Left-wing activists are disrupting major transportation hubs across the country to protest U.S. support for Israel following Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack against the Jewish state.
Anti-Israel protesters shut down the Kennedy Expressway outside of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Highway 101 on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, resulting in stand-still traffic at both locations. The demonstrators voiced their opposition to U.S. support for Israel’s ongoing war effort against Hamas caused by the terrorist group’s mass civilian slaughter and sexual violence on October 7.
Travelers attempting to get to terminal one at O’Hare could be seen rushing on foot with their luggage to get around the blockage and make their flights on-time. The protest reportedly began around 8:00 a.m. local time and traffic resumed a little over an hour later.
“O’Hare International Airport is one of the largest in the country, and there will be NO business as usual while Palestinians suffer at the hands of American funded bombing by Israel,” left-wing activist group Chicago Disruptors said on Instagram. A15 Action, one of the activist organizations coordinating the demonstrations, said on X more than 40 disruptors were arrested after blocking the entrance to O’Hare.
Similarly, demonstrators reportedly shut down the Golden Gate Bridge around 7:30 a.m. local time and demanded the U.S. stop providing aid to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. A group of protestors could be seen holding a sign saying “shut down the world for Gaza” and wearing green vests. Both directions of the bridge were shut down by activists and police have begun making arrests to clear out the protesters and re-open the roadway.
“These actions around the world served to target the global economy and the US economy specifically due to its complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” an A15 action representative said in a statement the San Francisco Chronicle.
The protests appear to be part of a larger anti-Israel activist campaign to carry out disruptions nationwide on Monday. Protests have taken place in Philadelphia, Connecticut, Tampa, San Antonio, and other locations around the country.
Dozens of left-wing activists simultaneously shut down traffic along Interstate 880 and I-980 in Oakland beginning at 6:50 a.m., backing up traffic for miles as protesters called for the U.S. to stop sending arms to Israel. Some of the activists in Oakland appear to have chained themselves to six barrels on the road to aid their disruption.
Over the weekend, Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles towards Israel airspace after Israeli forces were believed to have killed several top Iranian commanders at a compound in Damascus, Syria. Israel successfully defended itself against 99 percent of the drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles with assistance from the U.S., U.K., France, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
President Joe Biden told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday the U.S. will not support a possible Israeli counterattack in response to Iranian aggression. The Biden administration believes Israel’s defensive effort was enough of a victory and makes an Israeli counter-strike unnecessary.