Pro-Palestine Demonstrators Occupy Offices of Israeli-owned Shipping Company in Montreal

Montrealers blocked the entrance of the Montreal office for ZIM in support of a ceasefire in Gaza and end to Israel's occupation of Palestine. ZIM is an Israeli shipping company that distributes cargo internationally, including weapons locally manufactured that are sent to Israel. Activists say these weapons are being used to harm Palestinians.

"There has been a call for a global strike from people in Gaza and across the world to stand with Palestine. So answering to this call, there have been activists in both Montreal and Toronto that occupied ZIM offices," said Palestinian Youth Movement organizer Laura Khoury.

Khoury said there was a staging of a die-in in Montreal in the lobby of the offices of ZIM, where activists read the names of the martyrs as a representation of what these shipping companies are doing by trading these arms from Canada straight into Israel.

Palestinians in Gaza called for a global strike on Dec. 11 to support a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Nearly 18,000 Palestinians have been killed in bombings carried out by Israel's military since October 7. Israel says it is targeting Hamas fighters who carried out an attack in Israel that killed more than 1,000 people.

In a statement made in early October, CEO and president Eli Glickman said ZIM “will support Israel in this difficult time and our priority will be to allocate the needed resources to aid Israel in this hard and difficult situation.”

ZIM did not respond to a request for interview or comment. 

Khoury said the sit-in at ZIM was a part of the international global strike. 

During the bombardment of Gaza, consumers and corporations are being brought into the narrative through boycotts and other forms of protest. This includes boycotting “all aspects of public life”, such as purchasing gas, groceries, holiday gifts, using your bank account in any way and attending work or school. The intention of this boycott is to halt the economy to apply pressure on governments to support a ceasefire in Gaza.