Protesters rally against NC company for sending security workers to Gaza aid sites
About 60 people gathered Monday afternoon in downtown Davidson to protest UG Solutions, a local company they say is profiting from violence and starvation in the Gaza Strip.
UG Solutions, based in Davidson, hires people to work at and provide security for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites, which protesters describe as militarized zones rather than relief centers. More than 1,000 people were killed in recent months while trying to get food at these distribution sites largely managed by American contractors, NPR reported in July.
The local protest, held at the corner of Concord Road and North Main Street, was organized by Code Pink North Carolina, Jewish Voices for Peace Charlotte, Charlotte United for Palestine, Veterans for Peace, NC Peace Action, Davidson Alumni for Palestine and Palestinian Youth Movement.
“UG Solutions is not just a contractor, it is a profiteer of genocide. It is a business model that depends on ethnic cleansing, and it operates right here in your backyard,” said Samira Hadaad, an organizer from Palestinian Youth Movement. “So let’s be clear, when a Palestinian child is shot for reaching for food, UG Solutions has blood on its hands.”
Gaza’s hunger crisis was declared a famine by a United Nations-backed group this month. That means there is documentation of widespread starvation, illness, and death, NPR reported. The Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East also has displaced a vast majority of Gaza’s population from their homes.
UG Solutions said in a statement to The Charlotte Observer it has provided millions of meals to people in need in Gaza, including 1.5 million meals on Sunday.
“The UG Solutions team is proud to be one part of the solution to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the statement said. “We look forward to continuing this progress and to the continued safe and secure delivery of aid to the people of Gaza in the days ahead.”
In an article published by PBS at the beginning of the month, two UG Solutions contractors stationed at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites in Gaza said they witnessed “barbaric” tactics against people trying to get food. Anthony Aguilar, an Army veteran, said he witnessed disorganization, desperation and violence at the sites.
AP News reported in July that American contractors at GHF sites used live ammunition and stun grenades on people trying to obtain food.
UG Solutions denied in a statement to PBS that any Gazans had been shot by UG Solutions contractors.
U.S. House members and senators from Texas, California, Vermont and Maryland said they warned UG Solutions at the end of July that the company put its contractors – many of whom are veterans – at risk of criminal liability over the “deadly actions in Gaza.”
The company appears to operate remotely. UG Solutions’ registered address with the Secretary of State is the post office in Davidson. The company’s CEO, Jameson Govoni, is a local resident, according to public records. The group’s chief administrative officer, Jeffrey Boyd, ran for the Davidson Town Board of Commissioners in 2021.
Davidson Commissioner Tracy Mattison Brandon spoke at the protest, saying she was grateful people showed up to advocate for justice.
“We cannot ignore the cries of starving children. We cannot ignore the dead bodies. We cannot ignore the dead body count. We cannot ignore that it affects families. We cannot ignore that people are dying,” she said. “We cannot value profit over people.”
Organizers called for the U.S. government to withdraw American contractors from Gaza and military support from Israel and to boycott any companies “complicit in genocide and war crimes.”
Protester Natalie Heling said she attended the event to advocate for the safety of people in Gaza and express her concern about the aid sites set up.
“I’m especially concerned about the health and the welfare of the people in Gaza. I think they’re innocent victims and I really am upset that the U.S. is supporting what Israel is doing in terms of the distribution of the food,” she said. “It’s a very ineffective way to distribute the food, and people are getting hurt and killed and I want that to stop.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM.
