Civil Rights, Gaza, Israel, Legal, Militarism

Israel Seizes Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s Ship Madleen

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The Israeli military intercepted the sailboat early Monday and abducted its crew and participants and confiscated its cargo, Ann Wright reports.

(Camera onboard the Madleen)

By Ann Wright

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s sailboat, Madleen was intercepted in international waters early Monday by the Israeli military at 3:02 am CEST at 31.95236° N, 32.38880° E and its crew has been brought to Israel.

The ship was unlawfully boarded, its 12 unarmed civilian crew and participants abducted, and its life-saving cargo —including baby formula, food and medical supplies — confiscated, as well as personal possessions taken.

To the knowledge of the Flotilla organizers, no one from the Madleen was injured during the interception.

[Israel took the boat to the Port of Ashdod south of Tel Aviv, CNN reports. Israel says it will deport the Madleen’s crew and participants, BBC reports.  But only after the crew is forced to watch a 45-minute video reportedly showing atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to a tweet by Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz.

U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese is calling for the immediate release of the captive and for more boats in the region to continue to challenge Israel’s sea blockade around Gaza.]  

Immediately after the interception, the crew and participants were moved from the Madleen and taken to an Israeli ship. That is only the second time that crew/participants have been taken off a flotilla ship. The first was in 2011 from the Dignite, which sailed from France.

Prior to the intercept, drones flew around Madleen and a white powder substance was dropped on the decks. It is not known what the substance was.

After losing communication with Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition began posting pre-recorded video messages from those onboard, [including high-profile activist Greta Thunberg].

“If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupation forces, or forces that support Israel.”

Amnesty International put out the following statement:

“By forcibly intercepting and blocking the Madleen, Israel has once again ignored its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip. The crew were unarmed activists and human rights defenders on a humanitarian mission. They must be released immediately and unconditionally. They must also be protected from torture and other ill-treatment.”

British MP Nadia Whittome tweeted:


French leftist leader Jean-Luc Melenchon told a rally in Paris:

“The crew members of the Freedom Flotilla went barehanded in a small boat to face genocide and a blockade. The arrest ordered by Netanyahu is an act of piracy in international waters, coupled with the detention of an elected official under parliamentary immunity.”

SOS messages from the volunteers have been sent to the world. 

In a statement issued by the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Huwaida Arraf, human rights attorney and Freedom Flotilla organizer, said:

“Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen. This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade — their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”

The statement continued,

“Israel is once again acting with total impunity. It has defied the International Court of Justice’s binding orders to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, disregarded the international laws protecting civilian navigation, and dismissed the demands of millions worldwide calling for an end to the siege and genocide.”

This latest act of Israeli aggression follows the unpunished Israeli drone attack on May 1, 2025 on the flotilla’s vessel Conscience, which left four civilian volunteers injured and the ship disabled and burning in European waters. That unprovoked attack on the Conscience is a violation of international law that has not been addressed by the international community.

Now, Israel has escalated its violence by targeting another peaceful civilian vessel.

“The world’s governments remained silent when Conscience was bombed. Now Israel is testing that silence again,” said Tan Safi another Freedom Flotilla organizer. “Every hour without consequences emboldens Israel to escalate its attacks on civilians, aid workers, and the very foundations of international law.”

Flotilla lawyers will meet volunteers while they are in prison in Israel and advocate for their release.

Flotilla organizers are asking for volunteers to put pressure on embassies to arrange immediate consular visits to the prison to speak with the French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Turkish, Brazilian and Dutch citizens who have been captured.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition demands:

• An end to the illegal and deadly siege of Gaza.
• The immediate release of all abducted volunteers;
• The immediate delivery of humanitarian aid directly to Palestinians that is independent of the control of the occupying power
•Full accountability for the military assaults on Madleen and Conscience.

Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a colonel.  She also was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years.  She resigned in 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq. She has been in Israeli prison twice with the Gaza flotilla missions and has been on segments of four other missions.  She is the co-author of Dissent: Voices of Conscience.

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8 comments for “Israel Seizes Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s Ship Madleen”

  1. John
    June 13, 2025 at 10:51

    A rather small boat to use to deliver aid to so many people in need. Palestinians very much need aid but exactly how much aid can that tiny boat packed with people carry? And was it just the one tiny boat?

  2. Will
    June 12, 2025 at 10:11

    trying to imagine a “Freedom Flotilla” successfully entering the Warsaw Ghetto w/ humanitarian aid.

  3. LeoSun
    June 11, 2025 at 12:54

    …… *“You Have Not Yet Been Defeated.”

    “The centre is treason because there’s room in it only for the General…. The centre is treason and I have never been a traitor. They think they’ve pushed us back into the margins. They don’t realise that we never left it, we just got lost for a brief while. Neither the ballot boxes not the palaces or the ministries or the prisons or even the graves are big enough for our dreams. We never sought the centre because it has no room except for those who abandon the dream. Even the square was not big enough for us, so most of the battles of the revolution happened outside it, and most of the heroes remained outside the frame.“ Alaa Abd el-Fatah

    “[NOT] all the power and money, not all the weapons and propaganda on earth can any longer hide the wound that is Palestine. The wound through which the whole world, including Israel, bleeds.” Arundhati Roy.

    hxxps://pentransmissions.com/2024/10/15/no-propaganda-on-earth-can-hide-the-wound-that-is-palestine-arundhati-roys-pen-pinter-prize-2024-speech/

  4. LeoSun
    June 11, 2025 at 12:18

    Awh, the “Madleen,” a smart risk? a disaster? OR, a Crew “After My [Our] Own Heart?” No doubt, the latter! And, “People of conscience, everywhere,” Agree. Echoing, “A smart risk!” Inphkndeed!! The Madleen’s Crew, knew, “Safe Passage,” on land, in the air, &/or, on the sea, was NOT guaranteed; BUT, “[BREAKING] the 40-year illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza; &, [STOPPING] the 600-day genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” by creating, upon arrival, a humanitarian corridor,” was worth the risk, the potential sacrifice of life, “swimming w/the sharks,” i.e, illustrated, above, in “Madleen.”

    At any time, the shark can yell, “Shark attack!” And, @ the moment, “the shark,” Israel, seized the Madleen!!! The Crew, imo, w/grace, w/“One heart. One love,” stood righteous, bold & brave!!! “With the sharks of large states lunging at one another across the world,” 1) “Most of all, France calls for a ceasefire as quickly as possible and the lifting of the humanitarian blockade. This is a scandal, unacceptable, that is playing out in Gaza. What’s been happening since early March is a disgrace,” Mr Macron said;

    2) “Well, [Thunberg is] a strange person. She’s a young, angry person. I don’t know if it’s real anger; it’s hard to believe, actually. But I saw what happened. She’s certainly different. Anger management. I think she has to go to an angry management class. That’s my primary recommendation for her.” Mr. Trump said.

    “Whaddabout, Thunberg’s claim that she had been kidnapped?” AND, DJ “The Big $hot” Trump’s response, “I find it—I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg. Is that what she said? She was kidnapped by Israel?” “Yes, sir,” the reporter said, to which Trump responded by shaking his head. Followed by ZERO f/pushback @ DJT’s WH f/Roundtable. *“By refusing to acknowledge or name the genocide in Gaza, and persecuting those who do,” reveals *“The Useful Idiocy of Donald Trump.” IMO, “BB’s B*tch!”

    May 11, 2025, “Israel has faced mounting international criticism over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where the UN has warned the entire population faces famine.” What about tomorrow? What should, could, would happen tomorrow?

    ….. “The immediate release of the captive and for more boats in the region to continue to challenge Israel’s sea blockade around Gaza.” Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    “Keep It Lit!” TY, Ann Wright, CN, et al. * hxxps://consortiumnews.com/2025/05/29/chris-hedges-trumps-useful-idiots/

  5. Susan G Crowell
    June 10, 2025 at 11:29

    I had posted one powerful message on Substack from the Madleen that I think deserves amplification or, at the least, tracking.

    On June 8, 2025 12 activists on board the Madleen, including Greta Thunberg, reached the Egyptian coast and were close to realizing their “humble mission” to support Gaza and to ask the international community to wake up. On June 9, Israeli forces boarded the Madleen and detained the 12 activists in international waters. All aid for Gaza was confiscated. Connection was lost to the outside world. The ship was seized. Informed by history activists pre-recorded the inevitable.

    On May 31, 2010 the Gaza Freedom flotilla attempted to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Nine activists were killed and many others were injured.

    Today, the call to the international community, which has consistently turned its back on Palestinians, is to responded with a flotilla (or fleet) to Gaza, representing citizens of all countries that is at least a hundredfold. Imagine 200, 500 or even a thousand ships carrying aid in the name of humanity. Perhaps the war would end. That would be quite remarkable.

  6. Bushrod Lake
    June 10, 2025 at 11:21

    The “impunity” is staggering. Will no one (else) STOP THIS SLAUGHTER?

  7. Mark Stanley
    June 10, 2025 at 10:41

    Piracy–in international waters. Maritime law is clear on that. But if they had approached the coastline they technically would have been in Palestinian territory, even though it has been controlled by the occupiers for many years. I am unclear how that would work out legally.

  8. Che Guerra
    June 9, 2025 at 19:16

    “Those who make peaceful change impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
    – President John F. Kennedy,

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