Special Report: Week of Bay Area Anti-Genocide Action: Protest Shuts Down Weapons Systems Manufacturer in SL; Historic Legal Battle at Oakland Courthouse; Protesters Rally to Support Gaza Plaintiffs

A pivotal week for Bay Area Pro-Palestine action, on the streets and in the courtroom began last Wednesday with an hours-long protest that shut down the San Leandro location of weapons manufacturer L3Harris. The action, organized by healthcare workers and activists opposing the US supported Israeli genocide of Gaza, temporarily halted operations at the facility. The action was the Bay Area’s first targeted protest of a weapons and equipment manufacturer supplying weapons to Israel since Israel’s attacks began in October.

Then on Friday just a few miles away at the Federal building in Oakland, plaintiffs Defense for Children, Palestine [DCIP], Al Haq and individual Palestinian plaintiffs brought the Biden Administration to federal court seeking an immediate injunction and permanent cessation of the US military aid and weapons Israel is using in its potentially genocidal siege of Gaza.

The injunction lawsuit, based on the UN Convention on Genocide, was given greater gravitas and legal weight by a decision at The Hague hours earlier, when the International Court of Justice [ICJ] found in favor of South Africa's petition and dismissed Israel’s arguments to self-defense. The decision inherently means that the court found the claim of unfolding genocide in Gaza "plausible" in the language of the court. The ICJ ordered Israel to halt all activities contributing to genocide—the outcome was unprecedented, but non-binding for Israel, which has continued its attacks.

Though the final outcome of both legal actions may be protracted, the initial injunction-like action at the ICJ hours before the US hearing may inform the decision of Judge Jeffrey S. White as he decides whether to grant the preliminary injunction against the Biden administration. Many of the same Bay Area activists from the successful L3Harris action rallied outside the downtown Oakland courthouse, drawing attention to the case and supporting the plaintiffs in a visually spectacular protest that got bigger headlines than the case itself.

Manufacturer of Bomb Control Tech, L3Harris, Shut Down

The San Leandro action brought out an estimated 200 protesters at 10 am Wednesday, filling the parking lot and entry to the San Leandro facility. L3Harris is a globally-significant manufacturer of avionics and military use technology and, among other weapons systems, creates parts used to guide large US-made bombs called JDAM’s—the type of bombs that have killed scores of Palestinians since October 7, according to the UN and other human rights organizations. L3Harris has received billions in US weapons contracts, including for weapons systems sold and donated to Israel by the US during its three month old war on Gaza. By some estimates, L3Harris is the 9th largest weapons contractor in the world by revenue.

The protesters filled the parking lot, blocking it for use* by the company, and plastering the company’s signage and adjacent sidewalks with guerilla art publicly linking the company to acts of genocide. L3Harris/San Leandro is located along an industrial artery that skirts Oakland and San Leandro communities—the protest and art, visible from the street, garnered the support of truckers and other commercial drivers that use the corridor, who often honked in support for the protest.

Several medical professionals addressed the crowd during the protest, including via recordings from Gaza itself.

"A Bomb That Knows Exactly Where Its Going and How Much Harm it Will Do"

Nida Bajwa, a Family Medecine resident based at San Francisco General Hospital, told the protesters that L3Harris makes components that make “dumb bombs” smart, which means that every civilian death by Israel has been calculated.

“[it’s] a bomb that knows exactly where it's going and one that knows exactly how much harm it will do when it gets there,” Bajwa said.

Bajwa listed documented uses of the bombs by Israel that killed dozens, including healthcare workers and several families totaling 43 victims.

Dr. Jess Ghannam, a professor of psychiatry at UCSF, praised the heroism of Gazan healthcare workers, over 300 of whom have been killed, and over 400 tortured, arrested or injured.

“When the bombs were dropping on Al Shifa hospital and Al Awhli hospital and Al Nasser hospital, and bullets were flying into the emergency department, the healthcare workers there said, we will remain. They did not give up on their patients…and to add insult to injury, many of these doctors had to care for their own children, who were coming in sick, injured and, in some cases, dead,” Ghannam told the crowd.

Biden and US Arms Manufacturers "Criminal, Culpable, Complicit"

Ghannam also noted the US and its arm manufacturers' complicity in the crimes of genocide being carried out by Israel.

“President Biden, bypassing congress, continues to send weapons to Israel made and produced by L3Harris that are killing Palestinian civilians and destroying healthcare infrastructure...and finally we have the criminality, the culpability and the complicity of L3Harris, right here. There is technology blood on the hands of L3Harris,” Ghannam said.

The protest, guerrilla art, music and speeches, prompted L3Harris to shut down operations for the day and send its workers home, according to protesters, who declared victory around 1pm and left the site, guerilla art in place. OO reached out to L3Harris for comment and to confirm the extent of the cessation of operations, but no response has been received. L3Harris apparently did not respond to other larger media companies either.

Palestinians Seek to Injunct US Complicity in Potential Gaza Genocide as ICJ Orders Genocidal Attacks Stopped

The US complicity protested on Wednesday in San Leandro was the subject of a federal court hearing on a preliminary injunction to halt Biden and his administration’s arming of Israel on Friday in Oakland.

As protesters occupied the street in front of the Dellums building, plaintiffs and their attorneys, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Van Der Hout LLP brought the injunction against the Biden administration. Plaintiffs include Defense for Children International, Palestine; Al Haq, and individual Palestinians both in the US and Gaza.

"The President of the United States...provided substantial military, financial and diplomatic support to Israel"

The proceedings were bolstered by findings at the International Court of Justice [ICJ] in the Hague, Netherlands, as hours earlier the 15-judge body presented an injunction-like finding against Israel. The 15-jurist body that adjudicates violations of the UN Convention Against Genocide issued findings stating clearly that Israel is credibly engaged in crimes of genocide that must now be investigated and substantiated—each instance of the findings and direction was nearly unanimous, either 14-1 or 13-2. The ICJ ordered Israel to halt the combination of military actions—killing, starving and displacing Palestinians, and destroying civilian and healthcare infrastructure—which together are the hallmarks of the crime of genocide amply described in the order’s predicates.

Whether due to the ICJ findings or not, Judge White opened the Oakland proceedings by framing the issues with surprising bluntness, reading his own statement that matter-of-factly listed the “horrible” outcomes of Israeli violence since October 7 in response to what he described as a “brutal” attack against Israel by Hamas.

“Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, a substantial portion of them children, and nearly 2 million Palestinian people have been displaced from their homes. The destruction is widespread, the current living conditions for occupants of the Gaza strip are worsening and becoming more and more dangerous each day. The Israeli attacks on critical civilian infrastructure have leveled hospitals, schools, refugee camps and safe havens and destroyed nearly 45% of all housing units in the area.

The Palestinian people are living in fear, and without food, medical care, clean water or sufficient humanitarian aid. Defendants, the President of the United States and his secretaries of State and Defense have provided substantial military, financial and diplomatic support to Israel. Defendants have repeatedly visited the region to reinforce the United States support there during the whole course of the military campaign, defendants continue to fund and proffer weapons to Israel."

But White went on to frame the case not as a dispute about Israel’s crimes, nor US complicity in them, but as one of US court jurisdiction over matters that White said could potentially be restricted only to "political questions" before the White House and executive foreign policy decisions.

This is in fact, the government’s position as presented by defense attorney Jean Lin. Lin argued that there is no place for adjudication of military aid in a court of law due to separation of powers, and that even if there were, the Genocide Convention itself cannot be directly implemented in US law. One column of the defense argument also rests on the idea that to injunct the US would lead to accusations and “embarrassment” for Israel.

"...to highlight a couple of points that the Court of Appeals mentioned in the Corrie* case, where the Court said it is not the role of the court to indirectly indict Israel for violating international law…and the court in that case, could not find in favor of the plaintiffs without implicitly questioning, and even condemning United States foreign policy toward Israel, especially about a policy decision the political branches had already made in that case. And if the Court were to condemn United States foreign policy toward Israel, it could cause international embarrassment and undermine foreign policy decisions in the sensitive context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Lin told the judge.

Lin also argued that the US legislative incorporation of the Genocide Convention was not “self-executing”, and therefore could not by itself be a basis for a judicial judgment.

In opening arguments, CCR attorney Katherine Gallagher countered Lin, arguing that the signed treaty on the genocide convention directs US courts as if it were the law of the land, allowing the court to injunct the President and his cabinet members as it would in any other matter of law.

“This case does not present the court with a political question. Rather, it raises two purely legal questions arising out of the unfolding genocide against 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza, namely, whether US officials have violated international and US law in failing to take all measures to prevent genocide when put on notice of the serious risk of genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza. And two, whether US officials violated international law when they knowingly provided and continue to provide practical assistance that has had a substantial effect on the commission of genocide, contrary to the prohibition of complicity in genocide....these are not questions of policy. These are questions of law. In accordance with the power vested to the judiciary in the Constitution, since the founding of this country, there has been a role for the courts in determining what the law is and applying it to the facts,” Gallagher told White.

After the arguments, the court heard the plaintiff’s and witness testimony from half a dozen Palestinians that have born direct and indirect witness to Israel's atrocities.

"The Situation Here is a Catastrophe, with Evident Outbreaks of Infectious Diseases"

Dr. Omar al-Najjar, an internally displaced Gaza doctor, and a refugee from a colonized village in Palestine, communicated with the court via Zoom from a hospital in Rafah—al-Najjar gave his testimony from a noisy hallway, the only place he said he could get sufficient wifi signal.

Al-Najjar began his testimony with his own family’s story of at least 4 displacements from Israeli military violence, and his necessary evacuation from Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. Al-Najjar described the healthcare system in the area where millions of refugees have been forced to flee as “catastrophic”, with overwhelmed medical facilities struggling to meet health emergencies, infectious disease outbreaks and the regular litany of regular healthcare for chronic illnesses and injuries.

“As you know, there are approximately over 2 million people in Rafah, overwhelming for a population originally of 300,000…the hospital I work at lacks intensive care units and even essential medications for urgent cases. The original capacity of this hospital is like three emergency beds only, and daily we receive over 2,000 patients in addition to numerous injury cases from various locations. The situation here is a catastrophe with evident outbreaks of infectious diseases, Hepatitis A cases are observed daily,” al-Najjar said, noting a long list of other infectious diseases.

Al-Najjar also recounted several personal tragedies, including the passing of his sister’s mother in law, who suffered a stroke in the night, and, due to fear of Israeli attacks, could not be brought in for medical care. She passed away and her body couldn’t be moved to another area until the next day. Al-Najjar described the incredible loss he has already experienced, while he works around the clock at the besieged hospital with few supplies or infrastructure and under the constant threat of Israeli attack.

“I have lost everything in this world, my home, my neighborhood, my family house, my mosque, my neighborhood playground, all completely destroyed…friends I haven’t seen in a while and many of them lost, professors and teachers…were killed… I have nothing left but my grief,” al-Najjar said.

Bay Area Palestinian resident Monadel Herzallah reflected the story of Palestinian families faced with the deaths of Gazan relatives since October. Herzallah said several of his family members had been killed by the Israeli military, including his cousin and several of his children in Gaza. Herzallah poignantly described the plight of US-bound Palestinians, struggling with daily life and death challenges while the cataclysm unfolds in Gaza—Herzallah’s wife battled, and eventually succumbed to, a life-threatening illness during the siege.

“Muna, my wife, was fighting a terminal illness and had to be admitted to a hospital in the ICU. [Our family] tried to comfort each other by saying that we’re so fortunate in the fact that we have a roof over our head, we have food…we also have the opportunity to cherish the last moments of our loved ones before we learn about the end of their life. These cherishable moments, the family moment, our people in Gaza don’t have that. They die instantly and that really makes our grief not only private grief, but our grief for people in Gaza, in Palestine,” Herzallah said.

Plaintiff Khaled Quzmar, the Director of DCIP, who teleconferenced into the hearing from Ramallah, described the absolute breakdown in communication and in the work of DCIP in Gaza, reflecting the experience of many other human rights organizations during the attacks. The work usually involves rigorous documentation and interviews, but the DCIP’s Gaza representative, Mohammad Abu Rukbeh has been forced to relocate up to five times to escape Israeli violence and has found it impossible to stay in communication with the Ramallah headquarters. Abu Rukbeh, who is also a plaintiff, has struggled with the killing of his own family by Israeli attacks. Abu Rukbeh was unable to participate in the hearing.

“In a recent attack, I believe was a few weeks ago, [Abu Rukbeh’s] mother was shot by Israeli soldiers, snipers, and her leg was cut off as a result of the shooting,” Quzmar said. Quzmar added that despite his best efforts—and even with DCIP’s standing as an internationally recognized human rights organization—they failed to find a way to evacuate Rukbeh’s mother from Gaza so she could receive better care to save her leg.

“The answer was always, we have tens of thousands of cases like this. In the end we failed…they cut off her leg in the end,” Quzmar said.

During the truce Rukbeh was able to carry out some of DCIP’s work, and interview children in evacuation camps.

“To talk about just one of the cases…Dunia was with her family at home, and during the night the Israelis bombed the house, killed her mother, father and brother and sister. And she was lucky only that her leg was cut off,” Quzmar said.

The repetition of amputation in just one set of accounts tracks with the World Health Organization and Gaza Health Ministry reports that tens of thousands have faced injuries that, due to the Israeli attacks on health care facilities, require amputations—and often multiple amputations. Quzmar also noted the brutal reality of thousands of Palestinian children left orphaned in Gaza. Quzmar called Gaza, “the highest risk place for children in the world” and noted that Dunia was later killed when the hospital she was being treated in was attacked by Israeli forces.

"There’s no reason for me and my colleagues to not take the Israeli leaders at their word" on intent of genocide

Throughout the hearing, Biden et al's defense declined to cross-examine, question or rebut any of the witness or plaintiff testimony. But that changed when the plaintiffs introduced expert witness Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, a scholar of the Holocaust and holder of Rubin Chair of Jewish History at Wake Forest University. Defense attorney Jonathan Kossak sprung to the podium when Trachtenberg was introduced and request he be disqualified as an expert witness. Kossak objected during several portions of Trachtenberg’s testimony, with Judge White eventually overruling his objections almost before Kossak could finish stating them. White eventually told Kossack that with no jury, only he, the judge, was being called to weigh testimony, and that he was capable of determining the relevance of it.

Trachtenberg described the alarm that he and other researchers have felt since October as they've watch what appear to be deliberate attempts at genocide unfold.

“To fall under the 1948 Convention on Genocide requires both action and intent and here we see that very clearly in a way that seems really quite unique in history. Very often the statements of intent are not declared publicly, they’re not declared openly by the people who are responsible for carrying out the violence, they use codewords or they use euphemisms,” Trachtenberg explained to the court.

“But here the statements of intent were made from the very beginning and the actions correspond so clearly that there’s no reason for me and my colleagues to not take the Israeli leaders at their word, ” Trachtenberg said.

In November, when the case was filed, Trachtenberg and other scholars submitted a declaration to the court highlighting their research and consequent concern that a genocide in Palestine was imminent. But Trachtenberg noted that all those concerns were now being realized.

“When I now read the declaration that we submitted then, I’m struck by how much worse the situation has become and how everything that we feared and more is unfolding. Then, we were talking about 11,000 people known to be dead, now the number as of this morning is over 26,000…” Trachtenberg said.

In his statements, Trachtenberg stressed the court’s unique role in preventing genocide with the tools of standing international law.

“We have the opportunity here in the US to stop the transmittal of weapons that are being used…the bombs that are dropping are bombs from the United States and we have this unique opportunity to intervene with that,” Trachtenberg said.

Among all of those who gave testimony—including the Al Haq representative, a lawyer currently in residence at the Hague—the defense only cross-examined Trachtenberg, seeking to invalidate his expertise. Kossak argued that Trachtenberg had no expertise in several of the subjects in his testimony, including foreign policy. Moments into the cross-examination and following Trachtenberg’s curt retort to the question of whether he had a "degree" in foreign policy, Kossak stammered, became lost in thought and ended his questioning abruptly.

"there is now on the record, uncontradicted evidence of at least in the opinion of one very highly regarded scholar...that they believe there’s a genocide in progress"

In closing the hearing, Judge White took a moment to make a remarkable statement—in the context of Israeli actions that have been regularly disputed by President Biden and a largely transcriptionist national press—validating the facts behind claims of genocide, as citing the expert testimony by Trachtenberg that one is unfolding.

“The testimony that the court heard was truly horrific and gut-wrenching…and the government doesn’t dispute factually what’s going on in Gaza…although there were objections on certain grounds to the testimony of Dr Trachtenberg, there is now on the record, uncontradicted evidence of at least in the opinion of one very highly regarded scholar, not from a legal standpoint, but from a sociological, historical construct, they believe that there’s a genocide in progress,” White noted in his remarks.

White added that the case is “probably the most difficult, factually, that this court has ever had.”

White’s comments were a bookend to the fraught campaigns at Oakland City Council meetings in November and December, seeking a pro-Ceasefire resolution in aid of stopping what advocates warned at that time was an impending genocide. At the time, the advocacy was slandered by local Israel lobbying organizations as baseless, exaggerated and antisemitic. The bombastic characterizations were dutifully reported by local and even national news agencies and pundits.

White's words confirming the nature of Israel's actions Friday came as many of the same activists demonstrated in support of federal court action in what the ICJ and federal judges now confirm is a credibly unfolding genocide—all around the corner from the City Hall building proponents began what became an uphill climb to bring awareness to the implications of Israel's worsening military violence.

Outside the Oakland federal courthouse on Friday, hundreds of Palestinians, advocates, anti-zionist Jews and anti-genocide protesters rallied on the street, in support of the DCIP case and local plaintiffs, several of who were present. Activists painted the median the length of the block in front of the courthouse, “Biden Complicit in Genocide, No Bombs to Israel”. Many advocates had come to observe the proceedings, but White limited public access to the proceedings in the “interest of public safety”, and refused to revisit the issue despite complaints from plaintiff counsel. But the demonstration likely garnered more media attention than the legal proceedings.

White’s judgment is forthcoming and should be released in the coming weeks.

A full video record of the proceedings in DCIP vs Biden can be found here:

South Africa's Petition can be found here:

The ICJ Order can be found here:

The Declaration of Drs, Barry Trachtenberg, John Cox, and Victoria Sanford can be found here:

The DCIP v. Biden Complaint can be found here:

*The crowd parted for paratransit and other vehicles picking up and dropping off clients at a community and rehab center for disabled adults who were allowed to enter and pass freely

** The family of Rachel Corrie and four Palestinian families that sued Caterpillar for its role in supplying military-use and often deadly bulldozers to Israel

—A set of comments from the L3Harris protest were inaccurately attributed in a first draft of this article. The error has been corrected now to indicate the correct speaker, Nida Bajwa