Israeli commandos intercepted early this morning the ‘Madleen’, the British-flagged ship that sought to defy the blockade of Gaza and protest Israel’s bloody offensive on the Palestinian enclave, and detained the dozen activists on board, including well-known climate activist Greta Thunberg, in what the so-called Freedom Flotilla Coalition called a ‘hijacking by Israeli forces’.
‘The ship was illegally boarded, its crew of unarmed civilians was abducted, and its vital cargo, which included baby formula, food and medical supplies, was confiscated,’ UN special rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese said in a statement. She was in telephone contact with the ship’s captain while the vessel was in international waters when she suddenly heard Israeli soldiers talking in the background, and then the communication was cut off.
The news was confirmed by several international agencies and by the Israeli foreign ministry itself, which in a message posted on the social networking site X (formerly Twitter) referred to the “celebrities’ selfie yacht” as being taken to an Israeli port – probably Ashdod – from where “the passengers will be returned to their countries of origin and aid will be delivered to Gaza through established channels”. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz, who had described the initiative as a mission in support of Hamas, said he had given orders for the activists to be shown videos of Hamas atrocities committed during the attack launched on 7 October 2023.
11 activists plus French Al-Jazeera journalist Omar Faiad were on board the Madleen – which left a week ago from Sicily – including Swedish celebrity activist Greta Thunberg but also French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, German Yasemin Acar, Frenchmen Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi and Reva Viard, Brazilian Thiago Avila, Dutchman Marco van Rennes, Sergio Toribio from Spain and Suayb Ordu from Turkey.
Lessons learned from the boarding of the ‘Mavi Marmara’
Precisely Ordu, in statements made hours before the boarding of the Madleen, had made it clear that neither he nor the rest of those on board would offer any kind of resistance to prevent the Israeli military from finding an excuse to attack them, as happened in 2010 during the bloody boarding of the ‘Mavi Marmara’, in which 9 activists were killed by Israeli commandos.
“If something happens to me, if I am killed, let it be known that I did nothing. Even if they hold a gun to my head and shoot, I will not raise my hand. I won’t say a word, I won’t even look them in the eye. We are going peacefully, and I have the utmost respect for my friends on board and their safety,” Ordu stated via his Instagram account. “If they come and board this boat, we will put on our life jackets, sit empty-handed, and wait. We will not take any action that may provoke them. We will not react in any way. If in spite of this, they cause harm to any of us, know that they will be lying,” he insisted.
“As a Turkish citizen, I am a potential scapegoat. I may be the most at risk person in this boat. Rima Hassan has the European Parliament behind her. But I am an unknown. They may want to take their anger out on me. Other Turkish citizens have been disproportionately mistreated before. They may try to label me as a ‘terrorist’ because of my religion. They will want to discredit the whole Gaza Flotilla expedition in this way,” the Turkish activist said quoted by Turkish media.
During a video broadcast of the boarding by Israeli forces, Ordu himself is seen saying within minutes that they will not put up any resistance: “Even if something happens to us, continue to resist. We did this so that the babies don’t die“.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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