A group of pro-Palestine protestors gathered outside Bath Iron Works (BIW) Friday in Bath, Maine, demanding that the shipyard “stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
BIW is a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the largest defense companies in the world and private sector employers in Maine, and was recently awarded a $58 million contract by the U.S. Navy for services for new destroyers through 2024.
A BIW spokesperson declined to comment on the protest.
Friday’s protest comes just over two months since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 Israelis.
Since the Oct. 7 attack, Israel has engaged in an ongoing bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in an effort to completely eliminate Hamas.
Participating organizations in the protest included Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights, Students for Justice in Palestine groups from various colleges in the state, the Communist Maine Party for Socialism & Liberation, Portland CONFRONT, and the Maine Natural Guard.
According to the event’s Facebook page, the demands and “Principles of Unity” of the protestors included the following:
- We demand that Maine’s elected officials call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza;
- We call for an end to apartheid in Israel and an end to US military aid of Israel;
- We believe that the voices of Palestinian people must be centered in the struggle for Palestinian liberation;
- We support the liberation and freedom of all oppressed peoples;
- We recognize the inherent connections between the oppression of Palestinian people and settler colonialism in the United States.
“BIW makes deadly warships that act as delivery systems for nuclear weapons that serve US military-imperialist interests, and they’re made right here in New England,” the protest’s event page reads. “We must not allow the genocidal machine to continue.”
[RELATED: RFK Jr Confronted by Pro-Palestine Heckler Calling for Ceasefire at Portland Event…]
One flyer distributed at the protest was targeted towards local IAM machinist union members, the largest union at BIW:
A counter-protestor and Vietnam veteran at BIW Friday held a sign reading “Long live Israel,” and “Push Hamas into the Sea!!! Build more Navy ships to protect Israel.”
“Well it’s strange that all these people down here for this protest against Israel didn’t say as word, were quiet as a mouse, when Hamas — Palestinian Hamas — went into Israel and slaughtered 1200 people,” the pro-Israel counter-protestor told the Maine Wire.
At one point during the protest, participants laid down and blocked the middle of the road, with some protestors covering themselves in white sheets splattered with fake blood.
A police officer overlooking the protestors blocking the road declined to comment.
Republican State Rep. Austin Theriault, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maine’s 2nd District, issued a statement Friday morning condemning the protest.
“Socialist Pro-Hamas groups are picketing Bath Iron Works for its role in making the world a safer place for America, our allies, and the Jewish people,” Rep. Theriault said. “I can’t believe that this is happening in Maine, but it is happening and we need to fight back against it.”
[RELATED: Five Maine Socialists Arrested at Rep. Chellie Pingree’s Portland Office Amid Pro-Palestine Protest…]
“There is no place in Maine for people who support an anti-Semitic terrorist organization that rapes and murders innocent people. Hamas is a terrorist group, and Bath Iron Works keeps America safe. It’s that simple,” he said.
Theriault also came to Friday’s protest, in his words to “stand up for the employees and the people that work [at BIW].”
“I feel very strongly that Bath Iron Works makes our country stronger, the people that work here are patriots, and they care about their community, they care about their kids, and they care about their future,” he said in a video posted to X Friday.
Green Party 2024 presidential candidate Jill Stein was also in attendance and gave a speech at Friday’s protest.
When asked by the Maine Wire why she came to BIW to attend the protest, Stein said “Maine is just leading the charge in so many ways.”
[RELATED: Israeli-owned Business in Portland Targeted with Pro-Palestine Flyer…]
“Maine is our communities, Maine is America, Maine is a lot of people talking to each other, talking to their neighbors trying to figure our way through this,” she said. “This is a very big crisis, really, in American foreign policy and in just our moral role in the world.”
When asked what she would do if elected president to address the Israel-Hamas war, Stein said that she would “support international law.”
“This is a very difficult, complicated problem, and the body of international law has developed coming out of the Second World War in order to deal with exactly this kind of situation, and to be sure that ‘never again’ is ‘never again’ for everyone,” she said.
“There’s international law that supports human rights, that ensures countries cannot be occupied, and you cannot have an apartheid state where certain people can have citizenship and other people can’t,” she added.
Stein said that her approach could lead to a diplomatic solution and an assurance of security for both Israelis and Palestinians.
George Soros…Follow the money.
A “very difficult and complicated problem”? Meaning: Comrade Stein sides with evil. According to Discover the Networks, “Stein, who is a multimillionaire, has invested heavily in energy companies, big banks, pharmaceutical giants and DEFENSE CONTRACTORS.” The failed gubernatorial and presidential Green Party candidate should just go away instead of trying to prove she’s relevant…which she isn’t in the least.
Weird that you interviewed everyone but the protestors
Simply run the over and get on with the day.
Plenty of snow plows in Bath to take care of that mess
Mike H on December 8, 2023 8:29 PM
Simply run the over and get on with the day.
+1
I notice no mention of what the police did to clear a PUBIC WAY. Anything?
I am glad to see people protesting (because we in the US have the right to do so, unlike people in so many, many countries around the world), and I beg everybody to keep in mind that this is not a conflict of two-parties, but of three–Isreal, Hamas AND the Palestinian civilians, who have had little power and few rights for a very long time, and are now being further victimized. To be pro-Palestinian does NOT automatically mean that one is either anti-Isreal OR pro-Hamas. I think that this is a very difficult idea for many Americans to keep in mind, especially thee days when so much of American politics is divided into two.
A also need to say that The comments about running the protesters down are disturbing to me–didn’t we just have a major act of violence in this state? Am I the only person who sees a connection between what happened in Lewiston (and so many other places) and comments of that sort?
Yes E forest you are the only one, I personally agree it’s illegal to block a roadway to protesting if the cops don’t move the protesters we should be able to run them over. After wll tge only good hippie is a dead hippy!
Jesus should of proof read that first but you get the gist and i stand by it
Paid protest by George Soros College acting class, blm, antifi, occupied Wallstreet costumes for free
MAGA stands in solidarity with Palestine.
It is a religious war with the roots of this going back to the Belfour Declaration. This is an utter disaster with no end in sight, just what Hamas wants along with the rest of the Middle East and Putin. Forget Iran, as they are a puppet of Putin’s. Ain’t religion great? Just look thru history and see how many millions have died in the name of a God.
Nothing good will ever come of this, on any side.
Hamas in not just a terrorist organization. Hamas is also the ELECTED government of Gaza. It may well be that the people who live in Gaza civilians had only two choices: vote for Hamas or die. That said, the “civilians” who live in Gaza are fully aware of the choice they have made. They gambled that they could live in Gaza and not become collateral damage in a war. Some have lost that gamble. That is sad, but they knew the risks and they made their choice. War is Hell. Hopefully Israel will finish the job quickly and Hamas will be no more.
…if you cannot condemn what Hamas did on Oct 7, then you are part of the evil. If Israel had gone into Gaza and arbitrarily just started slaughtering innocent babies and women, then we would have condemned them as well! Israel has the right to wipe Gaza into the sea, and should be carpet bombing them with MOABs. Stein is a Hamas sympathizer.
…if anti-abortion activists had pulled the same shytt as these Hamas wannabes, they would still be in jail by now.
Hamas has admitted it will repeat the horrific atrocities once it has time to reboot. And reportedly Palestinians by the thousands followed their terrorists into Israel to murder and loot. As well, they elected Hamas as their government. The tribe that sent Rashida Tlaib to Congress did not intend to assimilate into American culture. They brought their political war with them with the intent to complete their Muslim agenda. Why won’t neighboring Arab countries take in the Palestinians? Look at our own college campuses for your answer. In my opinion, Rashida Tlaib should have the tattoo of a burning baby on her forehead. Unfortunately, I am convinced she would wear it proudly! I believe the Students for Justice in Palestine groups are a threat to our free Republic and should not be on college campuses; however, if they are on campuses those campuses should not be receiving our tax dollars.
PUBLIC WAY, “nuff said
Foot on gas pedal while exclaiming “Identify this sound”
“We support the liberation and freedom of all oppressed peoples;”
Great! You can help us free all the J6 prioners in the DC gulag then!
In the meantime, someone needs to tell the Bath Public Works that they missed a pile of snowflakes in the road…
One man’s genocide of Jews is another man’s patriotism call. Let’s not forget that Hamas is the ELECTED leadership of the Palestinian people.
So the elected, and therefore representative, government of the people of Palestine conducted the vicious and disgusting raid on Israel on October 7th. Doesn’t this mean the Palestinians themselves are culpable?
One commenter speculated frivolously that Soros had financed this demonstration, instead of the reality that Maine citizens were expressing their moral outrage at the genocidal behavior of the Israeli government (and those who call this antisemitism are being profoundly dishonest). This was not, as another person (running for Congress no less!) claimed it was in support of Hamas, rather than the civilian Palestinian population. Dishonest again! That is quite consistent with the Congressional dishonesty to which we have become accustomed,so he’ll fit right in. Those who object to the protest are essentially saying it is fine to slaughter thousands of young children,as long as they are Palestinian. What a statement about their moral character!
Bunch of dumb people commenting in this thread. You folks supporting the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of Palestinians are an embarrassment to America. There is no place in America for dumb people that support the mass murdering lying media controlling jews.
The jews have stolen the lands of the Palestinians and murdered and raped them by the thousand since end of WW1. Read the Balfour declaration.
Hamas is the legitimate elected leadership of the Palestinian people. IE: Free and fair election. It’s called a “democracy”. Attacking an occupying force IS NOT terrorism and is 100% justified. The jews do not have a right to defend themselves as they are the occupying force. Catch up on international law.
As far as Oct 7. The jews murdered half of their own citizens in a panic when Hamas attacked. Hamas only killed 600. The jews killed the other 600 with helicopter gun ships. Hamas has even treated their prisoners with respect. The jews torture and rape their prisoners.
The jews response has been to slaughter noncombatant women, children and men with American weapons. So far, the jews have murdered 20,000 Palestinians in response to Oct 7. The jews are targeting hospitals, refugee camps (United Nations), universities and journalists/news organizations because these “targets” are documenting the jews war crime in real time.
The jews DO NOT have a divine right to the lands of Palestine. What a bunch of garbage. If you believe that you believe King Charles has a divine right to American soil.
In the end, those of you that support the jews will be written out of history, by the jews themselves. The jews are flooding this country with nonwhite anything to destroy your white race. And you’re gonna take it like a bunch of dopes. I can’t wait till our neighborhoods are flooded with Palestinians.
MAGA stands in solidarity with Palestine.
‘Stop the Slaughter in Palestine!’
Dec 8, 2023
Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/stop-the-slaughter-in-palestine/
I wonder what they would have done IF somebody had an emergency and had to get through that road.
Hopefully when Israel gets done there wont be a palestine anymore. Then we can finally stop talking about it.
If you’re looking for people taking Soros money look no further than the District Attorney for Cumberland County, Jackie Sartoris. This was acknowledged in the fine print of her campaign ads described as “from a PAC, we don’t control those people” by Sartoris’ campaign manager to me when I asked. Sartoris is a textbook Democrat i.e. genocide supporter. She was not protesting at BIW and the vast majority of the 300 people who were are not members of the blood-stained Democratic Party.
I see where Genocide Joe just had the U.S. State Dept make an end run around Congress and approve even more weapons for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Nice democracy we’ve got here.
.
Run over them
Occupied Palestine has a right to defend itself from the genocidal rapist settler jews. The jews have no rights as they are an occupying force that brutalizes civilian’s. Netanyahu will likely be tried at the Hague and hung from his neck in the public square. Pro Palestinian protesters will go down in history as heroes. So will the legitimately elected Hamas govt,
Typical of the leftists in Clown World who can’t identify that Hamas is the evil that kills it’s own, enslaves them and has kept them in a downward death spiral, not Israel. Not to mention if you tried being of the LGBTQ persuasion in Palestine under Hamas, you’d be killed.
Leftists are simpletons, they obey, they know nothing about research or uncovering any truth. They would also rather be deemed Antiemetic than stand up against Sharia Law and be called Islamophobes. Weak cowards the entire lot of them.
They’re lucky Darrell Brookes, the white hating Waukesha joy riding driver, wasn’t in the neighborhood and used them as speed bumps. https://nypost.com/2021/11/23/jackson-sparks-8-is-sixth-fatal-victim-of-waukesha-christmas-parade-tragedy/
Unfortunately, it’s not legal to spray them with something, that would give them diarrhea for a couple weeks.