Swedish activist Greta Thunberg lost control of her self-documented voyage to the Gaza Strip when the Israeli government intercepted her ship and detained those aboard.
Social media accounts representing Israel launched a widespread campaign of mockery against Thunberg and the other celebrities aboard the vessel, known as the Madleen, which they derided as a “selfie yacht.”
“The ‘selfie yacht’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel,” the Israeli government announced via social media. “The passengers are safe and were provided with sandwiches and water, and are expected to return to their home countries.”
Israeli authorities asserted that the “tiny amount of aid that wasn’t consumed by the ‘celebrities'” would be funneled into humanitarian networks for distribution in Gaza.
Photos of the arrest were published showing Thunberg, wearing a green frog hat, being handed a prepackaged sandwich by an Israeli soldier.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a statement Monday indicating that he ordered authorities to show the Madleen crew footage of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks that sparked the conflict.
The vessel was stopped before it could complete its intended journey from Sicily to the Gaza Strip, which is under maritime blockade by the Israeli military.
Thunberg, 22, launched the stunt with 11 other activists via the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The other crew members included Rima Hassan, a French Palestinian member of the European Parliament, and Brazilian social media activist Thiago Avila.
Israeli leaders warned repeatedly that the ship would be intercepted if it attempted to break the blockade surrounding the Gaza Strip following its departure earlier this month.
It appears that being apprehended was part of Thunberg’s plan, or at least a contingency for which the group was prepared.
Not long after Thunberg was apprehended, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition released a prerecorded video of the Swedish activist decrying the intervention of Israeli authorities as a crime.
“If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel,” she said in the clip, which was apparently filmed aboard the ship at night.
“I urge all my friends, family, and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible,” she added.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition also published a statement saying the ship was “unlawfully boarded” and its “unarmed civilian crew” was “abducted.”
The Madleen’s “life-saving cargo—including baby formula, food and medical supplies—confiscated,” the coalition wrote.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer scoffed at the notion that the ship was carrying a meaningful amount of humanitarian aid.
“To poor Greta, we say, who is really feeding Gaza and who is feeding their own ego?” Mencer said. “When it comes to this flotilla, it wasn’t a flotilla, it was a selfie yacht. It was Instagram activism.”
GRETA THUNBERG AID SHIP REDIRECTED TO ISRAEL, FOREIGN MINISTRY SAYS
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, decried Israel’s treatment of Thunberg and her cohorts, stating that the Madleen “must be allowed to continue its lawful humanitarian mission to Gaza.”
“The personal attacks on [Thunberg] and others aboard the Madleen are beyond the pale,” Albanese wrote on social media. “These are ordinary people stepping up where States continue to fail, risking everything to defend human rights —breaking the siege on Gaza.”
The Gaza Strip is suffering a severe food shortage due to the destruction of local infrastructure and an 11-week block on imported humanitarian aid by the Israeli military.
That ban was lifted earlier this year, but international bodies claim that the food shortage remains dire and demands greater aid than that being offered by Israel and the United States
