Anti-genocide protests which have taken place regularly in Morocco escalated to coincide with the arrival of the Nexoe Maersk (flagged in Hong Kong) and another container ship involved in the onward transit of the components to Israel, the US-flagged Maersk Detroit. It is understood that the F-35 parts were en route to the Nevatim Air Base in southern Israel, a pivotal location for the Israeli Air Force’s war against the Palestinians.
On Sunday April 20, according to the Drop Site independent news outlet, “18 out of 20 remote crane controllers on the first shift” at Tangier Port “refused to operate machinery to service the ship believed to be carrying F-35 parts. On the second shift, 27 of 30 workers reportedly joined the refusal.”
The workers blockade in Tangier followed a boycott, April 18, by dockworkers backed by thousands of protesters at Casablanca port as the Nexoe Maersk arrived. This followed a call on April 14 by the Union of Port Workers in Morocco, for “workers, users and frameworks of companies operating in the port of Casablanca to boycott the ship”.
What's up with that?
To be honest I'd expect that's just someone's interpretation of the huge amount of maintenance any jetfighter (not just the F-35, any modern one) needs. It's like five person-hours of maintenance per hour of flight. They're just incredibly complicated machines that can't really afford for stuff to fail. If Israel is flying them a whole bunch, they'll need to maintain them proportionately
Maybe. Thanks for that consideration.
F35s are basically a grift for the military-industrial complex. Developing them blew through every budget because putting the strategic needs of different operators and different environments on one airframe is dumb, and they need loads of parts constantly to keep the mill churning. As a desirable side effect, if the US decides to not let you use F35s any more, they can stop shipping parts and your fleet will quickly become nonfunctional.