On the flotilla

Sharing a conversation with a friend

Yesterday, the boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other humanitarian workers was stopped en route to Gaza as it attempted to break the siege. It was, of course, known ahead of time that Israel would stop the boat. Similar to in 2010, when Israel stopped the flotilla and ended up killing 10 people on board (one Israeli soldier was also badly hurt), they did so in international waters. This means they had no jurisdiction actually to make an arrest. Today, this is the text message convo I had with a friend (their remarks are bolded, mine are not. lightly edited for clarity):

The Convo:

Beck, can I get your take on the Greta Thunberg situation? I’m really trying to see it from all sides.

I think it’s great that they tried to get to Gaza to give aid and break the siege, and illegal that Israel arrested them in international waters.

And would have also been messed up if they arrested them in local waters because the siege is inherently wrong

I don’t understand people saying it’s dumb because they were clearly gonna get stopped - if we want to move towards a peaceful existence, then we should be applauding all nonviolent means to do so. This threatens Israel’s control and Israel wants to maintain control. I think Israel has no right to control Gaza, to starve people, to bomb a whole society into oblivion.

Greta has insane privilege, I wish everyone with her level of privilege would use it in this way; this is one major way of how you create and normalize mass movements for justice.

But the hostage narrative?

They obviously aren’t hostages in the way Israeli civilians are/were kept in Gaza. Or the way Palestinians are kept in Israeli jails without even a charge against them, and no way to get free. But they were taken by a country in international waters with no legal means to do that - Greta said she’s being kidnapped. Without any legality, that’s correct. They weren’t arrested. Under what law could Israel arrest them? Under what jurisdiction?

Right, but advertising like they are? I feel like that’s the point that turns me off to it. Like seriously. There are real hostages. But wondering if I’m a bit too subjective.

I feel you, and maybe it’s not smart messaging, as it possibly turns from more effective messaging. But how often have you been turned off by the fact and, say, pondered the reality that Israel regularly takes Palestinians into jail with no legal reasoning or due process or way for them to go home?

True, but I do feel like I am at least aware of the injustices of the Israeli system and what happens to Palestinians in Israeli jails (a lot thanks to you tbh). But feel like the Greta hostage narrative is even disrespectful to those Palestinians. Like, there are real hostages. And they will get home within a few days to a week. But the Israeli hostages and the Palestinian prisoners don’t have that luxury.

No doubt they will be treated much better, Israel knows this is being watched. They decided to go and try to break the siege. I don’t think civilian hostages in either direction are comparable to their choice. They knew this would be the likely outcome. No one taken from Beeri or the streets of Gaza knew that or asked to risk their lives for it.

But like this question [of focusing on them saying they are being kidnapped] is focusing on a small issue compared to the big ones:

Why is there a siege

Why does Israel have the means of control to starve people

What is needed to break the siege? What nonviolent tactics can be used?

Can there be watershed moments for the thousands of boats going to Gaza? Would it be as easy for the army to just stop all of them? Or a watershed moment to just force the international community to act?

Why is it so terrifying for Israel to just let the boat through?

Why are we focusing on the use of this term when Israel illegally went into international waters and took people without any legal means to do so? Why is that not the convo? Do we believe that’s okay?

Why is that not the convo??? That’s the feeling. It feels like the Greta thing is just trying to make a statement without actually bringing up the real issues

Again, I am totally aware that I might have a biased opinion, that’s why I’m trying to educate myself and check my opinion.

I get that it’s a thing Israeli media is focusing on, but I think Israeli media would have found something to focus on no matter what was said because, again, there’s an inherent belief that this control is acceptable. We need to recognize that we are starving and killing people every day, our kids would be much less safe, and maybe not alive, if we were on the other side of the fence in Gaza.

True, but our kids are dead and dying on both sides.

Of course, but not in the same capacity and numbers. And generally, if we want bloodshed to end, also for Israelis, we need to end the current structures that have allowed them to flourish.

This.

That’s what nonviolent acts like this flotilla are aiming to do - bring awareness and highlight these structures that exist. Yes, it’s symbolic. Symbolism is incredibly important for political change through nonviolent means.

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A final thought - I probably don’t agree with every sentence said by people on the boat (I also haven’t watched every interview). As someone trying to create change through nonviolence, I believe it is important to remember that most nonviolence is almost always resisted with state violence. Most movements based on civil disobedience that eventually ended oppressive structures were incredibly criticized at the time by fellow citizens. We all know that ending the Vietnam War was correct, but at the time, people would hyper-focus on an activist's words. We all know in 2025 that Apartheid in South Africa was wrong. In practice, many people for a long time wanted to continue to normalize the structures that allowed Apartheid to continue. We all know today that white and black people should be able to take a bus together, but those who did it in the 1960s were ridiculed for being privileged college students.

The framing of this must be - it’s wrong for Israel (and would be wrong for any country) to control an enclave to the point where it can decide how many calories and how much water and how much baby formula can enter. Trying to change that structure, as symbolic and as privileged as it may be, is the right path of action. The siege must be ended, and Israel's control in Gaza must come to a complete end, forever.