Al-Qalam 
Of course, the Madleen would be intercepted. And it was. There was no way it would have been permitted to break the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza. For those of you who are living beneath a rock, buried 10 feet under Zionist propaganda, the Madleen is a boat, named after the first female fisherman in Gaza, that set sail from Italy with the intent to breach the siege on Gaza, deliver humanitarian aid to the starving and war-battered population, and to put pressure on the governments of the world to put an end to the genocide in Gaza.
The Madleen is part of the Freedom Flotilla. It is the second vessel to attempt to set sail for Gaza. The first attempt was aborted after the Israelis bombed the flotilla in international waters.
The Madleen seemed to be making great progress until it was intercepted roughly 185 km away from the coastline of Gaza in the early hours of Monday morning.
The crew was kidnapped by the IDF and, according to the Israelis, they will be deported to their countries of origin.
The Israelis were quick to undermine the efforts of the activists on board, the most famous face being that of Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate change activist, tweeting that the show on the ‘selfie yacht’ was now over. Greta, once the darling of the activism world, has now been labelled an anti-Semite for her views and actions on Palestine.
The Israeli media has scoffed at the mission of the flotilla and her crew as nothing more than a PR campaign headed by attention-seeking climate whiner, Greta Thunberg.
The aid on the Madleen did not even amount to a truckful of aid. What help could it possibly offer to nearly two million starving people, they sniggered.
Besides, they continued, there were other channels through which aid could be sent. This attempt was nothing more than attention-seeking. These 11 activists, who could have ostensibly lost their lives, were just in it for the likes, the tweets, and the fame. It was all for publicity. And I must say that for once, I agree.
The crew of the Madleen are not stupid.
They knew the risks involved in such a dangerous mission. They knew their ship would be intercepted. They knew they would either be arrested or killed. They knew all of this before they made the choice to commit to the mission. They knew that this mission would not succeed, yet they embarked upon it anyway. Why?
Of course, this was for publicity! And what a lot of publicity it got! And that was the point! The point was to show world leaders that if they weren’t going to do anything about the genocide, then the youth would have to take matters into their own hands. The point was to dominate headlines with the fantastic story of eleven young activists putting their lives on the line for an oppressed people. The point of the entire exercise was to show the world how paranoid and threatened Israel is—and was—to intercept a small ship with baby formula, of all things.
The point of the Madleen was to be a thorn in the side of the ‘most powerful army’ in the world. Small in size, but large in rebellious spirit, the Madleen was the biggest flip-off to Israel and its allies.
The point of the mission was to rouse the world into action, and to fill the hearts of the Gazans with the sweet taste of hope and the message: ‘you are not alone’.
The smiles of the activists during their arrest were telling. Why? Because—mission accomplished.
Z. Khan
