Dockworkers in Italy threaten total block on Israel trade

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Following suspected drone assaults on the flotilla final week, the dockers have now designated the flotilla as a form of tripwire for threats of additional motion, with leaders promising to hinder shipments linked to Israel if the boats are attacked. The flotilla consists of outstanding activist Greta Thunberg.

Obstructing all shipments to and from Israel is the one strategy to power a shift in route, Riccardo Rudino, a veteran dockworker and chief within the CALP collective of dockworkers, advised POLITICO.

“In the event that they assault the flotilla there shall be a basic strike and, if Israel doesn’t alter course in Gaza, a complete commerce blockade,” Rudino mentioned. “There isn't any different path.”

Rudino attracted consideration as a protest chief a month in the past with a speech that went viral on the web, warning that if the flotilla is hindered by Israel, they may block “all of Europe,” including that “not a single nail” will go away Genoa for Israel.

Dockworkers have a protracted historical past of obstructing arms shipments going again at the least to the Vietnam Warfare, he mentioned. “It appeared inconceivable with South Africa, however after a complete block they freed Mandela and held elections,” Rudino mentioned.

<img decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/28/GettyImages-2236773888-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-7236174" srcset="https://www.politico.eu/cdn-cgi/image/width=1024,quality=80,onerror=redirect,format=auto/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/28/GettyImages-2236773888.jpg 1024w, https://www.politico.eu/cdn-cgi/image/width=300,quality=80,onerror=redirect,format=auto/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/28/GettyImages-2236773888.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px"/> The dockers have now designated the flotilla as a form of tripwire for threats of additional motion, with leaders promising to hinder shipments linked to Israel if the boats are attacked. | Laura Lezza/Getty Pictures

Many individuals “wish to do one thing to be on the precise facet of historical past,” Rudino mentioned. “Blocking issues is the folks’s weapon. We don’t have tanks; we don’t have missiles — blocking issues, at occasions with our our bodies, is the one weapon at our disposal,” he mentioned.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s authorities is underneath growing stress to take a more durable line with Israel and acknowledge Palestinian statehood after it grew to become the outstanding subject in regional elections that began Sunday and proceed by way of November.