime and that the real criminals are the ones making, selling, and profiting off of war crimes and abuses. We demand that all the charges be dropped and removed from the records of these protesters.

In the targeted manufacturing plant, the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series are produced along with the shells of the BLU-109 bombs. Various forms of the MK-80 bombs are used regularly by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in their attacks on Gaza. The BLU-109 bombs—commonly known as “bunker busters” as they penetrate hard structures before they explode—are also regularly used by the IOF. In early October, the IOF dropped a BLU-109 bomb on Jabalia camp, killing over 100 people in one strike.

In early April 2024, President Joe Biden approved an $18 billion dollar arms transfer to Israel, which included over 1,800 MK84 and 500 MK82 bombs. This makes it abundantly clear that the United States, along with weapons manufacturers like General Dynamics, are key facilitators in Israel’s continued genocidal campaign against Gaza. Since early October, the United States’ unconditional military support for Israel has aided and abetted the killing of over 33,000 Palestinians, the wounding of over 70,000, and the displacement of 1.7 million. Since the protest in early March, the situation has only become more dire. Israel has continued its violent, non-stop onslaught on Palestinian neighborhoods and infrastructure, breaking numerous international laws. The brutal bombardments and besieging imposed by the IOF have recently left Al-Shifa Hospital, once the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, completely barren and out of service. This is happening against the backdrop of a threatened invasion of Rafah—the last alleged “safe zone” where over 1 million Palestinians are taking refuge—in the weeks to come.

The Garland 23 maintain that their protest was not a criminal act, rather it was a practice of their First Amendment right to protest. These charges do not intimidate them, and they will continue demanding an end to this genocide, an end to the siege on Gaza, an end to the United States’ complicity in the colonization of Palestine, freedom for Palestinian political prisoners, and liberation for all Palestine.

Sign this petition to call on District Attorney John Creuzot to drop the charges against the Garland 23 and take a stance against genocide, the criminalization of protests, and the existence of bomb factories in neighborhoods across the DFW metroplex.