The zionist state intensifies repression against solidarity flotilla

By Ruben Tzanoff

Israel threatens to apply extreme measures against the participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a level of repression to deal with terrorism. In this situation, working people and the forces of revolutionary internationalism must build active solidarity, organization and global mobilization.

Zionist shame

On Sunday, September 1, 2025, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s Security Minister, presented a plan to label all participants in the Flotilla —the historic civilian solidarity mission that set sail from Barcelona to Gaza to break the Israeli blockade— as “terrorists”.

The proposal includes detaining activists in maximum security prisons for “terrorists,” denying them even basic privileges such as television, radio or appropiate food.

This is a hardening measure different from previous flotillas whose participants were briefly detained before being released; this time, Israel plans to implement a policy of prolonged and repressive detention.

Authoritarian step forward

Ben-Gvir’s threat constitutes an authoritarian step forward that seeks to further criminalize international solidarity in its purest form: ordinary people bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. The organizers of the flotilla, led by activist Saif Abukeshek, have denounced this strategy as a tool to justify the continuation of Israeli crimes and to curb the visibility of the Palestinian cause.

This repressive climate calls for international solidarity, as the Flotilla faces not only risks at sea, but also risks of being repressed by the most powerful state in the region. Multiple governments and social movements must act to protect the activists and denounce this criminal policy.

The policy of the revolutionaries

The Flotilla’s voyage constitutes a humanitarian action. To label its participants as “terrorists” is to make a mockery of solidarity and human rights.

We must be clear: we demand effective international protection from all states and popular organizations. Denounce Israel and its complicit governments before world public opinion and international forums.

Multiply solidarity: caravans, mobilizations, logistical and legal support.

Reject the language of Zionism that reverses the roles: it is not the activists who are terrorists, but the genocidal state of Israel, its armed forces and settlers who practice ethnic cleansing and criminal blockade.

The struggle of the Global Sumud Flotilla is part of the struggle for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.

Let’s raise international solidarity

Today repression —and criminalization— is the shield they use to stop us. But we will respond with organization. With internationalism. With popular struggles that connect all the trenches: from the waves of the Mediterranean to the neighborhoods and factories of every country.