{"id":41624,"date":"2025-06-03T13:22:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=41624"},"modified":"2025-06-03T13:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:22:50","slug":"freedom-flotilla-sets-sail-for-gaza-carrying-aid-and-demands-end-the-blockade-end-the-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/06\/03\/freedom-flotilla-sets-sail-for-gaza-carrying-aid-and-demands-end-the-blockade-end-the-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom Flotilla Sets Sail for Gaza Carrying Aid and Demands: ‘End the Blockade. End the Genocide’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"'Freedom<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg speaks surrounded by other participants in the latest Freedom Flotilla Coalition effort to deliver shipborne aid to Gaza, during a June 1, 2025 press conference in Catania, Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Fabrizio Villa\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“No matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide,” said climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is aboard the Madleen<\/em>.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BRETT WILKINS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jun 02, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A dozen Palestine<\/a> defenders including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg<\/a> and a French lawmaker set sail from Sicily<\/a> on Sunday aboard a boat carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza<\/a>, many of whom are starving amid Israel’s ongoing U.S.-backed genocidal assault and siege and decadeslong naval blockade of the coastal enclave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said it launched the sailboat Madleen<\/em>\u2014named after Gaza’s first and only known fisherwoman<\/a>\u2014from Catania, Italy at 4:00 pm local time Sunday “in direct defiance of Israel’s illegal and genocidal blockade.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Madleen<\/em> symbolizes the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience and the growing global resistance to Israel’s use of collective punishment and deliberate starvation policies,” FFC said in a statement<\/a> Sunday. “The ship is carrying urgently needed supplies for the people of Gaza, including baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children’s prosthetics.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international volunteers aboard Madleen<\/em> include Thunberg, French Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan<\/a>, German refugee advocate and FFC steering committee member Yasemin Acar<\/a>, Brazilian FFC steering committee member Thiago \u00c1vila<\/a>, Al Jazeera<\/em> reporter Omar Fayad, French doctor Baptiste Andre, French journalist Yanis M’Hamdi, Turkish engineer \u015euayb Ordu, and crew members Mark Van Rennes, Reva Seifert Viard, Pascal Maurieras, and Sergio Toribio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I am aboard\u00a0Madleen<\/em>\u00a0because silence is not neutrality\u2014it is complicity,” said Hassan, who is banned from entering\u00a0Israel<\/a>\u00a0due to her outspoken support for Palestinian rights. “The Palestinian people in Gaza are being starved and slaughtered, and the world watches. This ship is not just carrying aid, it is carrying a demand: End the blockade. End the genocide.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DKYncvpo_kl\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thunberg said that “we are seeing a systematic starvation of 2 million people. The world cannot be silent bystanders, Every single one of us has a moral obligation to do everything we can to fight for a free Palestine.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Madleen<\/em>‘s launch came a month after the Conscience<\/em>, another FCC aid vessel traveling in international waters off Malta, was attacked<\/a> twice, presumably by Israeli forces. No one was harmed in what FFC said was a drone strike on the ship. However, the activists were forced to abort their humanitarian mission. Israel has not commented on the incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madleen<\/em> also set sail nearly 15 years to the day after Israeli forces raided<\/a> a Gaza Freedom Flotilla convoy carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza. The attack\u2014which also came in international waters\u2014left nine people including Turkish-American teenager <\/strong>Furkan Do\u011fan<\/a><\/strong> dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FFC said Sunday that the “unarmed and nonviolent” mission “poses no threat” and “sails in full accordance with international law. Any attack or interference will be a deliberate, unlawful assault on civilians.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those aboard the Madleen<\/em> said they were aware of the dangers they faced. Israel has killed<\/a> numerous Western activists and journalists<\/a> who document its human rights violations over the years, and just last month Israeli troops opened fire<\/a> on a group of international diplomats visiting the illegally occupied West Bank two days after three involved countries issued an ultimatum to stop annihilating Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,” a tearful Thunberg said<\/a> during a Sunday press conference. “Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Activist Greta Thunberg says silence is more dangerous than sailing to Gaza, as she boarded a vessel that will try to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla had to abandon its last attempt on May 2 when it was bombed. pic.twitter.com\/ieecZ8ps0E<\/a><\/p>— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 1, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>