Thursday, October 29, 2026
Elder of ZiyonOur weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.
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At a press conference outside a Chevron station in Culver City, spokespeople for the newly formed Fuelestine Alliance argued that pump prices above five dollars a gallon stem directly from “settler-colonial energy politics.” One organizer, a graduate student in critical theory, told reporters that every gallon of refined petroleum sold in Los Angeles “subsidizes the occupation” because several major oil companies maintain business relationships with Israeli firms or hold investments linked to the country.
When asked how arson at a California gas station might alter conditions in Gaza or the West Bank, the speaker retorted that the question itself reflected “a colonial demand for measurable outcomes” and that the primary value of the action lay in “refusing normalcy.”
The group’s materials do not address California’s combination of state gasoline taxes, low-carbon fuel standards, refining constraints, or the absence of new in-state refinery capacity — factors state energy officials have repeatedly cited as the main reasons local prices exceed the national average by more than a dollar per gallon. Instead, the literature frames any attempt to discuss those factors as an evasion. A flyer distributed at the Culver City event lists “U.S. imperial complicity” and “Zionist capital flows” as the operative causes and urges readers to “make the pumps inoperable.”
"Palestinians suffer restrictions on their movement," explained a Students for Justice in Palestine coordinator, referring to Israeli security measures to prevent terrorist attacks. "No one is free until Palestine is free. Thus, restrictions on movement in California, by any means necessary."
Several local chapters have already begun mapping stations for what organizers call “direct action days.” Internal planning documents describe a preference for nighttime operations, and advise participants to avoid stations that employ large numbers of Palestinian or Arab staff so that the actions “cannot be spun as anti-Palestinian.”
The same documents contain no estimates of how the proposed disruptions would affect fuel availability for the several hundred thousand Californians who commute long distances, nor any assessment of secondary price effects if stations are forced offline. One organizer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said such considerations were “beside the point” because “Palestinians don’t experience relief from cheaper American gas either way. The point is for us to feel good about doing something we think is righteous, and to have righteous cover for violence.”
