On Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted and boarded the Handala, an aid ship that attempted to reach Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots international collective that has worked to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza since 2010. According to the coalition, IDF soldiers beat and choked the American labor activist Chris Smalls, who was onboard the ship. Smalls is most well-known for co-founding the Amazon Labor Union.
The Handala, which carried food, baby formula, diapers and medicine, was attempting to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza, as Palestinians there continue to starve in what UN-backed hunger experts have called a “worst-case scenario of famine” that is unfolding.
“The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, US human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals. They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition wrote in a statement posted on Instagram on Tuesday morning.
“When his lawyer met with him, Chris was surrounded by six members of Israel’s special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists. We condemn this violence against Chris and demand accountability for the assault and discriminatory treatment he faced.”
In a statement to the Guardian, the Israeli foreign ministry wrote: “Contrary to the claims made, the passenger violently resisted. This was a planned provocation intended to create media attention. We emphasize that no other passenger made a similar claim.” The Guardian has contacted Smalls for his response to the foreign ministry’s allegations.
Smalls, the only Black person onboard the boat, was one of 21 members of the group who were detained. Others included 19 civilians, including parliamentarians, medics and engineers, and two journalists. Jacob Berger, a Jewish American actor who shared on Instagram that Smalls was in “great spirits” after his detention – everyone else who was detained, he said, should be released on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The interception of the Handala came as more than 30 Israeli public figures called for “crippling sanctions” over Israel’s starvation of Gaza. Donald Trump said he wanted “to make sure [Gazans] get the food, every ounce of food” during a recent meeting with the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.
The Handala was not the first effort by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition to deliver aid to Gaza. Previous attempts, including one in June in which Greta Thunberg was arrested, were also intercepted by Israel. In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 activists setting sail for Gaza on the Mavi Marmara.
“We are calling on others around the world, definitely our countries, to live up to their obligation of enforcing international law, of protecting human rights, but also other institutions that are founded to do the same,” said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American attorney and Handala member, in an appearance on Monday on Democracy Now. “We should not be waiting for Israel to give permission for food or other humanitarian aid to enter … we need to be breaking, challenging and breaking the blockade.”
While they were onboard the flotilla, Araf said that the US government did not make contact with the seven American members of the crew, though France, Spain and Italy contacted their citizens to offer consular services after their detention. It is not yet clear if Smalls or any other American citizens have been contacted since their detention.
They were “legitimizing Israeli piracy on the high seas. And that is unacceptable to us,” she said, referring to countries that offered services following the illegal boarding in international waters.
“And that is the kind of impunity that our governments, all governments, really, have been allowing Israel to just violate international law.”
