[Order Michael Finch’s new book, A Time to Stand: HERE. Prof. Jason Hill calls it “an aesthetic and political tour de force.”]
Greta Thunberg and her fellow Israel-haters on the Global Sumud (Arabic for “steadfastness”) Flotilla have suffered some setbacks in their attempt to “break the blockade” in Gaza by bringing humanitarian aid to the Strip. The fifty boats in the flotilla first left Barcelona on August 31, but a storm forced the boats to return to port the very next day. Eventually, the flotilla set off again, and it made its slow way, braving the waves, choosing to make a stopover in Tunis before setting off again for Gaza. And now this collection of nearly 1,000 pro-Hamas and anti-Israel activists are a few days away from making their way to the coast of Gaza, where the publicity stunt will come to a triumphant end when the IDF boards the ships and tows them into port, and the international media gets its videos — the whole point of the exercise — of the cruel Israelis stopping the flotilla’s aid from getting to the Gazans. Who would be hard-hearted enough to remind the world that since the day the flotilla first set sail, the Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has delivered ten million more meals to the people in Gaza?
More on the flotilla, with the attention-seeking autistic Greta Thunberg aboard one of the ships, and on the latest claim of a drone attack by the IDF, can be found here: ” Alleged ‘drone’ incident leaves Gaza flotilla shaken – analysis,” by Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, September 9, 2025:
The Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla has been shaken by what its members claim was a drone attack. Although the flotilla members have said that “Nothing can silence the voices of peace nor the momentum of international solidarity,” it’s clear that the incident in the early hours of September 9 has left them with concerns.
Tunisia has denied that a drone struck one of the boats of the flotilla. Video appears to show some type of flaming object striking the 33-m. boat Family, one of the larger vessels in the flotilla.
Flotilla members said that the incident took place at 2 a.m., claiming, at 4 a.m., that their “determination” was still powerful….
It would not make sense for the Israelis to be using drones to attack the ships in this flotilla. The IDF knows perfectly well that any damage to one of these ships, or to its crew members, by Israel, would cause colossal uproar. The Israelis only want to prevent the flotilla from offloading their cargo in Gaza, and they can do that by boarding the ships when they get much closer to the Strip, and taking them to an Israeli port.
In the wake of the alleged drone attack on September 9, the flotilla has remained anchored off the coast of Tunisia. They are near the marina of Sidi Bou Said, a bucolic coastal town north of Tunis.
Why would Israel try to attack a ship in the Sumud Flotilla with a drone? It wouldn’t. But such a charge by the flotilla will receive worldwide attention, as an example of the cruel Israelis preventing humanitarian aid from getting through.
And all this time Israel continues to serve one million meals every day.
The flotilla organizers are dead-set on making the “drone” attack a major story. There is no independent confirmation of that attack. The Tunisian government has flatly denied that such an attack took place. Even though it is a strong supporter of Hamas, Tunisia won’t support a fabrication.
Now the flotilla can present itself as being under active attack by Israel, with the suspect claim that an IDF drone attacked the “mother ship” of the flotilla. The video that shows a bright flash in the middle of the night — how strange that someone in the flotilla was awake with a camera pointed exactly at the place where the flash would appear — could also be of fireworks, set off aboard the vessel, or of a fire started accidentally, as the Tunisian authorities insist happened. This could then be claimed to have been an Israeli “drone strike.” That will bring more sympathy for the volunteers sailing in solidarity with the “people of Gaza,” to bring them humanitarian aid which the flotilla participants pretend is not being delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The Tunisian authorities are adamant: they announced on September 9 that there had been no evidence of a “drone attack,” but rather, it must have been an internal, accidental fire, possibly caused by a cigarette or a lighter. The Tunisians, as anti-Israel as the flotilla participants, have every reason to affirm the “drone” claim, but they have refused to do so. Tunisian authorities have not detected a drone, and a National Guard spokesperson told the AFP news agency that the claims of a drone attack “have no basis in truth.”
I trust the Tunisians’ dismissal of that claim about the “drone.” They have no reason to lie. And I know that the flotilla participants will use every occasion to make up stories that will blacken the name of Israel.
