Israel’s IDF gives the Gaza Freedom Flotilla sandwiches made from Challah bread
“Greta Thunberg is currently on her way to Israel, safe and in good spirits,” says Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in early hours of the morning.
At around 3 a.m. on Monday morning, the Israeli Navy boarded the Madleen, a small sailboat launched by the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition. Branded the “selfie yacht” by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the vessel was intercepted in international waters and towed to the Port of Ashdod without injury. Shayetet 13, Israel’s elite naval unit, completed the operation peacefully.
But the real battle, as always, was on social media.
As Israeli forces approached, alarms sounded onboard. Activists posted videos claiming they were “surrounded by warships,” that the boat was being “kidnapped,” and that they were now “hostages of Israel.” One participant warned the world via Instagram: “We are being hijacked.”
Meanwhile, the IDF calmly offered water and sandwiches. The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the stunt what it was: a made-for-Instagram performance masquerading as humanitarian action.
Let’s be honest. This wasn’t an aid mission—it was a floating media event. The ship carried less than a truckload of supplies, while Israel, under fire and duress, has facilitated over 1,200 aid trucks into Gaza over the past two weeks. If the mission were truly about delivering help, the organizers would have used the Ashdod route like every NGO on the ground.
The message from the MFA was clear:
“The passengers are expected to return to their home countries. While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity — and which included less than a single truckload of aid — more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.
“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip — they do not involve Instagram selfies. The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the “celebrities” will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels.”
Freedom Flotilla crew as the IDF enters the 18 meter yacht, flying under a French flag as Barcarole
One of the participants on the boat, a French and Syrian citizen, Rima Hassan, a Syrian refugee who came to Niort, France at age 9 and who was recently denied entry into Israel for her denial of October 7 atrocities.
I have been to Syria and it’s such an antisemitic country that when I was there knew I could “actually” be kidnapped if I mentioned just the word Israel or that I had been planning on visiting Israel after my trip to Jordan. Instead, you say Disneyland. Me and my travel companion Cara had spies following us around Aleppo, the same paranoid city from which Rima is from. Syrians are bred to hate Israel and Jews with a passion, and it’s no doubt she has carried vengeance for Israel as she attempted to “break the siege” to enter Gaza.
Rima is abusing the freedom of western values to try and destabilize the Middle East through peddling lies and instigating mentally-challenged people with autism like Greta Thunberg to risk their lives in a cause that is meant to stew breed contempt and harassment of Jewish people globally. Thunberg has since abandoned the cause of climate change.
Other members of the “flotilla” of one include Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham—alongside individuals with known ties to pro-Hamas propaganda, and one who attended the funeral of Nasrallah, the head of the Hezbollah terror organization.
The IDF, anticipating the media backlash, made efforts to engage the ship through civilian maritime communication. A video later published showed Israeli officers politely instructing the vessel to redirect to Ashdod, where aid could be legally processed and sent to Gaza.
Instead, the flotilla chose social media confrontation, armed with phone cameras and hashtags set up in advance.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered that Thunberg and the others be shown raw footage of the Hamas-led October 7 massacre so they understand why Israel is trying to return its hostages and remove Hamas from power: “It is appropriate that antisemitic Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters see exactly who they came to support.”
The term “antisemitic” may sound harsh—but this flotilla never mentioned Hamas rockets falling on Israeli kindergartens. It made no distinction between innocent Gazans and genocidal militants. And while Greta amplifies every detail of Israel’s military operations, she remains silent on Iranian executions, Syrian prisons and mass executions of which Rima is very familiar; she doesn’t mention China’s Uyghur gulags or the killing of Yemenis by the Houthis.
You can’t claim the moral high ground while sailing with people who excuse child slaughter. Activism without ethical clarity becomes hate theatre. In this case, it’s dangerous theatre.
At Green Prophet, we believe in environmental justice and human rights. We support Palestinian dignity and freedom—but we reject moral relativism that glosses over terror. You can fight occupation without glorifying those who massacre innocents.
I once interviewed the mayor of Ashkelon Benny Vaknin about a peace initiative he launched nearly 15 years ago. His city borders the Gaza enclave, and he had developed a plan to offer sewage treatment technology—freely—to the people of Gaza. He had secured funding and partners in Brazil, and was prepared to meet the then-mayor of Gaza Maged Abu Ramadan in a neutral location to start the work. But when the Gaza mayor requested permission to travel, Hamas shut it down. Shutting it down by Hamas doesn’t mean they lock your office, it means they threaten your life. That’s the reality: you cannot negotiate with terrorists.
Any form of cooperation with Israel, even for humanitarian projects, is branded as “normalization”—a dirty word in the vocabulary of extremists. It’s not about peace. It’s about control, suppression, and sustaining conflict. Hamas—and the activists who blindly support them—aren’t interested in building a future. They thrive on perpetual division and chaos.
When I called out the so-called “Freedom Flotilla” for what it really was, I was immediately blocked by its organizers. They know that when a white, liberal woman from Europe sees through their narrative and speaks out, it deflates the entire performance. Because that’s what this flotilla was: a performance. Not for peace, but for provocation.
This boat wasn’t hijacked. It hijacked the truth.
Read all our coverage of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla here.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
