As October comes around again, it marks the second anniversary of the start of one of the most relentless attacks on the indigenous Palestinian people in decades. However, it is essential to remember that Zionism emerged in the late 19th century. Over the years, the massacres have worsened, and the force and violence against Palestinians have increased. Since October 7, Israeli forces have turned the Gaza Strip into an open-air prison, meaning they have placed severe restrictions and a blockade, making medicine, food, water, hygiene products, and electricity nearly inaccessible for the majority of those living under the occupation. Efforts have been made, and are almost constantly being made internationally, to donate, protest, educate, and show support overall for the Palestinians.
In June, an independent, international, and unaffiliated with any government or political party named Global Sumud Flotilla launched a globally coordinated mobilization in an effort to challenge the blockade in Gaza. In late August, dozens of vessels set sail from Barcelona, Spain, and Genoa, Italy, carrying activists and over 45 tons of humanitarian aid. In early September, the ship had already begun getting targeted by suspected drone attacks, possibly sent by Israeli forces. After only about two weeks, activists reported even more suspected drone attacks. On October 1, 2025, the Israeli naval troops began intercepting the Flotilla in international waters. Videos have surfaced online from the perspectives of the activists on the ships being held at gunpoint by Israeli forces, damaging communications equipment, blocking distress signals, and arresting prominent activists from over 44 countries, including parliamentarians and legal observers.
From 2008 to 2018, well over thirty humanitarian aid ships were recorded trying to reach Gaza. Only the first five missions were successful. The outcomes of the rest of these missions are due to how tightly controlled the Palestinian borders are and how strict the restrictions placed by the Israeli government are on Palestinian civilians. The rise of these types of flotillas prompted Israel to enforce a complete naval blockade in 2009, blocking any more ships from ever reaching Gaza’s shores under Israeli supervision. Some time after they imposed this blockade, a Turkish aid flotilla attempted to reach Gaza, and the Israeli military killed nine Turkish activists who were on board and injured many more. No flotillas have reached Gaza since; however, the gravity of the current climate in Gaza was enough to inspire people from all around the world to try. Jewish activist, David Adler, who was on the Sumud Flotilla, witnessed the systematic racism along with another Jewish American activist on the Flotilla, Tommy Marcus, and even experienced it themselves firsthand, despite being Jewish themselves. Upon learning they were Jewish, the Israeli soldiers began singling them out. They were reportedly thrown to the ground repeatedly, forced to stare at an Israeli flag, taunted, and called terrorists. Once they arrived at the prison, which was divided by gender, things only got worse for them, as every time a soldier would pass Marcus’s cell, he would be called a fake Jew for not knowing Hebrew or supporting Zionism. They account that the treatment of the Arab and North African men was significantly worse. The Arabs were removed from their cells, placed into isolation chambers, and beaten while also experiencing harsh psychological torment. Many of the women who were detained were menstruating and in need of personal hygiene supplies, which not only were they denied, but female Israeli guards dangled the menstruation products in front of them, so that they could not reach them, highlighting the pleasure the Israeli soldiers take in the tormentation of regular civilians.
Most of the US citizens on the Flotilla were released after about 5 days of captivity, but they did not receive a warm welcome home. Upon being released, they were met by US Consul Sharon Weber, who chastised them by repeating, “We are not your babysitters,” and failing to provide them with the proper nourishment they required after the mistreatment they experienced while in Israeli captivity. They were not given any support other than a visa and a way to get to the Amman airport, but they had no money or cell phones to buy plane tickets or even figure out their next steps. They also learned that the US government had failed to contact each of their families and inform them of their situations.
One of the most well-known activists on the ship was Greta Thunberg, a 22-year-old Swedish climate activist, who has recently spent more time focusing on politics, specifically advocating for Palestinian Freedom. Thunberg was detained along with 478 people on the Flotilla and expelled from Israel on October 6. Although Thunberg and other activists on the vessels have made numerous claims of mistreatment and psychological torment, Thunberg herself stated that she does not want to share what she was subjected to because she does not want to take attention away from the significant issue at hand, which is the brutality and cruelty the Palestinians face at the hands of Israeli forces every day. Although Israel has denied all these claims, their history makes it difficult to dismiss these allegations. Upon asking multiple students what they know about the Flotilla, most replied that they knew very little or nothing at all. Once the purpose of the vessels was explained to them, and they were informed of the allegations made against Israel by the activists, they all immediately replied by saying they believe that Israel is, in fact, responsible for those things. Other significant activists on the ship include Mandla Mandela, a South African activist and politician who is the grandson of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, Ada Colau, a Spanish politician who served as the mayor of Barcelona, and Rima Hassan, a human rights advocate and member of the European Parliament for France, Chris Smalls, an American labor organizer and advocate for human rights, and Thiago Avila, a Brazilian human rights activist and committee member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
With the rise of social media, younger generations tend to get their information from big social media platforms, not from any trustworthy news sources. “Honestly, I get all my information from TikTok and Instagram when I’m scrolling,” admitted an anonymous student. This can severely affect the kind of information absorbed. Commented [1]: I can put direct quotes here, but they’d be very, very short because everyone I interviewed literally just said they don’t know anything, and then when I asked them whether they think the allegations were True or False, 3 different people just replied with “true” affects the kind of information absorbed. Not only can it be inaccurate due to a lack of fact-checking and unsupported claims, but these big social media platforms are also controlled and censored. For example, X, formerly known as Twitter, is owned and controlled by Elon Musk, who is widely known for his political affiliations. Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp are owned and controlled by Mark Zuckerberg, who has shown his support for Zionism, suppresses and censors Palestinian creators, and any content showing support for the Palestinian resistance, or any content criticizing the war crimes committed by the Israeli military. This is significant because it prevents youths from fully understanding the whole picture and promotes propaganda encouraged by those who are in power.
It is also important to note that the whole history of Israel goes back over 150 years. The idea of Zionism was first introduced in 1862 by Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, who authored the text “Seeking Zion,” which was one of the first works to call for the mass migration of Jews to Palestine. Rome and Jerusalem, by Moses Hess, was also published in 1862, which asserts that the Jewish people’s “national awakening” would lead to a state in Palestine. “I learned that Israel was created as an ethnostate after the holocaust. They thought that an ethnostate would work, but in reality, they were ethnically cleansing another type of people,” stated an anonymous student, when asked what he had learned when he had done his own research on the establishment of Israel. This is not incorrect; however, the first mass migrations of Jews to Palestine occurred between 1870 and 1897. Settlements began to be established as modern Zionists purchased land, established agricultural communities, and built more infrastructure. More modern settlements were founded in 1878. The first significant wave of Jewish immigrants is generally dated to 1882-1903, mainly in response to antisemitism in Russia. Like many other countries in North Africa and West Asia, Palestine was mandated by a European country in the early 20th century. The country that ruled Palestine from 1920 to 1948 was Britain, which facilitated the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine following the termination of the British mandate. On May 14, 1948, the head of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed the establishment of the Jewish state.
All of this information is rarely covered in Western media, which is why people do not hear about modern events like the Global Sumud Flotilla. Although the activists on the ship had the primary goal of delivering long-overdue aid to the Palestinian people, another goal they have is to gain media coverage and attention to the events happening to them, and especially the Palestinians, induced by the Israeli government. As today’s youth, we should make it our responsibility to educate ourselves on important historical and modern events thoroughly. Once we educate ourselves, we can inform the people around us and step up and be the change we need to see. It is important to remember that we are the next generation in power, and we have more power and influence than we think.
