Analysis
Nation committing genocide arrests peace activists
While Tel Aviv is accusing the activists of having violated the blockade on entry imposed on the Strip, Lubna Tuma emphasizes that the blockade itself is “illegal and therefore entering Gaza does not violate anything. All blockades that reduce a population to starvation are illegal.”
Within a few minutes a dozen Israeli soldiers storm aboard. Then, darkness.
“We are throwing our phones into the sea. See you very soon. Stop the genocide,” Emma Fourreau, a French member of the European Parliament and part of the crew of the Handala – the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) ship directed toward Gaza – had written shortly before on X. It is just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 26; three Israeli navy ships surround the vessel, the outcome already a given.
A few hours earlier the crew reported the presence of a drone overhead. Then communication lines were blocked, and all footage of what was happening live on the Handala was intentionally tampered with by the IDF, as is evident from the videos circulated online.
The FFC ship – the second after the Madleen – set off on July 20 in the direction of Gaza to challenge the Israeli siege, deliver humanitarian aid and a message of solidarity to the Palestinian population exhausted by bombings and hunger.
At the moment of their arrest, the Handala activists were sitting together at the center of the vessel, wearing life jackets and with their arms raised as a sign of surrender.
“The authorities presented them with two options: accept so-called ‘voluntary deportation’ or remain in detention and appear before a court to have their detention pending deportation reviewed,” reads the statement released Sunday evening by Adalah, a legal center run by Palestinian Arabs in Israel and the only Palestinian organization that can operate before Israeli courts in defense of the human rights of Palestinians.
Antonio Mazzeo (Italy), Gabrielle Cathala (France) and Jacob Berger (United States) accepted expulsion from Israel; the other 18 activists were tried starting at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, July 28, continuing until late afternoon at the Detention Review Tribunal in the Givon prison facility in Ramleh.
The first hearing was for Tony La Piccirella, an Italian activist who refused the expedited procedure. “He was relatively well: physically, mentally, and in good spirits,” lawyer Lubna Tuma of the Adalah legal team, who was able to meet with La Piccirella on Sunday morning, tells us. “Like the others, he has been on a hunger strike since 6 p.m. on the day they were intercepted by the IDF.”
Tuma speaks to us from outside the Israeli courthouse; she is awaiting the end of the hearings and the court’s decisions. This time, the document for “voluntary” repatriation is written in English, but in other cases – as happened with the Madleen activists – it is in Hebrew and the detainees do not understand what it says.
“Even if the activists understood the language and content of the document, they refused to sign because they wanted to continue their humanitarian mission. But whether they sign or not is irrelevant, they will be deported anyway” within 72 hours, explains the Adalah lawyer.
The press release issued Monday morning reiterates that “Israel is handling the activists’ custody as if they had entered the country illegally, even though they were forcibly taken from international waters and brought to Israel against their will.” An operation described as “a grave violation of international law,” since the governing jurisdiction in this case would be that of the ship’s flag state.
While Tel Aviv is accusing the activists of having violated the blockade on entry imposed on the Strip, Lubna Tuma emphasizes that the blockade itself is “illegal and therefore entering Gaza does not violate anything. All blockades that reduce a population to starvation are illegal.”
“We witnessed actual physical assaults, shoving,” said Antonio Mazzeo, who accepted the accelerated repatriation, upon his arrival at Fiumicino airport. Mazzeo says he received insults that the court’s cultural mediator refused to translate into Italian. Christian Smalls, from the United States, also reported serious physical violence by Israeli forces, and several female activists described similar abuses and deplorable detention conditions, including a lack of ventilation despite extreme heat and the absence of basic hygiene products.
The news broadcast of RAI’s main television network did not deem the arrest of the two Italians in Israel and the blockading of the humanitarian ship to be news, at least until Monday afternoon.
We are reminded of the words of Nigerian writer Teju Cole, who in one of his last essays asks people to “Resist the language of distraction, which is just another name for the toleration of evil. And when you are told you may not resist, resist that, too.”
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/freedom-flotilla-in-ogni-caso-gli-attivisti-verranno-deportati on 2025-07-29