In the dark of night on June 9,
2025, Israeli military forces intercepted The Madleen, a yacht operated by the
Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a political-activist group oriented to
getting food and medicine to the residents of Gaza in Israel. Activists from
the E.U., Brazil, and Turkey were on the boat until they were forced onto an
Israeli boat and taken to Tel Aviv’s airport, where they were pressured to sign
a document that they had entered Israel illegally and agreed to be deported.
Once back in the E.U., its activist Greta Thunberg told reporters that Israel had
committed “an illegal act by kidnapping us on international waters and against
our will, bringing us to Israel, keeping us in the bottom of the boat, not
letting us getting out and so on.”[1]
She had agreed to give her written consent to be deported (even if that meant
being permanently banned from Israel, she likely would have welcomed the
stipulation), but she refused to admit that she had entered Israel illegally.
She had, after all, been kidnapped in international waters. Being forced to enter
a country by its government, whose officials reason nonetheless that the
entrance is illegal, merits the spotlight on enquiry, as this actual mindset can
be said to be pathological in nature. I submit that pathology with governmental
sovereignty is never a good mix.
1. Jaroslav Lukiv and David Gritten, “Greta Thunberg Deported,
Israel Says, after Gaza Aid Boat Intercepted,” BBC.com, June 10, 2025.
