Israeli forces intercepted the Freedom Flotilla vessel, Madleen, early Monday, June 9.
The ship, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza amid Israel’s three-month blockade of the enclave, and 12 international volunteers, was attacked in international waters. As of now, lawyers from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition have been unable to establish contact with the crew members.
In response to widespread international outrage at the blatant violation of international law, Israeli officials and media outlets went on the offensive, launching a smear campaign demonizing the activists on the flotilla, particularly Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, accusing them of “antisemitism”.
After instructing the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to prevent the boat from reaching Gaza, the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, threatened the activists onboard the Madleen in a statement on Sunday, June 6.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her friends, I say clearly: You should turn back, because you will not reach Gaza,” Katz said.
In a bizarre comparison, Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, described Greta as “another Viking taking to the seas in the form of a Swedish climate activist.” The newspaper claimed that Greta’s participation in the humanitarian initiative to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza resembles “the major beginning of the Viking takeover of Western Europe” in the year 793.
The Jerusalem Post went further in its slander against the 22-year Swede, alleging that her activism has been “notorious” for the past seven years, becoming a “poster girl” for “the anti-establishment camp”.
Moreover, the Israeli media outlet continued to defame Greta, portraying her as a “symbol of selective empathy”, who is “willfully blind” as she “stands, knowingly or not” with Hamas, to which it referred as a “terror regime”.
Israel also used children in its propaganda to attack Greta and the other Freedom Flotilla activists. A video posted by former Israeli government spokesperson, Eylon Levy, on X, showed a number of Israeli children in a boat, with one of them warning Greta and her companions aboard, while labelling her as a “supporter of terror”.
“We’re the children of Israel. We’re looking for Greta’s boat. We have something to say to you all,” the child said, “We are coming to get you,” he warned.
