One of the strongest blows the unreal state of Israel has received in the international arena recently is through the voyage undertaken by Greta Thunberg and her comrades aboard the ‘Madleen’. Named after the sole fisherwoman from Gaza, ‘Madleen’ set sail from Italy on the 1st of June to bring aid to the Gazans facing a deadly blockade by Israel. While the world watched the extermination of Palestinians by the Israeli forces for more than 20 months now, the Freedom Flotilla coalition activists sailed to deliver baby formula, flour, crutches, to Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry kept on mocking the aid effort as a ‘selfie yacht’.
The boat carried 11 activists and a journalist: Greta Thunberg, Rima Hassan (French-Palestinian Member of European Parliament), Yasemin Acar (Germany), Baptiste Andre (France), Thiago Avila (Brazil), Pascal Maurieras (France), Yanis Mhamdi (France), Suayb Ordu (Turkiye), Sergio Toribio (Spain), Marco van Rennes (The Netherlands), Reva Viard (France), and Omar Faiad (France), an Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent. The activists deserve to be commended for taking up this heroic effort to deliver aid given Israel’s continued threats. In 2010, in one of the deadliest attacks, Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara aid ship in international waters. The assault killed 10 activists and injured dozens, leading to global outrage.
Barely a month ago, on 2nd May, a Freedom Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid was attacked by Israeli drones near Malta, almost sinking it. Despite many threats by the Israeli government Madleen continued to sail till it was intercepted by the Israeli forces. The activists on board were ambushed, kidnapped, and taken to the port city of Ashdod in the early hours of 9th June.
The Israeli forces poured an irritant on the boat using drones before capturing the activists. This kidnap was orchestrated by Israel about 100 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza well beyond their proclaimed territory.
Israel’s overtures brought forth global condemnation with activists staging protests demanding immediate release of the Madleen crew. A day after their arrests, as a release condition, they were forced to sign a document stating that they were illegally trying to enter Israel.
Four of the activists signed and
were allowed to be deported including Greta. The other eight activists in custody were brought before an Israeli Detention Review Tribunal in the Ramleh detention facility. Israel also imposed a 100-year ban on entry of all twelve of them into Israel. Thiago was placed in isolation in Ayalon Prison due to his ongoing hunger and thirst strike in solidarity with the starved Gazans. Rima Hassan was placed in isolation under inhumane conditions in Neve Tirza Prison for writing “Free Palestine” on a wall in Givon Prison. Four French nationals of these eight detained were released later in the same week. Finally on 16th June, the last three members of the Madleen team—Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, and Marco van Rennes were released. They were threatened with a month-long imprisonment besides not being allowed sunlight for more than an hour a day while in prison. Israel’s treatment of these foreign activists gave a glimpse of the brutality they subject thousands of illegally imprisoned Palestinians to.
Close to the heels of Madleen, thousands of people from different parts of the world took the land route to Gaza to break the siege. However, they were stopped in Cairo, Egypt. There have also been reports of them being violently beaten by state thugs.
On the other hand the ‘Sumud’ land convoy, which set off from Tunisia on 9th June carrying thousands of activists from Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco was barred from entering the Libyan city of Sirte. The hypocrisy of these governments that profess verbal solidarity with the Gazans was laid bare.
People’s efforts to break the siege failed, however global solidarity with Gaza continues to rise. Israel in an effort to corner its most militarily powerful enemy in the region, bombed alleged nuclear, military, and intelligence sites in Iran on 13th of June leading to an escalation. Iran swiftly retaliated with multiple bombings and drone strikes. The US entered the scene using the bogeyman of a nuclear-powered Iran. Following US airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites — Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan on June 22, a fragile ceasefire was brokered. Interestingly, Russia and China did not go beyond diplomatic support for their key ally Iran. This reluctance shows that despite a clear shift in the balance of imperialist powers with a weakening of US imperialism and strengthening of China-Russia in the world market, neither side is keen on a full-fledged war for redivision of the markets (neocolonies).
The continued blockade and ethnic cleansing of Gaza, the everyday flour massacres where starving Gazans are killed in cold-blood by Israeli forces as they wait for some food, and the provocation to Iran, show the naked fascist nature of an imperialist force under crisis. India abstaining from voting for a ceasefire in Gaza bares its allegiance towards the US-Israel war axis. The world needs Flotillas and Sumuds now more than ever that will boldly raise their voice against imperialism.
