Activists tell Zim - Israeli ships not welcome in Vancouver

August 24, 2010

Vancouver – Locally-based activists, called out by the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Coalition (BIAC), are mounting a picket line at the Port of Vancouver's Delta Port facility at Roberts Bank, south of Vancouver, as part of a mounting international campaign to put pressure on the government of Israel.

The Israeli ship Djibouti, owned by Zim, one of the ten largest shipping companies in the world, is scheduled to land at Delta Port at 7:00 a.m. this morning.

“The behaviour of the Israeli government has been going from bad to worse,” explained BIAC spokesperson Gordon Murray. “We are going to be out there today to tell Zim and other Israeli companies that their business won't be allowed to continue normally as long as Israel's blockade on Gaza continues,” he said.

“Israel has been behaving as a rogue government,” said Mike Krebs, the other BIAC spokesperson for the demonstration. “People from Vancouver are coming out to emulate actions that have already been taken in South Africa, Scandinavia, India and Oakland, California, where Israeli ships have been prevented from unloading their cargo in a normal manner.”

“Israel has been violating international law and acting with impunity for far too long,” Murray said. “It's obvious to us that they won't change their behaviour unless their forced to,” he concluded.


For more information contact:
Gordon Murray
Phone: 604-727-3542 (cell)

Mike Krebs
Phone: 604-779-7430 (cell)