The Greta Show fizzles out as Israel seizes activist boat; UN rep demands: "break the blockade"
Israeli forces have taken command of an activist propaganda vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and the boat with its crew of 12 including activist Greta Thunberg is now heading to a port in Israel, officials said on Sunday.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by the anti-Israel Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there.
However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on a social media account. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control.
"The 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry wrote on social media.
All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. "They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over."
Among the 12-strong crew are controversial Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
"The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 02:00," Hassan posted on social media. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air.
The yacht was carrying a performative shipment of "humanitarian aid", including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza. "The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it wrote.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.
Katz said he had instructed that upon the boat's arrival at Ashdod port, the activists will be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war.
Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people.
The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.
"Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid solidarity to Gaza," she wrote on social media.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray; Editing by Richard Chang and Lincoln Feast.)
