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Monday, December, 15 2024, Florham Park NJ — At 10:15 Monday morning, around 30 Christmas carolers attempted to enter the New Jersey headquarters of Maersk, a Danish-owned shipping company that plays a central role in the genocide in Gaza by shipping weapons cargo from the U.S. to Israel. The choir was stopped at the office door and proceeded to sing carolers outside the entrance and around the premises, displaying banners calling on Maersk to end their role in shipping weapons to Israel.  

Organizers said they want to raise the consciousness of good-hearted employees of Maersk so that they become aware of their employers’ actions to profit from the deaths of people in Gaza killed by weapons being shipped by their company. According to researchers with the Palestinian Youth Movement, through contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. based weapons companies, Maersk’s cargo includes everything from aircraft parts and tanks, to bombs, grenades, and landmines, which are used to kill children in Gaza and the West Bank and fuel an ever-broadening regional war. The vessels overwhelmingly disembark from Port Elizabeth in New Jersey.

Maersk is one of the most profitable companies on earth and an “invisible profiteer of the weapons industry.” Maersk has shipped millions of pounds of weapons and military equipment to Israel over the last year, violating international embargoes.

The carolers were organized by Christians for a Free Palestine and included about 30 Christians and people of faith from wide-ranging backgrounds, including clergy and lay people from the Presbyterian Church (USA), Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Arab Christians, Lutherans, Reformed Church, United Church of Christ, and Quakers. They sang songs to the tune of familiar carols like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” with verses changed calling on Maersk to cut its weapons contracts: “These tidings we bring  from churches far and wide / we don’t want your company to support genocide.”

One of the carolers, Rev. Dr. Shannon Smythe, a member of Christians for a Free Palestine and of the Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) said, “I couldn’t bear to witness one more day of the horrendous atrocities Israel is committing against the Palestinian people. As a mother, my heart continually breaks for the children and families of Gaza and my tears won’t stop falling. As a Christian clergywoman, I believe that God is in the rubble of Gaza fully present to the suffering there. People of goodwill must stand together to say “no” to more bombs and weapons being shipped to Israel to kill more Palestinians. I did this action today to use the power of my voice to ask Maersk to stop playing middleman to this genocide and follow International law instead.” 

Nearly 45,000 Gazans have been killed since October 7 by the State of Israel through weapons made in and funded by the U.S.– including those shipped by Maersk. This past weekend, there were massacres of 69 people in the Gaza Strip, in four attacks targeting schools where displaced people were sheltering in Northern Gaza.

The event took place within the season of Advent, a four week period of prayer, reflection and almsgiving when Christians anticipate the birth of Jesus (also known as the Prince of Peace). Organizers say they targeted the Maersk headquarters as part of reclaiming the true work of Advent: to enact a world where God’s justice and peace can be born. December 16th also marks the one-year anniversary of the slaying of Nahida and Samar Anton inside the courtyard of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza by Israeli snipers as well as the shelling of the convent of the nuns of St. Mother Teresa by the Israeli military with likely US-supplied weapons.

An engineer and member of IfNotNow, who joined as a caroler and wished to remain anonymous said, “We’ve all had to watch a genocide unfold over the last year in Palestine. It drives me insane that weapons manufacturers, warmongering politicians, and mundane supporters of the genocide such as Maersk are operating in my backyard without any consequences, so if there’s any opportunity to interrupt their wicked ‘business as usual’ I’ll try and take it. And while I’m not a Christian myself I feel kinship with any person whose faith compels them to stand up for others.”

Kathy O’Leary, ambassador of peace and New Jersey region coordinator for Pax Christi USA, who participated, said “As Christians, we wait with anticipation of the joy of the celebration of the birth of our savior Jesus- the Prince of Peace. But our joy this year, as it was last, is clouded by tremendous grief and anxiety as we continue to watch the genocide our tax dollars fund and our neighbors enable through their work at the many arms manufacturers and shipping companies like Maersk. Today we can pray for our neighbors who work at Maersk that they know not what they do. Tomorrow the scales will be removed from their eyes, but we will continue to pray that their hearts will be softened and that they join us in resisting this tremendous evil.”

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###Christians for a Free Palestine is an ecumenical, grassroots, nonviolent movement dedicated to mobilizing Christians across the U.S. to take action in solidarity with Palestinians. Collectively, we seek to end the genocide in Gaza and ensure a long-lasting, just, and sustainable peace for Palestinians and Israelis. More information at www.christiansforafreepalestine.com.

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