[News] More than a boat: The Gaza Flotilla as a symbol of a growing global movement

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Comments <https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/>
More than a boat: The Gaza Flotilla as a symbol of a growing global movement
Ramzy Baroud <https://english.palinfo.com/authors/ramzy-baroud>

Wednesday 10-September-2025

One needs only to examine the actions and rhetoric of the Israeli
government to fully appreciate the profound significance of the solidarity
flotillas bound for Gaza. As the latest and most significant of these
efforts, the Global Solidarity Flotilla sets sail, Israel’s hostile
discourse has intensified, articulated most forcefully by National Security
Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The extremist minister has ominously declared that all the volunteers on
board the Flotilla are “terrorists,” vowing that they will be treated as
such. To grasp the chilling meaning of treating non-violent activists as
terrorists, one must consider a recent investigation by The Guardian
newspaper. The report exposed that of the 6,000 Palestinians detained in
Gaza during the first 19 months of the genocide, all were held under a law
that classifies them as “unlawful combatants,” thus terrorists, allowing
for indefinite imprisonment.

This investigation revealed that the vast majority of those incarcerated by
Israel are in fact civilians, including medical workers, teachers,
journalists, civil servants, and children. The fact that Israel would
extend this same draconian definition to international activists, whose
declared mission is to break the siege on Gaza, powerfully underscores the
political and strategic value of these missions in Israel’s eyes.

Israel’s deep-seated fear of civil society involvement in its military
occupation and war on the Palestinian people is not a recent development.
The ongoing genocide has merely highlighted the utter failure of the
international legal and political system and, in turn, the rising
importance of civil society.

When the first solidarity boat, sent by the Free Gaza Movement, reached
Gaza in 2008, Israel was incensed. The activists served as crucial
ambassadors, educating their communities about the Israeli siege on the
Strip. Tel Aviv’s response to the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which
included the MV Mavi Marmara, was lethal. Israeli commandos killed 10
activists, sending a stern message that Israel would not tolerate any
interference, even from well-known and respected Western-based charities,
in its war against the Palestinians.

Since then, treating activists as criminals has become standard operating
procedure, bolstered by the fact that not a single Israeli has ever been
held accountable for the outrageous violence against civilians. This,
however, has not deterred solidarity activists, who have attempted to sail
again and again – in 2011, 2015, and 2018. The eventual infrequency of
these missions was not due to a lack of interest, but rather the fact that
some European countries, in coordination with Israel, did everything in
their power to prevent the activists from setting sail.

This dynamic has shifted dramatically with the current genocide. Solidarity
with Palestinians in Gaza has surged and now dominates many European
societies, eventually winning the support of various governments, including
Spain, from which the latest Global Solidarity Flotilla has embarked.
Starting from Barcelona, the boats are to be joined by others along the
way. They will collectively carry vital supplies to Gaza, knowing full well
that their chances of being intercepted and seized, along with their
life-saving cargo, are far higher than their chances of reaching the
besieged coastal Strip.

This stark reality has been reinforced by recent events. The Conscience
flotilla, for instance, was targeted by drones off the coast of Malta last
May. Meanwhile, the Madleen and Handala were seized and confiscated in June
and July. Prior to the targeting of the Madleen, Defense Minister Israel
Katz described Greta Thunberg, the renowned international activist who
joined the flotilla, as “antisemitic.” He issued a warning: “You’d better
turn back .. because you will not reach Gaza. Israel will act against any
attempt to break the blockade or to assist terrorist organizations.”

This fury echoes the angry language and violent actions consistently used
by Israeli governments against anyone or any entity that dares to challenge
the Israeli siege on Gaza. But why such fury? These seemingly small,
underfunded initiatives are, on their own, hardly enough to break the Gaza
siege or to feed the two million people who are experiencing both a
genocide and famine.

Israel is fully aware of the potent effectiveness of civil society action
in the case of Palestine. In fact, most of the advocacy for Palestinian
rights globally does not originate from those who purport to represent the
Palestinian people, but from civil society at large. This includes a wide
range of actions: political advocacy that lobbies governments, legal
advocacy that holds states accountable to international law, economic
pressure through divestment and boycott initiatives, cultural and academic
boycotts, and massive grassroots mobilization.

The solidarity flotillas are therefore a powerful expression of how far
civil society is willing to go to do the work that should have been the
responsibility of governments and international institutions. Ben-Gvir’s
explicit threat to treat activists as “terrorists” is a direct reflection
of Israeli fears and, paradoxically, a powerful acknowledgment of the
international solidarity movement’s growing influence.

While it is ultimately the Palestinian people, their sumud (steadfastness),
and resilience that will defeat the Israeli stratagem, one must not
underestimate the critical role of international solidarity. The freedom
flotillas are not isolated acts to be judged based on their ability to
reach Gaza. Instead, they are a vital piece of an intricate global process
that will ultimately lead to Israel’s profound isolation on the
international stage — a process that has already begun with considerable
success.

*-Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of the Palestine Chronicle.
He is the author of five books. His latest is ‘These Chains Will Be Broken:
Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons’. Baroud is
a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global
Affairs (CIGA) and also at the Afro-Middle East Center (AMEC).*
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