Israel
Greta says she was kidnapped, the Israeli navy hand out sandwiches
Ship of activists heading for Gaza intercepted by Israeli navy
June 9, 2025 08:25
Ship of activists heading for Gaza intercepted by Israeli navy
June 9, 2025 08:25Israeli naval forces on Monday intercepted the vessel carrying Swedish national Greta Thunberg and other activists to the Gaza Strip, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, handing out sandwiches to the 12 passengers.
Calling it the “selfie yacht” of “celebrities,” the ministry said the activists had been given sandwiches and water and were being safely transported to the shores of Israel. The ministry declared that “the show is over” and that the activists would be sent back to their home countries.
While the ministry posted a picture of Thunberg being offered a sandwich, stating she was “on her way to Israel, safe and in good spirits,” the keffiyeh-clad climate activist claimed in a video message that they were “kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel.”
Terrorists in Gaza currently hold 56 hostages – both alive and deceased – out of the 251 kidnapped during the October 7 massacre.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the interception “a blatant act of international piracy and state terrorism.”
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to show the group a 43-minute video of atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 massacre, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Katz said it was appropriate for the group to “see exactly who the terror group Hamas is, what atrocious acts they carried out against women, the elderly and children, and who Israel is fighting to defend against,” said Katz.
He ordered the video to be screened for the group upon their arrival at the Port of Ashdod, where their boat was towed after Israeli troops boarded the vessel.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was attempting to deliver a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the Gaza population.
“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. In addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza,” said the Foreign Ministry.
“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,” the ministry added.
In an earlier post, the ministry emphasised that Israel’s blockade of Gaza is legal under international law, and that the Gaza maritime zone is an active conflict area, which Hamas terrorists have previously exploited for attacks, including the Oct. 7 massacre.
“Unauthorised attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts. We call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation,” the ministry stated.