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Labor and Gaza
Kay W.
July 30, 2025
It seems like there has been a shift on the Gaza issue, with many, many mainstream people in politics and media now coming out against the war crimes and what will most likely be determined to be a genocide (if independent news outlets are ever allowed into Gaza to report on what actually happened there). I guess it’s better late than never but I don’t want to forget that the people who would not shut up about this for the last two years were demonized and smeared for telling uncomfortable truths.
Like the student protestors who were smeared, arrested, deported and betrayed by their colleges and universities, the labor movement was early in opposition to what happened in Gaza.
“There will come a time when everyone will have been against this” - that time seems to have come.
Chris Smalls, the head of Staten Island’s Amazon Labor Union, was reportedly aboard a ship associated with the Flotilla Freedom Coalition (FFC) that was attempting to reach the Gaza Strip when the vessel was intercepted by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
In a statement, FFC went on to allege that the 21 civilian activists aboard the Handala had been “kidnapped” by Israeli soldiers, and that Smalls — the only Black member of the flotilla — was not only detained, but physically beaten by the IDF.
“When he reached the Israeli prison, U.S. human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” the group claimed in a post to X on Tuesday.
“They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back,” the group alleged. “When his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel’s special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists.”
There has been a pro-Palestinian labor coalition speaking on Gaza since 2023, including these unions:
American Association of University Professors (AAUP) – American Postal Workers Union (APWU) – Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) – National Nurses United (NNU) – Inlandboatmen’s Union (IBU) – International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) – International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) – National Education Association (NEA) – National Writers Union (NWU) – United Auto Workers (UAW) – United Electrical Workers (UE)
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