This is the longest blog I’ve ever written, I stared writing it before I finished sharing the last one and have been working on it all week. It’s a rolling account of event as they unfold and I’ve been sharing all my sources as I go, by the time of publication you’ll know the facts as well as I do. Facts are one thing, opinions are another – all opinions expressed here are mine except those that aren’t! I’ll no doubt be called “antisemitic” or a “terrorist supporter” by actual terrorist supporters, but they’re meaningless epithets.
It’s just a bunch of noise. You could mentally translate every word of every Israel apologist into shrieking gibberish without missing anything meaningful, because there’s no actual content in it.
Caitlin Johnstone
The Madleen is a tiny boat which can only accommodate 4 crew and 8 volunteers here’s a list.
Yasemin Acar – Germany
Baptiste Andre – France
Thiago Avila – Brazil
Omar Faiad – France
Rima Hassan – France
Pascal Maurieras- France
Yanis Mhamdi – France
Şuayb Ordu – Turkey
Greta Thunberg – Sweden
Sergio Toribio – Spain
Marco Van Rennes – The Netherlands
Reva Viard – France
Some reports suggests that Liam Cunningham was on board but he makes it quite clear in this interview that he is not – although they have his full support. Genocide in 4K: Liam Cunningham on Gaza https://youtu.be/znTKPzXLfrI?si=WhOhe6kJxb70fcoQ
The ship is registered in the UK, something that our government has only recently been made aware of, which puts Starmer in a difficult position. If Israel attacks the ship in international waters it would be an act of war, piracy if done by a non-state entity like Hamas. It’s a difference in terminology for the same act, most people are calling it piracy and I’ll go along with that. Either way Starmer’s readiness to go to war would be truly tested!
Although sailing under the UK flag there are no UK citizens aboard, half of them are French. This means that France also has an obligation to protect it’s citizens, but when Starmer and Macron met recently they rowed back on their commitment to recognise the state of Palestine – they would “work towards it” 🙄
The Madleen has already been diverted to rescue refugees off the coast of Libya, which they had both a legal and moral duty to do if they were the closest vessel even though they lacked the capacity to accommodate them or what to do with the survivors without a substantial detour. Handing them over to the Libyan Coastguard would be to return them to the very conditions from which they were fleeing, a choice that those aboard the Madleen found as repugnant as I do!
I didn’t know the outcome of this diversion until later, but Madleen was able to continue on its course until its GPS tracker was showing that their location was Jordan Airport 🙄 Realising that their communications had been jammed they installed a new tracking system which was also was jammed. This seems to show how far Israel is willing to go to avoid a confrontation with Britain and France. Editorial note: not much! Had such a confrontation taken place, I wouldn’t have been taking any bets on the result!
The problem with an insane regime is that they’re unpredictable, you don’t know what they’ll do next! Netenyahu decided to stick up two fingers to the rest of the world and board the ship in international waters! Some are calling it piracy but, as mentioned above, it’s technically an act of war. Those on board made prerecorded messages to be shared if the worst happened.
It’s hard to see how Starmer will wriggle out of this mess, he seems to have nailed his colours (yellow) to the Zionist mast!
Even if he were to resign, as he should, it’s difficult to see who could take his place. I can guarantee it will be no improvement 😠
The UK government, as usual, wants to appear to be doing something while doing bugger all! We have yet to learn what form these “sanctions” will take.
There has been a call for broader sanctions, not from the western media but from the Israeli paper Haaretz.
A majority of Israelis, as public opinion polls indicate, support the slaughter and are even waiting for the population transfer [ethnic cleansing] that is to come in its wake. Therefore, the pressure and the punishment must be directed at Israel in its entirety… Diplomats and decision-makers, do you get this? In Israel, all of us are now Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. All of us.
Via Jonathan Cook
In a sign that the tide is turning 96 MPs and peers have signed a letter to Starmer demanding real sanctions against Israel, unfortunately it’s difficult to read their specific demands in a screenshot.
Greta returned home to Sweden while others on the Madleen, including French MEP Rima Hassan, remained in Israeli custody because they refused to sign a blatantly false statement that they had illegally entered Israel. They were intercepted in international waters and taken to Israel by force! As Louise Raw says on X
Only Israel could criminally IMPORT people then deport them! Deranged!
Six more of have since been released. Greta says they were held incommunicado so were unable to co-ordinate a common response to their situation. Greta and others who were released were advised to do so by co-ordinators of Freedom Flotilla Coalition so they could report their experiences, those who remain are in solitary confinement and Thiago Avila has begun a hunger strike.
Lara, Thiago Ávila’s Wife, Reads His Letter from Solitary In Israeli Prison https://youtu.be/RawY01RUvoA?si=5BqPvgDHmrtfGn1K
The Freedom Flotilla was attempting to do what all nations should be doing and, in one sense at least, they’ve won ✊ UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese is calling for a Global Sea Fleet to Break the Siege of Gaza https://youtu.be/-RqSRvWs_Kg?si=cPo6FO_OETOhuPjU an appeal that’s difficult to resist. Another Freedom Flotilla boat is preparing to sail while a 7,000 strong convoy from Tunisia and Algeria is already heading overland to break the siege, joined by thousands of activists across the world.
Every post I see on X attracts a pack of Zionist trolls. What is most noteworthy about this selection, apart from the usual lies and mockery, is that they have very few followers for the time they’ve been on the platform – which is a good indication of how much impact they have. I could probably tell you more if I were to dig deeper, but it’s not worth the effort!
The Zionist propaganda machine is calling the Madleen a “selfie boat”, and the tame western media are obediently repeating it as gospel. Fortunately we have people like Lowkey calling them out on it:
https://youtu.be/ytSe5vZpyWI?si=cSUVU797Hyqimnpm
I couldn’t forbear pushing the despicable Piers Morgan’s words back in his face 😉
I frequently hear of Greta Thunberg being denigrated as an attention seeker who deliberately gets arrested to attract attention, they’re clearly using her autism against her. All activists, including online activists like me, seek attention – that’s the whole point of our activism. If we don’t attract attention then we’re ineffective, but that’s the only kind of activism that’s tolerated by the Establishment.
As a 76 year old pensioner with limited mobility I can’t compare with a physically active 22 year old young woman, but my work is starting to get plenty of attention. I’ll never be famous and nor would I want to be – imagine being invited onto a TV show to be harangued by Julia Heartless-Brewer 🙄
Israel has cut off internet connection to Gaza! Those of us who care already know what’s happening, those who don’t are quite content with the fodder they’ve been fed for years!
This explains a lot, and not just in the USA!
Crispin Flintoff will be reporting from Cairo https://youtu.be/YKi2mdsrLFU?si=VqjRFnCGDbCRJtb8
The march has been stopped by Egyptian authorities despite having the support of the Egyptian people. Pleading with police to allow the march https://youtu.be/_hn2uY1DlVw?si=fCQlR_nRjklUa2g-
I started this blog a week ago and can’t say it’s finished, it seems never ending! Israel has now started a war with Iran and Starmer regurgitates the old shibboleth “Israel has a right to defend itself”. He’s going even further this time, he’s sending the RAF to assist in the defence of Israel from retaliation by Iran! I’ve had enough 😠 #FreePalestine
thephilosophicalmuse 
I thought that was a great summary of the events surrounding the Madleen, its crew and their bravery. I got the feeling watching the events unfold that Israel would like nothing better than to blow them out of the water! They have encouraged many more people to join the Global March to Gaza is an upcoming civilian-led, international initiative to march from Egypt to the to the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip in Palestine. The support our government is giving to Israel will not be forgiven or forgotten. Thank you for your blog Mike. Solidarity.
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