Setting sail for Gaza. Australian activists joining largest ever flotilla
· Michael West
Seventeen Australian activists are set to join a flotilla attempting to break Israel’s siege and deliver food and medical aid to the suffering people of Gaza. Joshua Barnett with the story.
Australian activist Zack Schofield is among a group of Australians joining the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian-led mission seeking to reach Gaza by sea in defiance of Israel’s blockade and to deliver aid. Organisers describe it as the largest flotilla yet assembled for Gaza, with dozens of boats and more than 1,000 participants expected to join at points across the Mediterranean.
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Schofield was named alongside Ethan Floyd and Jayden Kitchener Waters at a Sydney media event on April 8, where the Australians said they were joining the mission to challenge the blockade and bring urgently needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Attended by Senator David Shoebridge, it was announced that 17 Australians plan to join the maritime convoy attempting to break Israel’s naval siege of Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Australian government and Australian businesses are still supporting Israel’s war and sending weapons. MWM has reported on weapons parts sent directly to Israel, public money flowing to defence suppliers, super funds invested in arms companies and tax-deductible donations linked to illegal settlements.
Far from being a distant observer, Australia remains tied to the machinery of war through policy, finance and industry.
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While the war in Iran rages one day, stutters the next, Israel’s escalating conduct in Gaza, Lebanon and the occupied West Bank raises the question of whether it will feel further emboldened to harm those on board.
Last week Israel triple striked a team of paramedics and ambulances. In the West Bank, the UN says settler attacks and displacement have sharply escalated this year. And in Gaza, the IDF killed 11 Gazans, including two children, in just one day of “ceasefire”.
Against that backdrop, there is a concern the flotilla is sailing into a region where the threshold for violence by a rogue state appears to keep falling.
The “Epstein coalition” of the US and Israel has made one thing brutally clear: ordinary Australians are paying for the recklessness of our allies.
Donald Trump had already approved the idea of military action against Iran before a final call with Benjamin Netanyahu, and Netanyahu’s lobbying was seen by sources as a catalyst for Trump’s final decision to proceed with Operation Epic Fury. Australia now faces the fallout through higher fuel costs, fresh inflation pressure and the prospect of higher interest rates, with the Reserve Bank warning of a stagflation-style shock and the IMF warning ($) the wider energy crisis could drag the world toward recession.
That is the price of tagging along behind allies whose decisions Australians do not make, but are still forced to live with.
As the world looks away and the violence spreads, there are still people willing to put themselves in danger to resist it. For the 17 Australians on the flotilla, this mission is about delivering aid, supporting reconstruction and forcing attention back onto Gaza.
While governments retreat behind statements, caveats and diplomatic evasions, these civilians are prepared to risk their lives in an attempt to interrupt an ongoing genocide.