The Global Sumud Flotilla sails toward Gaza amid storms, breakdowns, and drones flying over it. in front of the Balearic Islands. Civilian boats, purchased and equipped in haste by activists from around the world, are taking on a task that should fall to states: opening a humanitarian corridor and denouncing a genocide.
Israel has responded with threats of applying an anti-terrorism protocol to the crew: prolonged prison detentions, seizure of ships, and outright criminalization of solidarity. It's the same pattern we've seen with previous flotillas, illegally intercepted in international waters. Turning aid into a threat, civil resistance into terrorism.
But every attempt at intimidation multiplies the determination. The organizers remind us that if governments wanted, they could guarantee safe and massive flotillas. They don't, and while Washington whitewashes ethnic cleansing as "voluntary relocation" and Brussels takes symbolic credit without halting the blockade, civil society takes on the risk of navigating a hostile sea.
The strength of these flotillas is not measured in tons of food or medicine. It is measured in the political courage of saying: Gaza is not alone. A gesture that connects with other forms of solidarity, such as protests that are currently taking place during the Vuelta a España, where hundreds of people have gathered to demand the departure of the Israeli team and to make the genocide visible in front of a global media showcase. Boats at sea and bodies in the streets, different expressions of the same collective indignation.
Europe, on the other hand, remains trapped in its ambiguity. It solemnly recognizes Palestine while avoiding sanctions that would upset Tel Aviv. The very Union that proclaims to have been founded on "never again" tolerates the repetition of the horror, live and in broad daylight.
That is why the departure of boats from Barcelona, Tunisia, Greece, and Italy is so uncomfortable. Because it reveals that solidarity does not wait for diplomatic permissions or settle for empty speeches. Because it reminds us that complicity is not neutrality and that dignity demands taking sides.
Ultimately, these flotillas are a mirror. They show us how far we are willing to accept euphemisms, or risk the lives of others. Gaza challenges us, and the sea that separates it from the world also becomes the measure of our humanity.
