Italian media sources reported that dockworkers in the port of Genoa intercepted a Saudi vessel they alleged was carrying weapons to Israel on 7 August.
According to the World Socialist Web Site, the workers staged a firm blockade against the Saudi ship Bahri Yanbu in direct protest against Italy’s role in arming Israel. The ship’s owner denied transporting any weapons to the occupied state.
Allegations of Weapons Cargo
The Bahri Yanbu had sailed from Baltimore, Maryland (USA) and was scheduled to load military equipment manufactured by Italian arms giant Leonardo, including an Oto Melara naval gun bound for Abu Dhabi—and possibly tanks or other heavy weaponry already prepared in the shipping yard.
Dockworkers, refusing to be complicit in the genocide in Gaza, prevented the gun from being loaded and revealed that the vessel’s cargo was already filled with weapons, ammunition, explosives, armoured vehicles, and tanks through on-site inspections carried out at dawn.
Despite attempts to block their access, around 40 port workers boarded the vessel to document the cargo. This direct challenge forced the port authority to engage in damage control, vaguely promising to discuss establishing a “permanent arms-smuggling monitoring body” in September.
Their stance was clear: “We do not work for war.”
Growing Union Solidarity Across Europe
Italy’s People’s Dispatch newspaper noted that this success adds to a growing wave of trade-union actions across Europe in solidarity with Palestine and against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The Saudi shipping company denied transporting weapons to Israel, stating it remains committed to the Kingdom’s policies regarding dealings with “Israel.”
This was not the first confrontation. In 2019, dockworkers intercepted a similar shipment for the same Saudi company after discovering that a declared “civilian” cargo was, in reality, weaponry. That move extracted a pledge to stop loading such shipments—yet no ban was imposed on their transit, allowing the flow of arms to continue.
Broad Support but Legal Constraints
The latest action prompted immediate involvement from Italy’s main trade unions alongside grassroots unions USB and CALP. They were joined by the Church of Genoa, whose participation since 2021 has received explicit support from Pope Francis.
The allied unions announced a ban on loading weapons bound for war zones “by any means,” though their role in practice has largely been to keep protests within the narrow bounds of legal frameworks. They have cited Italian Law 185/90, which ostensibly prohibits the export of arms to countries involved in conflicts.
Jose Nevio, leader of the Catalan Workers’ Party (CALP), was unequivocal: handling such shipments would make workers complicit in war crimes and the genocide in Gaza.
Continuing Mobilisation
On 8 August, CALP and USB organised another protest at Ponte Etiopia, disrupting traffic in the port area. The unions declared that the mobilisation would continue and culminate in September with an international dockworkers’ assembly to coordinate opposition to turning Genoa into a logistical hub for war.
Counterclaims from a Saudi Journalist
Saudi journalist Hussein al-Ghawi wrote on X that the Bahri Yanbu follows a fixed shipping route linking Europe to the Middle East, with a published schedule showing it travelling from Genoa to Alexandria on 13 August, then to Jeddah and Abu Dhabi, with no Israeli port stops.
He added that in 2019, a shipment on the same vessel was blocked under the pretext that it was used in the Yemen war, and in 2021, the Bahri Jeddah was intercepted under similar claims, arguing that the repetition of such actions shows the union’s motives are unrelated to the cargo’s actual contents.
