[Image: Instagram/linazdruli]
Israel has intercepted a humanitarian aid ship bound for Gaza, the Madleen, carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg and other high-profile activists, hauling them off to Israeli custody and towing the vessel to shore. Because nothing says “security threat” like a Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the Israeli military “attacked” and “unlawfully boarded” the ship in international waters, which is still illegal under international law, as the vessel attempted to deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza, CNN reported. You know, the place that’s been under siege for over 600 days, where 2.1 million people are slipping deeper into starvation thanks to an 11-week blockade choking off humanitarian supplies.
Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan were among those on board the Madleen. “(The vessel) is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X, as if the activists had just enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise and weren’t detained at sea.
Israel’s PR machine was quick to post a video of the detained passengers, orange life jackets on, being handed water and plastic-wrapped sandwiches – a heartwarming display of hospitality from the very forces that blocked their aid mission and seized their ship.
Meanwhile, the FFC painted a much darker picture: the ship was “under assault in international waters,” surrounded by quadcopters spraying it with some white substance, jamming communications, and blasting eerie sounds over the radio.
An Israeli Navy voice is heard in a video telling the crew that the “maritime zone off the coast of Gaza was closed.” Closed, apparently, to food, medicine, and any lingering sense of legality.
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In a livestream from the ship, activist Yasmin Acar showed a white substance covering the deck and later said it was burning her eyes. The FFC followed up with a Telegram video showing the crew with their hands in the air, as if they were in a hostage scene, because, by all appearances, they were.
After contact with the Madleen was cut, the FFC began posting pre-recorded videos from the activists. Thunberg’s message was blunt: “If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel.”
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The FFC slammed the operation as yet another example of Israel acting with “total impunity,” adding that the cargo, which included food, baby formula, and medical supplies, was “confiscated.” Israel claimed it would deliver the goods through “humanitarian channels,” a vague promise that has previously led to very little reaching Gaza.
“Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen,” said Huwaida Arraf, a human rights attorney and organizer with the Freedom Flotilla.
“This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the (International Court of Justice’s) binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza.”
Israel, unfazed by international law or optics, had already vowed to stop the ship. The Israeli government called the Madleen a “selfie yacht” carrying “celebrities,” because apparently caring about starving civilians is a vanity project.
“I have instructed the IDF to ensure that the ‘Madleen’ flotilla does not reach Gaza,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, sounding more like a bouncer than a policymaker.
Once the crew was detained, Gallant upped the surrealism, ordering that they be shown videos of the October 7 Hamas attacks upon arrival at Ashdod Port – a tone-deaf move seemingly designed to justify punishing unrelated activists for crimes they had nothing to do with.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the entire aid mission as “a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity.”
“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip — they do not involve Instagram selfies,” the ministry added, again ignoring the 11-week-long blockade throttling those very “approved” channels.
Earlier Monday, the same ministry labelled the mission “dangerous, unlawful, and undermining ongoing humanitarian efforts.” This, from the country enforcing the blockade that created a famine in the first place.
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The Madleen is the latest in a string of vessels organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a group that’s spent years trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and shine a spotlight on the humanitarian catastrophe inside the enclave.
Before its interception, the Madleen — a UK-flagged civilian vessel — was tracked heading north of Egypt, moving slowly toward Gaza. The tracking signal has since gone dark.
“We know that it’s a very risky mission and we know that previous experiences with flotillas like this have resulted in attacks, violence and even cases of death,” Thunberg told CNN over the weekend, eerily foreshadowing what was to come.
Israel’s full blockade, imposed March 2, has cut off food, medicine, and aid to Gaza’s 2 million+ residents for nearly three months. Though a trickle of aid has been allowed through since late May under global pressure, it’s nowhere near what’s needed. UN agencies have warned that one in five people in Gaza is now facing starvation.
To make matters worse, dozens of Palestinians have been killed in the past week trying to collect aid from the newly created, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a mechanism intended to replace the UN’s role in aid distribution. The UN has already called the new process a “death trap.”
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And this isn’t the first time the flotilla group has drawn Israel’s ire. Last month, the FFC claimed another vessel, the Conscience, was targeted by an Israeli drone attack off Malta’s coast. The Israeli military declined to comment, and no definitive proof was released, but the message was clear: get too close, and you risk retaliation, no matter where you are.
The Madleen departed from Sicily last Friday, carrying not just activists, but a message: that ignoring Gaza’s suffering shouldn’t be the global status quo. For now, that message has been drowned out by static, paint spray, and plastic-wrapped sandwiches.
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[Source: CNN]
