Israel says it will screen 7 October attacks to Greta Thunberg and other activists after Gaza-bound aid boat 'diverted'
The Israeli military will show Greta Thunberg and other activists footage of the 7 October attacks after a Gaza-bound aid boat was diverted to Israel, the country's defence minister has said.
Early on Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry said that the British-flagged yacht Madleen - operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) - "is safely making its way to the shores of Israel".
All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry added, sharing footage of the activists being handed sandwiches and water.
In a statement via his spokesperson, defence minister Israel Katz said that he has instructed the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to screen footage of the 7 October attacks for those aboard when they arrive at Ashdod Port.
"Antisemitic Greta and her Hamas -supporting friends should see exactly what the Hamas terrorist organisation - which they came to support and act on behalf of - truly is," he said.
"They should see the atrocities committed against women, the elderly, and children, and understand whom Israel is fighting to defend itself."
He commended the IDF for its "swift and safe takeover" of the vessel, and said the Israeli military "will continue its just and moral fight against the Hamas murderers until their defeat, the release of all hostages, and the full restoration of Israel's security".
Israel's foreign ministry said earlier that those aboard the Madleen "are expected to return to their home countries" and that the humanitarian aid aboard the ship would be transferred to Gaza through established channels.
Ms Thunberg was "safe and in good spirits" while en route to Israel, it added, calling the vessel "the 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities'".
The FFC claimed the passengers on the yacht had been "kidnapped by Israeli forces" and released pre-recorded messages from them after previously saying that the "Israeli army had boarded" the vessel.
Climate campaigner Ms Thunberg, 22, was one of a dozen activists aboard the Madleen, which set sail from Sicily on 1 June on a mission aiming to break Israel's sea blockade.
In a statement later on Monday, Hamas condemned the detention of the Madleen crew, calling it a "flagrant violation of international law".
The group also said: "We salute the free solidarity activists of various nationalities who steadfastly confronted the threats and affirmed that Gaza is not alone."
"The detention of Madeleine (sic) will not silence the voices of the free," it added, "nor will it halt the growing tide of global solidarity with Gaza".
Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament, who is of Palestinian descent, was also on the boat.
She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israel's policies towards Palestinians.
Ms Hassan wrote on X as the FFC's yacht was allegedly surrounded by other vessels: "The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2am."
The diversion of the Madleen came after Mr Katz said that he had instructed the IDF to prevent the vessel from reaching the shore and to "take whatever measures necessary".
Addressing Ms Thunberg and the other activists on Sunday, he said: "You should turn back - because you will not reach Gaza."
Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month after a three-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas and preventing the group from importing arms.
But humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless there is an end to the blockade and the 20-month war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people.
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military campaign. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
2:38
An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group's vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta.
The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.
Francesca Albanese, United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, also urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.
She said on social media: "Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Channel 4
22 minutes ago
- Channel 4
Gaza health ministry reports 14 killed in attack near aid site
Israeli forces and local gunmen, who appear to be working with them, have again opened fire on Palestinians heading to a US-backed food distribution centre. The Gaza Health Ministry and hospitals said 14 people were killed. Early this morning, Israel intercepted a boat of campaigners carrying aid trying to reach Gaza to break the sea blockade. On board were Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists, who were all detained and taken to Israel. Warning: this report includes distressing images from the start.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
IAEA chief relays Iran warning against Israeli strikes on nuclear facilities
CAIRO, June 9 (Reuters) - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said Iranians warned him that an Israel strike on the country's nuclear facilities could cause Iran to be more determined about developing a nuclear weapon, according to an interview broadcast and published on Monday. 'A strike could potentially have an amalgamating effect, solidifying Iran's determination – I will say it plainly – to pursue a nuclear weapon or withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,' Grossi said in the interview, published on the Jerusalem Post website and broadcast on i24 TV on Monday. Grossi, however, doubted that Israel would strike Tehran's nuclear facilities, the Jerusalem Post reported. The Iranian nuclear program "runs wide and deep," Grossi told the Jerusalem Post. "Disrupting them would require overwhelming and devastating force." Tehran and Washington have recently engaged in Oman-mediated nuclear talks. Iran is set to hand a counter-proposal for a nuclear deal to the United States via Oman, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, in response to a U.S. offer that Tehran deems "unacceptable". Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take actions that could disrupt nuclear talks with Iran. "I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution now," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "That could change at any moment." Trump and Netanyahu are expected to speak over the phone on Monday.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Left-wing activists like Greta Thunberg care more about fame than facts
This image will forever be compared with the horror show of the actual kidnap of hostages by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups. There are girls younger than Greta, with bloodied pants, their Achilles tendons cut; a mother clutching her two red-haired children whom we now know are dead; a terrified old lady being abducted. It is said that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will force Thunberg and her crew to watch the brutal footage recorded on October 7. I doubt this will make much difference. In 2023, the IDF showed Hamas body cam footage collected after the Nova festival attack to the press in London. Most of the viewers were in tears but certain activist 'journalists' came out saying there was no proof of women being raped as they had not been shown that. Thunberg, like so many of her generation wrapped up in their made-in-China keffiyehs, are not interested in the specifics of this conflict. This is what happens when a young girl with a penchant for protest becomes too feted. She addressed national parliaments and Davos as a climate activist and was interviewed everywhere, so she must have grasped the fact that her youth and passion energised many. Unsurprisingly, then, her symbolic power was soon commodified as she appeared at protest after protest, morphing effortlessly from climate change activism to Palestinian solidarity. Political activism is now algorithmic. Hey, if you liked that cause, then try this one. The 'Left' these days often seems little more than a collection of disparate causes: eco stuff, trans rights and Free Palestine. The contradictions between these beliefs are underplayed as they become bundled together as an omnicause. I first heard that word used in 2023. The omnicause can incorporate everything from animal rights to emptying the jails. Forget the single issues that require specific, often boring campaigning: the omnicause is a moronic vacuum where analysis goes to die. It is a product partly of the horizontalisation of social media. By this, I mean that something such as Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police, which had relevance in America a few years ago, gets picked up here… even though we have a quite different population and methods of policing. Those protesting what is happening in Gaza are not all uninformed, but many are. Younger people recruited from Just Stop Oil (and now presenting as Youth Demand) have stopped soup-throwing in favour of this new pressing cause. But they have not talked about famine in Yemen or the atrocities of Sudan. Interconnectedness has its limits, after all. There may well be links between climate change and war. Many argue that drought was a factor in the unrest that led to the Syrian civil war. The omnicause, though, does not do specifics. It favours symbolic demonstrations that can go viral. These simplistic spectacles of righteousness often backfire. What did Fossil Free Books achieve, for instance? It decided to campaign against companies that had any connection to Israel. The result was that investment firms such as Baillie Gifford stopped funding book festivals. How this helped either the environment or indeed the Palestinian cause is something of a mystery. Thunberg's stunt has been similarly self-aggrandising and vacuous. Watching footage of this climate activist and her mates all chucking their expensive phones into the sea as they were about to be taken by the Israelis showed that, of course, when the chips were down, environmental concerns went out of the window. The omnicause does not require logic, consistency or even coherence. It is closer to acting than activism. It depends on melodrama and a narrative of provocative images. Thunberg may be brave and have been prepared to sacrifice herself – though for what, exactly, I am not sure. But now we have seen the pictures, I am afraid that what she has sacrificed has been her integrity. The omnicause burns itself out in the end because it has no actual strategy. It simply signifies tribal loyalty. It gobbles everything up and spits out its participants, who simply move on to the next 'wrong' thing. You might think that, for Thunberg, her ship has sailed. But that does not mean she won't clamber aboard the next one that hoves into view.
