Moroccan port workers protest Maersk ship carrying F-35 parts to Israel
Around 1,500 people took to the streets of the Moroccan port city of Tangier on Sunday to protest against the planned docking of a ship said to be carrying spare parts for F-35 warplanes from the US to Israel.
Dockworkers and organizations supporting Palestinians in Gaza said in separate statements that the Maersk vessel was due to dock in Tangier.
"The people want the ship banned," and "No genocidal weapons in Moroccan waters," people chanted as they marched down a road alongside the Tanger Med container port.
The Danish company, Maersk Nexoe, has said it does not transport weapons or ammunition to conflict zones. But due to a contract with the US government, it has in the past acknowledged shipments that "contain military-related equipment" derived from "US-Israeli security cooperation."
The protesters also demanded the severing of diplomatic ties between Morocco and the Israeli regime. Morocco normalized relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-led Abraham Accords. The kingdom has officially called for "the immediate, complete, and permanent halt to the Israeli war on Gaza," but has not publicly discussed reversing normalization.
There have been several large-scale demonstrations in Morocco demanding ties with Israel be cut since the start of its war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
Moroccan media did not confirm the presence of any weapons on the vessel, citing a statement by the CGT General Union of Dock Workers and Port Personnel of the Gulf of Fos: "All containers have been checked, nothing to report, no weapons, no parts."
However, the protesters’ call against Maersk followed an investigation by Declassified UK, based on cargo data it reviewed. "Goods from US Air Force Plant 4 in Fort Worth are being transported to Haifa port in Israel on two Maersk container ships between 5 April and 1 May, and then a separate company will courier them by land to Nevatim air base," Declassified wrote.
Last week, the Port Workers’ Union in Morocco demanded a boycott of the Maersk Nexoe amid growing public anger in Morocco over Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. The union said in a statement that facilitating the ship’s passage would make individuals “direct accomplices in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people.”
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