By Sam Levine
On the morning of June 8th, off the coast of Egypt, Israeli forces intercepted the Madleen; a vessel of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition carrying needed humanitarian supplies. Food, baby formula, and medicine are desperately needed by the people of Gaza who are being intentionally starved by Israel.
News and outrage of the abduction of the Madleen and its crew has spread across the world, largely because one of its passengers is prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, along with 11 other activists from various countries.
While the abduction of the Madleen and its crew is tragic and disgusting, it hardly comes as a surprise, as Israel has repeatedly detained, harassed, or even killed activists, journalists, and aid workers with impunity.
A previous Freedom Flotilla voyage in 2010 ended with a raid by the Israeli military that killed 9 activists who were attempting to deliver humanitarian aid and construction materials to Gaza.
The activists on the Madleen embarked on their journey knowing this history and the risks with Greta saying, “We deem the risk of silence and the risk of inaction to be so much more deadly than this mission.”
While the Madleen may not have reached the shores of Gaza, it did succeed in its mission to bring attention to the horrors caused by Israel’s siege on Gaza. The Madleen’s capture displays to the world that it is Israel, rather than any Palestinian faction, that is preventing much needed aid from entering Gaza.
Many have died while trying to complete the same mission as the Madleen in delivering aid to Gaza and bringing the world’s attention to the horrors unfolding. The UN reported that more humanitarian aid workers have been killed by Israel over the course of the genocide in Gaza than at any point in the UN’s history.
The Committee to Protect Journalists currently puts the number of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza at 184, making this the deadliest era for journalists since the CPJ started recording data.
In September 2024, Israel shot and killed Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi who was protecting Palestinian communities in the West Bank from demolition.
The activists onboard the Madleen are carrying on the legacy of these activists, aid workers, and journalists by exposing to the world that Israel is intentionally starving the Palestinian people in order to complete the complete eradication of the Palestinian people..
The 12 passengers of the Madleen showed more courage than the entirety of the Western political establishment combined who cannot do something as little as condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza with the US recently vetoing a UN Security Council resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire.
We don’t know what the fate of the 12 activists will be as they sit in Israeli detention, but our tasks as citizens of the world are clear. In a prerecorded video made in anticipation of their arrest, the activists call on us to pressure their governments to secure their release.
While advocating for the safety and freedom of the Freedom Flotilla activists, we must also remember what they were advocating for: the immediate end of the siege and an end to the occupation of Palestine. In an interview with Democracy Now, before the ship’s abduction, Greta said “we must also remember that this mission is not about us. It is not about the voyage or the people on board. This mission is about Palestine. It is about the genocide, the occupation, ethnic cleansing and the other methods of war and oppression that are being used by Israel against the Palestinians. And we do not only need humanitarian aid to be let into Gaza. We do not only need a ceasefire. We need an end to the occupation.”
When asked what her message to the world is, Greta answered, “My message is that right now international law is failing us. International institutions, our governments are failing us. Media, our companies are all failing us…There’s no one we can turn to to rescue the situation, but it falls on us to step up, to…send a clear message that we will not stand for what is happening right now.”
It’s at home that we continue the Madleen’s journey, and take action as Greta described. By “flooding the streets, organizing, boycotting, and speaking up on all platforms”, we can make our message heard.
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Sam Levine is a MAPA intern and a student at Emerson College