regnum.ru apparently didn't get the memo...
| Indeed. Yesterday we learnt here that actually one of the idiots on the boat misfired a flare gun. Nobody is out to get them — in that way, at any rate. What IDF frogmen might be doing under the surface of the sea is completely unknown. |
On the night of September 9, a dangerous incident occurred in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said. The flagship ship of the humanitarian project "Freedom Flotilla", on board of which was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was heading to Gaza, was allegedly attacked by an unknown drone.
| Meh. They’re stuck there until tomorrow anyway — some sort of repairs because they’re too stupid to do scheduled maintenance. |
The activists sailing with Thunberg believe the attack was an Israeli warning designed to disrupt their mission to deliver humanitarian aid to the enclave. However, as the course of the current mission shows, the process is much more important to its participants than the result.
HUMANITARIAN FLEET
The international confederation of volunteer organizations "Freedom Flotilla",
| Whose freedom, O Russian writer? Not of the Palestinians, who will continue to live under the totalitarian thumb of Hamas until the IDF frees them. Of the Jews? They have kept themselves free by watering the tree of Liberty for a century with lots of Jewish blood. The Israeli Arabs? Some of them have joined the Jews in watering that tree — the others just complain while enjoying the fruits of that watering. Is there anyone one else whose freedom the flotilla might be interested in? |
Their activities are supported by Hollywood actors, politicians and philanthropists of world renown, as well as ordinary activists. The total number of supporters of the project exceeds 50 thousand people, of which about 15 thousand are regular participants of the actions.
Since 2006, when Israel imposed a partial blockade on Gaza, Flotilla activists have been regularly rushing into the enclave, but, with rare exceptions, to no avail.
The previous large-scale attempt to reach the shores of Gaza in the summer of 2025 ended in failure. On June 10, activists under the command of Thunberg were arrested by an Israeli naval patrol and, after a “clear lecture” on the crimes of Hamas and its loyal groups in Gaza, were sent home by plane.
The detained ships were towed to Israel, and from there gradually returned to their home ports. The fate of the humanitarian cargo carried by the first flotilla is not known for certain.
The Israeli side claims that the medicines and construction materials were added to UN land convoys and transferred to the enclave. Some of the property, which had "signs of dual-use goods" (several lathes, fertilizers with saltpeter, etc.), was confiscated by security forces.
The activists themselves claim that their cargo never reached Gaza.
Less than two months later, they assembled a new humanitarian convoy. The second flotilla, named Sumud (Arabic for "fortitude"), consisting of twenty ships, left Barcelona on August 31. In the open sea, it joined the convoy from Genoa (9 ships), which had left the day before.
The organizers of the “sea march” expect that along the way they will be joined by several dozen more mini-caravans from other European and North African capitals, and the total number of ships in the flotilla will exceed 70.
Tunisia was designated as the final "assembly point" for the activists. In early September, the flotilla dropped anchor in the port of Sidi Bou Said, where it hoped to replenish its water and food supplies, as well as wait for the "lagging" caravans (about 30 ships) and load additional humanitarian aid collected by local sympathizers.
NIGHT RAID
On the night of September 9, the bow of the anchored Family Boat (the flagship of the flotilla, on which the movement's top brass headed by Thunberg were on board) suddenly caught fire. According to activists, they were attacked by an unknown drone that crashed into the side. The fire partially damaged the main deck and below-deck storage.
Some of the Flotilla members (like activist Yasmin Aker ) go even further and claim that the attack is an “Israeli military operation.” According to Anker, unknown UAVs accompanied the humanitarian convoy almost from the Spanish coast, keeping some distance and flying around the leading ships.
Thunberg and her supporters call the attack and previous incidents a "blatant threat" from Tel Aviv, designed to "lead them astray" and disrupt the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Tunisian authorities deny the UAV strike, explaining the fire on the vessel by internal malfunctions. According to the Sidi Bou Said administration, citing reports from the security services and the army, no unidentified UAVs were recorded flying over the waters.
Israeli military and civilian officials have not commented on the situation with the strike on the flotilla.
The issue would have been completely hushed up if not for the intervention of UN functionaries. In particular, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, spoke on the side of the activists.
It was she who drew attention to the “inhuman blow” to European activists, which ensured that the news hit the front pages of world newspapers and forced official Tunisia to react to what happened less formally.
An hour after Albanese's statement, Tunisian security forces blocked access to the port area and began a re-examination of the impact area and a search for UAV debris.
At the same time, the Internet was filled with photos of the Family Boat with traces of serious fire and destruction in the bow. However, most of the photos have obvious signs of retouching and the actual damage to the vessel is somewhat less.
However, the nature of the incident has not yet been fully established. The working version is that the UAV did not crash into the side of the ship, but dropped a small explosive device or container with an incendiary mixture on the vessel.
DELAYED PATH
At the moment, the Sumud flotilla is about 2,000 kilometers away from Gaza. The activists initially expected to cover the final stretch of the Mediterranean Sea by mid-September, but due to the incident with the Family Boat, the departure to sea has been postponed for several days.
The flotilla has already deviated from its course several times, delayed off the coast of Mallorca and returned to Barcelona due to bad weather conditions. As a result, the activists will only be able to arrive in Gaza on time if they move towards their destination without long breaks.
True, a new insurmountable obstacle is already looming on the horizon.
As the Israeli military operation in the enclave expands, a significant portion of the coastline is under their control. And the areas remaining "under Palestinian control" have been declared a high-risk zone.
For this reason, Thunberg and her supporters will not be able to slip into Gaza unnoticed, even miraculously bypassing Israeli naval patrols.
However, the activists are more concerned with the process than with the result. Their “journey” to Gaza is broadcast on streaming services almost in real time, and any incidents along the way, even the smallest ones, are made public and encourage numerous sympathizers to donate more money to the “irreconcilable organization.”
Even if the current mission fails, the activists will more than recoup their expenses and will be able to form a new "Freedom Flotilla" to challenge Tel Aviv once again. True, without the intention of winning this battle.