The Israeli Navy blocks the Global Sumud headed for the Strip off the coast of Crete. Between videos, accusations and sanctions, the conflict over the effectiveness of the mission is reignited, considered a media initiative with no concrete impact on a humanitarian level.
According to what was reported by security sources and the activists themselves, the Israeli Navy launched an interception operation against the flotilla headed towards the Gaza Strip, with the aim of preventing the violation of the naval blockade imposed by Israel on the enclave controlled by Hamas. According to maritime monitoring systems, the so-called Sumud Global Flotilla — made up of 58 units — was in the waters off the island of Crete, several hundred nautical miles from the Israeli coast, when it was reached by the naval forces of the Jewish State. This is an intervention that took place much further away than previous episodes: in the past, in fact, the arrest operations had been carried out near the Stripwhich the convoy was supposed to reach by the weekend. A video released by the organizers documents the moment of radio contact with an Israeli officer, who invites the activists to change their route. «If you intend to send humanitarian aid to Gaza, you can use existing official channels. We ask you to reverse navigation and return to the port of departure. Alternatively, you can head towards the airport Ashdod» states the voice in the video. Obviously the answer was negative.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Israeli released images which, according to its version, would show the discovery on board one of the boats of material not attributable to humanitarian aid, including condoms and narcotic substances. The activists, who left Spain at the beginning of the month, had already promoted a similar initiative the previous year, also involving the Swedish Greta Thunberg and other participants, but carrying limited quantities of goods intended for the civilian population. The Israeli authorities they have repeatedly dismissed these missions as operations with a strong media impact but with limited concrete results. In this key, the flotilla appears to be an initiative which, beyond the visibility obtained, does not produce real effects on a humanitarian level. It is an evaluation that fits into the broader debate on the effectiveness of these actions: a propaganda operation, completely useless compared to the declared objectives. Israel also reiterates that aid continues to flow into the Strip through official and controlled channels, while several humanitarian organizations contest this version, denouncing an insufficient flow compared to the needs of the population.
On the political level, the Minister of Defense Israel Katz announced the introduction of sanctioning measures against a fundraising campaign linked to the flotilla, accused of being linked to Hamas and other international organizations, despite presenting itself as a humanitarian initiative. “The sanctions represent an important step to interrupt the financial flows destined for the flotilla”, reads the note released by the ministry, which underlines how the objective is to discourage donors from supporting what is defined as a terrorist organisation. It is not yet clear what the concrete impact of these measures will be. However, Israeli legislation allows Minister of Defense to order the seizure of assets attributable to entities designated as terrorist or intended for purposes of this type. Meanwhile, the mobilization has started from the mission’s ground operations center. Demonstrations have been called for April 30th in various Italian cities. «Is the European Union aware of what is happening? Next time will they come to pick us up directly at our homes?”, declared the Italian spokeswoman Maria Elena Delia which evidently lacks a sense of the ridiculous, while videos shot by activists during operations at sea are multiplying online. And so, between accusations, conflicting narratives and strong media exposure, the story once again reignites the political conflict surrounding the blockade of Gaza.
