Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail to Gaza

I've come to a point where I really wanted to escalate my advocacy. I wanted to really show to the world that this is the time to be serious. Our governments and international institutions have sat by with 22 months of genocide and have not effectively stopped it. And not only that, many of them including my own government are actively participating in it. Not just complicit. Even as leaders have failed and governments have maintained their complicity, even as ports have continued to send weapons and to allow ships that are filled with weapons to dock. It's very clear and I hope that this flotilla is a symbol of this and the coordinated mobilizations that will be around the world, that the world stands for truth and justice in Palestine, and especially to my own government which has continued to break its own laws including the Leahy Laws and the Foreign Assistance Act to continue to send weapons to Israel which is preventing aid from being adequately distributed in Gaza from preventing aid from being from even entering Gaza, from promoting militarized aid through the GHF, for promoting the war crimes, for sending American citizens to co-commit war crimes with the Israeli occupation army.

So, my message to my own country is that it's time to end this. US citizens are going to be on board these boats because the US government has failed, because the US government has remained not only complicit but a participant in this genocide.

Before this flotilla, there were 37 maritime missions to Gaza since Israel's illegal siege began in 2007. So, this flotilla is bigger than all of the other missions combined. And it also builds on all of the lessons and all of the initiatives and the maritime missions that have come before to break Israel's illegal siege and open a humanitarian corridor. We've learned about bureaucratic sabotage. We've learned about physical sabotage. We've learned about all of the things that the Israeli occupation army tries to do to stop these things and all of these things. The steering committee are taking into consideration and I really think that this has a lot of potential to reach Gaza and to break the siege.

We are prepared for a variety of different types of outcomes. So obviously it's discussed that we could have sabotage in the ports. It's been discussed that we could have interceptions like the Medeline and the Handala, which were completely illegal, which were done in international waters. And we must emphasize that. It's possible that we could have an attack while we're at sea. The Israeli occupation army does not operate with the same moral rules and it does not comply by international law.

My message to Palestinians in Gaza is I'm so sorry for the failure of the international community and international systems to step in. And I'm not just talking about in the past 23 months. This genocide didn't start after October 7th. And I'm sorry that even for those who recently got engaged with this movement, it took something so extreme for such, so many people, in the world to stand with the Palestinian people. But I als, and I also want to say that the world is standing with you. That even as governments have failed that the people, the free people of the world stand with Palestine.

And my message to the journalists who have given their lives and are risking their lives to tell the truth is thank you. What you have done is not just report on Gaza. What you have done is not just report on Palestine. You have awakened the entire world. You have showed us what our governments are capable of. You have revealed that many democracies are fake. You have freed us of so many illusions and we owe everything to you. The truth that you risk your lives for is setting us free, we're going to do everything that we can to make sure that that is not in vain.

Sumber: Middle East Eye, https://youtu.be/OiWtT3UB3oY?si=aTC7Ac_iinewo__7, 30 August 2025. 

Greeta Thunberg (Sweedish Activist): The question here today is not why we are sailing. This story is not at all about the mission that we are about to embark. The story here is about Palestine. The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive. And the story here is how the world can be silent and how those in power, those who are supposed to represent us are in every possible way betraying and failing Palestinians and all oppressed peoples of the world. They are failing to uphold international law. They are failing to do their most basic legal duties to act to prevent a genocide to stop their complicity and support for an apartheid state and the occupation and the genocide of Palestinians. Israel are very clear about their genocidal intent. They want to erase the Palestinian nation. They want to take over the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians have been dehumanized to such an extent that they are only spoken of in terms of numbers and UN resolutions. But this story is also about a global uprising about how people are stepping up when our governments fail to do so. And what we are doing here is using our extreme privilege by living in a free world to listen to and act upon the calls of Palestinians. Them telling us to step up and end our complicity.

Saif Abukeshek (Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee): This is a nonviolent mission that is aiming to open a corridor of humanitarian aid, but for a political reason that is happening in Palestine. What is happening there is not a natural disaster. We cannot ignore the fact that Palestinians are being starved to death.
The first actions that they took since two 22 months was to block water, medicine and electricity and food on Gaza. The starvation that we are seeing in Gaza is intentional. It's man-made.

Yasemin Acar (Turkish Activist): We are 44 delegations and we are even more people from around the world joining this mission. We had 30,000 people signing up to be on this mission. Of course, we can't take everyone with us, but you will all be with us sailing to Gaza to break the Israeli illegal siege. We will be joined from joined from Greece, from Italy, from Tunis.
So we have to stand against the colonialism, apartheid, genocide together. We can only do this together if we unify.

Muhammad Nadir Al-Nur (Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee): We have been waiting too long for these governments to act. We have been waiting too long for these leaders to take action. And now we have taken the responsibility to take action in our own hands and to start moving.

Thiago Avila (Brazilian Activist): The story is not about us. When we think we're not afraid, we think that the risk that we go through in a mission like this is just a small fraction of the risk that every Palestinian in Gaza has to endure every single day. When we were in prison, we're saying, "What? How was the treatment?" Of course, it was bad, but it's nothing compared to 10,000 Palestinians that are in Israeli dungeons right now. 400 of them are children. And that's why we need to keep moving. And people say, "What about your family? What about the family of every Palestinian people?

Al Mayadeen English, 31 August 2025, https://youtu.be/8yEkUU1gLW8?si=Xq4iq4AaZelBNawX

what I have to tell the world is we cannot stop when they beat us down. We cannot stop when they intercept us. We have to continue because giving up is not an option. we have to stand in solidarity while taking action. We have been watching the slaughter for way too long. And while we are watching it, Palestinians are living it. And my heart goes out to
Palestinians. And we're only following their lead. And we will continue to follow their lead. And we will fight alongside Palestinians until the genocide stops, until Palestine is free, and until justice is served. So support this mission. Support global Flotilla. All eyes on Gaza, all eyes on Palestine and all eyes on these beautiful missions who are trying to save humanity.

Nicole Jenes Entertainment, 31 August 2025, https://youtu.be/3qdfZmIkdjo?si=vKO37Mtrf2rLxcAk

Hello, I'm Liam Cunningham. We are in the beautiful city of Barcelona and what you're looking at in the background is a small portion of the flotilla that is heading to Gaza to break the Israeli medieval siege. We are part of the Irish delegation and wonderful Caoimhe Butterly and the wonderful Tadhg Hickey are here and Caoimhe will tell you about one of our boats. So one of our boats is a legal support boat. It is constituted of international human rights lawyers and genocide scholars. And the aim of the Legal Support Boat is to really frame this flotilla in international humanitarian law say in the absence of governmental action that citizens from across the world are upholding international law. And we've been given the blessing of the family of Shireen Abu Akleh, the brave and beautiful assassinated Palestinian journalist to name our boat in her honor. So The Shireen, the legal support boat, will soon set sail to Gaza.

Source: MrTadhgHickey, 31 August 2025, https://youtu.be/IINM23LhbW8?si=6pUz4NxdDm4_1Got