On Monday, the sailboat Madleen – part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) – was stormed in a nighttime raid by the IDF. Surrounded by Israeli speedboats and drones, armed combat units boarded the ship as its 12 passengers, including Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, sat in the main cabin of the boat with their hands above their heads, fearing for their lives.
With Israel reportedly jamming the boat’s communications, the radio signal was lost, while all members of the crew were told to throw their phones in the water. From above, a white paint-like chemical was sprayed on the deck, causing irritation to the activist’s skin and eyes.
Western media has used all kinds of deceiving wordplay to make Israel’s actions appear legal or justified. In the capitalist press we read that the IDF simply ‘took control’ of the Madleen, ‘diverted’ it, ‘intercepted’ it and ‘detained’ those aboard. But this is false through and through. In reality the armed forces of the Israeli state travelled into international waters to illegally kidnap 12 innocent civilians.
Just imagine the international outcry if something similar was carried out by another nation. But because it was Israel, they get a free pass.
Not the first time
Taking place more than 150 kilometres from the coast of Gaza in international waters north of Egypt, Israel’s kidnapping shows once again that they have no qualms with ignoring the so-called ‘rules’ of international law. Whether in Gaza, the West Bank or abroad, Israel is consciously carrying out its policy in the face of all sorts of UN-resolutions, international court orders, etc.
The Madleen reaching Gaza was out of the question. The Israeli regime would never have allowed it, as it would be seen as a symbolic victory for the Palestine movement. True to their modus operandi, Israel responded with excessive force, with Minister of Defence Israel Katz stating that the IDF were prepared to use “any means necessary”. Never mind that the 12 activists were unarmed and simply carrying baby formula, food and medical supplies on board.
This is far from the first time that Israel has taken extreme measures to stop aid from coming into Gaza through civilian flotillas. Just last month, Israel attacked another vessel of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition with two military drones, injuring multiple crew members on board. And back in 2010, six FFC ships were raided by Israel, also in international waters, with the IDF killing ten of the passengers and wounding thirty more. No Israeli soldiers were ever sentenced for the murders.
International solidarity
This time, because of the media attention on the Madleen and the presence of Greta Thunberg, Israel probably felt that they could not put the ship under direct fire. Instead, they tauntingly filmed themselves handing out sandwiches to the crew members, all the while letting Gaza starve.
The abduction of the crew, who are now being deported from Israel, immediately sparked a wave of spontaneous demonstrations across the world.
Demonstrations took place in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, India and beyond. In France, more than 150,000 came out in support, with 50,000 gathered at Place de la République in Paris alone.
On social media, many immediately began talking about sending thousands of boats to Gaza at the same time, to overwhelm Israel and break the blockade.
Together with the rising number of big Palestine demonstrations in recent months, the immediate outpouring of anger against the abduction of the Madleen’s crew is a clear sign that the mood everywhere is reaching boiling point.
The solidarity movement with Palestine has seen enormous mobilisations. Millions have taken to the streets worldwide. Tens of thousands of students occupied their campuses in the militant encampment movement. We have seen heroic yet desperate individual acts, like Aaron Bushnell’s self-immolation. Western governments have ignored them all. Millions are now drawing the conclusion that if the Palestinian people are to be saved, it will be against the actions of our own governments.
Millions are looking for different, more effective methods. The Freedom Flotilla, and the march currently being organised in Egypt to the Rafah crossing, are gaining support precisely because they aren’t simply all talk, and are instead taking concrete actions without waiting for the assistance of western governments. They have become a reference point for millions who want to break the blockade and put an end to the suffering in Gaza.
Hypocrisy
This growing anger is now leading governments to strike a tougher tone with Netanyahu. They fear the rage building up beneath them. They are on top of a volcano, and, as Netanyahu steps up the genocide, they fear what will happen when it all explodes.
In a cynical balancing act, the reactionary governments are trying to pacify the mass of workers and youth with crocodile tears and empty posturing – even though it is they themselves who have enabled 20 months of genocide!
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is now calling Israel’s blockade “morally wrong” and “unjustifiable”, while using words like “monstrous” to describe the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. But this does not change the fact that he and the British government are exporting weapons to Israel at the highest rate yet, as well as carrying out reconnaissance missions over Gaza hand in hand with the IDF – the most recent of which set off to Gaza after the abduction of the Madleen’s crew.
Likewise, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has now called the genocide a “human tragedy and political catastrophe,” saying that “when lines are crossed, when international humanitarian law is truly being violated, the German chancellor must say something about it”.
When people turn on the news and hear these words spoken by the self-same people who have been (and are still) ardent defenders of Israel’s massacre in everything but words, they can see this about-face for the pure hypocrisy that it is. Words and a change of tone don’t change the fact that western governments continue to support and enable Israel’s genocide.
While western governments have kept money and arms flowing to Israel, the reactionary, western-aligned Arab regimes in the region have almost all assisted Israel’s genocidal blockade of Gaza. It is up to the working class to break the blockade of Gaza and to impose its own blockade on the Israeli regime.
Class struggle
The recent freedom flotilla has posed the question of direct action to break the blockade. The question is, how can this be done?
The working class holds the key to this fight, because it has the power to organise and enact an international embargo on Israel. The international working class can take the fight directly to the nerve centres of the capitalist system that lets Israel continue its blockade; the factories, the docks and the shipping lanes.
Alongside the mass support for Madleen, we have also seen a rise in workers taking direct action to stop the shipment of arms to Israel. Dockers’ and transport unions in Belgium, Sweden, India, Spain, France and Italy have all blocked shipments to Israel in the face of stiff opposition from the bosses and their own governments. This is the way to do it!
Collective class action can directly challenge Israel and its imperialist backers. Through strikes and by refusing to transport weapons and goods to Israel, the working class in all countries can be called on to join the struggle. This would immediately take the fight against the genocidal siege of Gaza to a far higher level after a year in which there has been a constant search for where to take the movement next.
Palestinian trade unions, just days after 7 October, sent out a call for its international counterparts to refuse to build and transport weapons destined for Israel, and to take strike action against those companies complicit in the genocide. It is time that pressure is brought to bear on the trade union leaders to put this into effect.
More than this, the key to the liberation of the Palestinian people lies in overthrowing the reactionary regimes that have aided and abetted Israel. When the working masses of the Middle East overthrow the reactionary Arab regimes, the next job will be to come to the material aid of the Palestinian people. In the West, our main task is to overthrow our own governments – governments that are soaked in the blood of the Palestinian people; blood that they are hastily trying to wipe clean from their hands as they look nervously at the building mood of rage in society.
