FROM: Concerned Oakland residents and community members

We, the undersigned, call upon the Oakland City Council, Oakland Mayor, and Oakland Port Commissioners and Staff to immediately halt all military cargo shipments from Oakland Airport to Israel and end our City’s complicity in the ongoing genocide of Gaza.

Since January 2025, hundreds of shipments of military cargo have flown out of OAK to Israel, including F-35 fighter jet components used to drop 2,000 pound bombs on the people of Gaza. These quiet shipments have been leaving our civilian airport hidden from city officials, union members, and everyday tax-pay residents. We, the people of Oakland, refuse to be complicit in genocide through enabling these transfers, and demand the city of Oakland to honor its legacy of human rights, social equity and racial justice to take action to stop the shipments.

Many international organizations and legal experts have determined that Israel is committing acts that constitute genocide under international law. Most recently, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide and urged governments to cease transfers of arms and other equipment that may be used for Israel’s genocidal acts. These findings place urgent legal and moral grounds on these demands: Oakland must not allow its infrastructure to be complicit in the ongoing genocide of Gaza.

Oakland Airport serves as a vital hub for our city, where our community comes together to welcome and say goodbye to loved ones. Yet it is also complicit in genocide, as military shipments leaving the airport fuel violence and destruction abroad. Oakland’s long history of social justice, from the founding of the Black Panther Party to sanctuary policies protecting undocumented immigrants, demonstrates the City’s commitment to resisting oppression and defending human rights. Oakland was also one of the first City’s in the nation to pass a ceasefire resolution, after thousands of residents organized, testified, made phone calls, and sent letters demanding an end to the violence. We applaud the City and its officials for listening to the people of Oakland and taking action to support a ceasefire in Gaza. Continuing this Oakland’s proud history, we call on city leaders to take bold action to and end all military shipments to Israel, becoming the first City in the nation to enact such an arms embargo.

We also call on City Officials to uphold the highest standards of accountability by ensuring full transparency in Oakland’s operations and public disclosure of all current and future military-related shipments that pass through Oakland Airport or utilize city infrastructure. Oakland residents have a right to transparency and assurance that our city’s facilities are not being used in ways that contradict our values and violate international human rights.

Oakland’s resources should prioritize our community needs, not enable ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Our public civilian infrastructure should not be used to facilitate daily massacres in Gaza.

Our beloved city of Oakland should not be a hub for genocide of Gaza.

Our Demands:
1. Immediately cease all military cargo shipments from Oakland Airport to Israel.

2. Implement an arms embargo through a permanent policy to prohibit the use of Oakland’s public infrastructure and finances for military transfers to Israel.

3. Create governmental processes of accountability and transparency to ensure Oakland is not complicit with genocide worldwide.