On a recent Thursday, a diverse coalition of grassroots activists joined New York State Senator Jabari Brisport for a demonstration outside the World Trade Center, rallying against the regular transit of military-grade hardware through John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Organized under the Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) “Break the Chain” campaign, the action follows a bombshell investigative report from The Intercept documenting that Israel-founded 1976 cargo and logistics firm Challenge Airlines has been shipping restricted military components including nitrocellulose, bomb casings, and precision guidance kits out of JFK destined for Israel. Open-source data cited in the exposé links these airlifted weapons to confirmed mass casualty attacks across Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, with additional records showing thousands of pounds of parts for U.S.-manufactured “bunker-buster” bombs moved through JFK at the peak of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran that launched on February 28. Campaigners with Break the Chain note that military cargo bound for Israel transits JFK on a near-weekly, sometimes multiple times per week basis, arguing that public civilian aviation infrastructure should never be repurposed to serve the Israeli military’s operations. The protest brought together members of leading advocacy groups including Jewish Voice for Peace, the Palestinian Youth Movement, and Brooklyn for Peace, all uniting to demand an immediate end to the shipments and full transparency and accountability from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which holds governing jurisdiction over JFK. Palestinian Youth Movement organizer Ibtihal Aboussad emphasized the direct human cost of the shipments, drawing a potential line between the materiel and the recent seventh Israeli strike on Gaza’s Nasser Medical Complex that killed at least six people including prominent physician Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira. “The precision bomb Israel used to attack this hospital was a U.S.-made Boeing weapon, funded by American taxpayer dollars, and very possibly shipped right out of JFK – an airport located just miles from where we are standing today,” Aboussad stated. Citing United Nations figures as of March 2025, activists highlighted that at least 1,722 healthcare workers have been killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza enclave, a conflict formally deemed a genocide by UN officials and leading Holocaust scholars that has claimed more than 74,500 Palestinian lives since October 2023. For his part, Senator Brisport raised urgent public safety concerns for civilians traveling through JFK, addressing the Port Authority’s board of directors directly during a public hearing held the same day as the protest. His primary focus centered on the explosive properties of nitrocellulose, referencing a 10-year-old port disaster in China where an accidental nitrocellulose blast killed roughly 170 people. Brisport argued that this well-documented hazard provides sufficient grounds to immediately suspend all such shipments, pointing to Section 13 Part A of the Port Authority’s own internal rules and regulations that prohibit handling any federally or International Civil Aviation Organization-classified hazardous, poisonous, explosive, or radioactive material without explicit prior approval from the Port Authority leadership. He formally called on the agency to publicly release all existing agreements with Challenge Airlines, as well as full documentation of all passenger and cargo carriers permitted to ship and handle explosive and hazardous materials through the airport. A Port Authority spokesperson, responding to queries from Middle East Eye, stated that the agency is taking all feasible steps to uphold public safety, but deferred full oversight of permitted air cargo contents to individual commercial airlines and federal regulatory bodies. The hearing also included testimony from Ibrahim Mossallam, a veteran commercial airline pilot and Palestinian American, who described the deep unease shared by many frontline aviation staff over the unreported cargo. “As a working commercial pilot, I have no way of verifying exactly what is being loaded into the holds of the passenger flights I operate. Many military parts and supplies are not formally categorized as hazardous materials that require mandatory disclosure,” Mossallam told the board. “Learning that we have been unknowingly transporting potentially explosive materiel to fuel an active military conflict is deeply unsettling.” Mossallam later told Middle East Eye that he feels betrayed by both U.S. federal regulators and airline operators, noting that both flight crews and ordinary passengers are placed at direct risk when dangerous unmarked cargo shares cabin space with civilian travelers. “You end up feeling like you are being forced to participate in the onslaught our government is enabling against Palestinian communities,” he explained, adding that he is joining other advocates to demand the Port Authority ban all weapons shipments to Israel through both JFK and nearby Newark Liberty International Airport.
Activists demand end to transfer of military materials to Israel through New York’s JFK Airport
