[News] Gaza ‘Freedom Flotilla’ sets sail from Italy with Greta Thunberg, Susan Sarandon onboard

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Gaza ‘Freedom Flotilla’ sets sail from Italy with Greta Thunberg, Susan
Sarandon onboard

A multinational crew has set sail from Sicily in a high-stakes protest
voyage amid rising global outrage and a worsening humanitarian crisis in
Gaza

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

JUN 2, 2025 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/gaza-freedom-flotilla-sets-sail-from-italy-with-greta-thunberg-susan-sarandon-onboard
(Photo credit: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)

Renowned climate activist Greta Thunberg and actors Guy Pearce, Susan
Sarandon, and Liam Cunningham have joined the multinational Freedom
Flotilla Coalition (FFC) of activists who boarded the Madleen ship to set
sail for Gaza on 1 June, in a direct challenge to the blockade on the strip.

The initiative aims to bring attention to the siege of Gaza and pressure
governments to act as the humanitarian crisis in the enclave worsens.

The Madleen civilian ship departed from Catania, Sicily, on Sunday and is
crewed by international activists, medics, and other volunteers dedicated
to restoring the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The small vessel is expected to reach Gaza by 8 June, where activists will
attempt to breach the Israeli-enforced blockade on the besieged enclave,
carrying a meager but ‘symbolic’ amount of humanitarian aid.

According to organizers, the mission serves both as a protest and a
humanitarian effort, described as a last-ditch attempt to urge world
governments to take immediate action and restore safe channels for
delivering essential aid and medical supplies.

“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to
keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our
humanity,” said Thunberg at a news conference before departing from
Catania, where the mission’s final launch event took place.

“No matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous
as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being
genocided,” Thunberg added.

The latest FFC mission was met with mockery by some Israeli and US figures,
with US Senator Lindsey Graham posting on X
<https://x.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1929266986455814415>, “Hope Greta and
her friends can swim!”

This humanitarian undertaking comes one month after Israel attacked
<https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-drone-bombs-gaza-freedom-flotilla-near-malta-coast>
the first FFC aid vessel that was en route to Gaza with two drone strikes
while in international waters off Malta after launching from Tunisia,
resulting in dangerous breaches to the hull of the vessel, threatening to
sink it.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20250602/61c72839/attachment.htm>