Israeli officials detained—and physically assaulted—a visionary Black U.S. labor leader standing in solidarity with international human rights in exile
JUL 29, 2025 (shahidbuttar.substack.com)
I often give thanks, for whatever it’s work, for some prescience in the course of unfolding current events. For example, the continuing consolidation of authoritarianism in America offers that opportunity on a seemingly daily basis: I spent a decade advocating for greater restraints on executive power, while Republicans and Democrats repeatedly collaborated to undermine checks and balances in the years before Trump took office.
A new hope
Soon after the longstanding Israeli genocide in Gaza accelerated in October 2023, I wrote a post exploring the grassroots movement to challenge militarism in the U.S. It examined the American labor movement, and reviewed the inspiring successes of three particular labor leaders who I hoped might take action supporting an indigenous people facing a genocide enabled in Washington & Tel Aviv.
We, the People, can unplug the war machine
NOVEMBER 1, 2023
The world has watched in horror as a day of mass trauma for Isreal has escalated into an outright genocide of Palestinians living in Gaza. People around the world have taken to the streets by the millions in a global movement unrivaled by any since we tried to stop the American invasion of Iraq 20 years ago.
One of the labor leaders who I named as potentially crucial to ending the genocide was Chris Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union. He was fired by Amazon in 2020 in retaliation for organizing protests over working conditions, and went on to successfully organize his former worksite through a grassroots campaign focused on face-to-face outreach at locations including bus stops.
His leadership and contributions to the labor movement have been internationally recognized.
Smalls succeeded where any number of previous efforts by major unions had failed, and pioneered a resurgent model of labor organizing—focused on pounding pavement and building relationships across the rank & file—that had fallen out of favor in recent decades.
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Smalls was a young, working class Amazon warehouse employee and became one of the most renowned Black grassroots organizers in a generation. Meanwhile, his success using traditional organizing tools and strategies revealed that many seemingly more sophisticated techniques, such as those privileging institutional or digital outreach, were ultimately poor substitutes for more effective approaches they had displaced.
Taking action rooted in solidarity
Smalls recently joined the Handala, a civilian ship organized by the Freedom Flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza despite the internationally illegal Israeli blockade. His participation in the mission—to deliver baby formula, food, and medical supplies—excited me, for two reasons.
First, starving children in Gaza need those supplies desperately. Israel’s blockade of Gaza has denied even the most meager provisions to civilians including children, and represents intentional mass starvation. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been murdered and assassinated by occupying Israeli forces complicit in the war crimes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Any supplies that get through to Gaza could save the lives of whomever they reach.
Second, Smalls being on board suggested the possibility of the domestic labor movement engaging more broadly. To whatever extent my November 2023 article was a work of fantasy, Smalls joining the flotilla seemed to suggest it was coming to life!
His work challenging Jeff Bezos made Smalls a global labor hero. Coming from someone with such well-deserved respect across the labor movement, his recognition of solidarity of Gaza—and outspoken advocacy on behalf of human rights in Palestine—seemed like a gateway through which a broader constituency (both within and beyond the U.S.) might come to care about ending the genocide in Gaza.
Alongside the corruption of Congress, the courts, and the White House, militarism also relies on the participation of labor. Should an intersectionally resurgent labor movement assertively challenge genocide—by, for instance, maintaining strikes impeding any of a series of critical industries like transportation or shipping—Washington could be forced to capitulate to popular demands.
The plot thickens
The Handala left Gallipoli, an Italian port, about ten days ago. What the crew described as “two alarming incidents” on the day of its July 20 departure may have been acts of sabotage, but were ultimately addressed before the ship’s 21-person team fielded from 10 different countries proceeded on their mission.
Despite being peaceful, that mission was fraught.
Just one month ago, Israel assaulted a ship carrying a previous Freedom Flotilla mission, the Madleen. Israeli authorities abducted a dozen unarmed passengers, including journalists and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Those who declined to face tribunals were summarily deported.
As the Handala approached Gaza this past Saturday, July 26, it was intercepted in international waters by Israeli authorities who abducted all of the ship’s 21 passengers, including Chris Smalls.
Before Smalls was ever allowed to meet with a lawyer, he was reportedly assaulted in custody by seven Israelis wearing uniforms who “choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back.”
When he was finally allowed to meet a lawyer, Smalls remained surrounded by half a dozen armed Israeli agents.
Smalls was reportedly the only Black participant on the Handala flotilla. And, as far as we know at the moment behind the shroud of Israeli secrecy, he is the only one who has been subjected to arbitrary—and seemingly retaliatory—state violence.
His experience encapsulates the racism with which zionism has long been effectively synonymous.
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What happens next?
The first question is how the State Department responds to the detention of the seven American citizens on board the Handala, and the state violence targeting Chris Smalls. It’s no secret that America has failed to assert pressure on Israel in other situations, including situations in which American citizens (like Rachel Corrie, for instance) have suffered lethal violence by Israeli authorities.
Beyond the distressing situation on the ground, an exciting possibility offered by the Handala appears to already be emerging: the galvanization of a consensus among domestic labor unions. For instance, the California Faculty Association, representing 29,000 educators in the California State University system, issued a statement in solidarity and corresponding call to action.
I tend to think of phone calls to the offices of elected representatives as generally meaningless, since their positions are usually based more on the whims of industries and industrialists than voters. This moment however, might offer a unique possibility because (in contrast to situations pitting grassroots concerns against industrial interests) there is no domestic political constituency clamoring to detain, beat, and potentially torture Chris Smalls.
I urge you to call your elected leaders in Washington to demand that U.S. officials:
- defend the human rights of labor leader Chris Smalls and the other humanitarian activists aboard the Handala;
- ensure the overdue delivery of desperately needed aid to Gaza;
- cease military aid to Israel’s internationally illegal genocide continuing in Gaza; and
- prevent similar complicity in human rights violations elsewhere.
If you or a family member are a member of a union, I also urge you to contact your union representatives and invite your union to take an active stance defending Chris Smalls, as well as the international human rights principles he has endured violence in order to defend in Gaza.
