A worker drove an SUV towards protesters blockading a Lockheed Martin facility in California on Thursday, before flashing a knife and shouting: "I've got to get to my job."
Protesters met at the Sunnyvale site that morning in opposition to the U.S. arms maker's role in Israel's war in Gaza. The company produces F-16 and F-35 fighter jets and Hellfire missiles used by Israel in the war, which has killed more than 30,000 people in six months.
Video shows the white car speed up towards the group amid cries for it to stop. It halts a few feet from the blockade, before a man steps out and pulls out a blade.
"Get out of the way or someone is going to die!" he said, before someone off-camera tells the man to drop the weapon if he does not "want to go prison."
"If you don't want to go to prison, you f****** get out the way!" the driver replies. "I've got to get to my job!"
Protester Jersey Noah, who captured the moment on video, said on Instagram that the man worked for Lockheed Martin. The company has not confirmed that. Newsweek has contacted Sunnyvale facility via email on Friday outside of normal office hours.
"We respect the right to fair and peaceful protest," a spokesperson for the defense contractor said in a statement, adding that it would "thoroughly investigate violations" of its employee code of conduct.
The exchange offers a snapshot of growing tension Israel's war has caused in the U.S. A majority of Americans (55 percent) now disapprove of Israel's campaign, according to a Gallup poll last week, an increase (up from 45 percent) from the same poll in November. The polls have a margin of error of ±4 percentage points.
About 135 protesters—including students, teachers, and tech workers—attended the Sunnyvale site on Thursday, according to local news outlet NBC Bay Area.
"We have gathered here to disrupt Lockheed Martin's operations and demand that the U.S. stop all arms sales to Israel," another protester, Maramiya Yensoon, said in a release before the SUV video emerged.
"We urge Congress and Biden to push for a permanent ceasefire, and fellow communities to take up calls for ceasefire themselves until Biden acts."
Later on Thursday, President Joe Biden issued his starkest warning yet to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in their first phone call since an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in Gaza.
In a 30-minute call, Biden said future U.S. support for Israel's war was dependent on new "concrete, and measurable" steps to protect civilians and aid workers.
Earlier on Thursday, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson said its "core values are to do what's right, respect others and perform with excellence."
"These values provide clear, unambiguous and uncompromising standards for how we treat each other with understanding and compassion. We respect the right to peaceful protest and we are honored to partner with the U.S. military and our international partners to deliver strategic deterrence and security solutions," the spokesperson said.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
