by Mary Anne Grady Flores, published on Popular Resistance, September 14, 2026
The Port Elizabeth 4 have been given a new trial date for the third time, this time on Monday, September 14th, 9 am, at 1 Police Plaza, Elizabeth, New Jersey. The trial had been scheduled two previous times and postponed with very short notice. Before dawn, on October 3, 2025, the four arrestees were part of an autonomous coalition of 100 protestors who stopped truck traffic delivering 1,000 tons of military weapons to the Port of Elizabeth bound that week for Israel on the Maersk Sentosa vessel. The defendants plan to represent themselves and use defenses of necessity, and US and international law.
The 4 activists, Teresa Grady, Danny Creamer, Ellen Grady and Mark Scibilia-Carver, all from Ithaca, NY, are charged with three disorderly persons’ offenses for participating in the action on October 3rd, 2025. The charges include,
- “Purposely obstructed North Avenue in Elizabeth NJ, preventing law enforcement … of keeping the roadway safe for vehicles…by laying in the roadway”,
- “Purposely,…obstruct a roadway…specifically laying down on North Ave. in Elizabeth, NJ, preventing the transportation of commerce…”,
- “while present at the scene of a riot where 5 or more persons were participating in a course of disorderly conduct…fail to obey multiple orders to disperse…”
The ship, Maersk Sentosa, was being loaded that weekend with tires, military boots, power supplies, vehicles, and 61 tons of forging rings. The latter are used by the Israeli Ministry of Defense in missile casings, launcher systems, and other military applications. The vessel has also historically transported Oshkosh and HEMTT combat vehicles in addition to brass case cups for ammunition.
On the day of the action, the activists released a statement: “This site [Port Elizabeth] exports weapons used by Israel to kill Palestinians in Gaza, delivered by Maersk and ZIM trucks. In addition, the port is one of the largest weapons exporters on the East Coast.”
Supplying these weapons for Israel’s genocide is a blatant violation of the U.S. War Crimes Act, the Leahy Law, the Foreign Assistance Act, the Arms Export Control Act, and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act. To uphold these laws and prevent unlawful weapons shipments, the Port Elizabeth 4 and other protestors peacefully came to uphold all U.S. and international laws about withholding weapons from being delivered to Israel’s genocide.
According to U.N. Special Rapporteur for Palestine, Francesca Albanese, the newest estimates of those brutally killed in the genocide is 680,000, almost half of whom are children. The blocking of trucks on North Avenue was a peaceful act in solidarity with those protesting at ports in Oakland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, France, Sweden, and Greece, and with the Global Sumud Flotilla, and most importantly, with the people and children of Gaza.
Last year, by the fall of 2025, the people of Gaza had endured 2 years of genocide and forced starvation. Two years of marches, rallies, calls, and visits to elected officials failed to stop the genocide. One of the arrestees, Mark Scibilia-Carver, noted that “the most effective nonviolent way to stop a genocide is to stop the shipment of weapons.” Banners were held that early morning that read, ‘It’s a crime to send weapons to a genocide.’”
Another group, the Port Elizabeth 10, who acted for 4 hours on May 22, 2026, stopped Zim Maersk trucks from delivering weapons to the ship, the Zim Virginia, will have their second preliminary hearing on Zoom on Tuesday, October 6th.
*Featured Image: provided by author
Mary Anne Grady Flores is a long time activist. She assists young people at Cornell University in organizing a Catholic Worker and member of Ban Killer Drones and Upstate Drone Action. She has been protesting war and calling for peace around Ithaca, NY and at Hancock Drone Base in Syracuse, NY, supporting Cornell student-activist Mamadou Taal, who was deported for participating in antiwar events. Most recently she has participated in the Port Elizabeth actions where she photographed and videoed events, and interviewed protesters