“World cannot stand by”, says Irish actor Cunningham as crew prepares to risk everything to deliver aid to Gaza and put a spotlight on genocide
Environmental and anti-genocide campaigner Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham will be part of a crew of human rights activists who will set sail from Catania tomorrow morning on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Madleen to break Israel’s starvation blockade and draw attention to the occupation’s crimes.
The risks the crew is facing are anything but theoretical or merely political. At the beginning of this month the Israeli military, with the collusion of the government of Malta, used drones controlled from an Israeli military aircraft circling for hours in Maltese airspace to bomb the Madleen’s predecessor vessel Conscience as the aid vessel sailed for Gaza. Israel’s starvation blockade has pushed a million children into famine and has put more than 300,000 children on the brink of death from starvation, while Israel continues to bomb Palestinian civilians and force the population into concentration camps in the south of the enclave.
The attack badly damaged the Conscience, setting it on fire and holing its hull, yet it took Maltese authorities days to decide whether they would offer the assistance required by international law, while it also blocked attempts to gain access to the ship for a United Nations investigation into the bombing. Luckily, none of the crew was badly injured.
But that was not the first time Israel had attacked the Flotilla. In 2010, occupation forces murdered ten crew members and wounded dozens of others on a Flotilla vessel attempting to bring aid to Gaza and the latest attack underlines Israel’s murderous intent and its expectation of impunity. The presence of two such well-known members of the crew might persuade Israel to show restraint, but that is anything but certain and all those sailing deserve full respect and support.
Cunningham said that he was taking part because the “world cannot stand by” and went on to say that he didn’t care about any political, professional or personal backlash, because he wants to be able to look his grandchildren in the eye:
If anything happens to the boat, it’s not a confrontation – it’s a deliberate attack. I’m indifferent to any criticisms over this.
If you look at it realistically, I play dress-up for a living. I love my job. I commit as much energy as I possibly can, but that’s the bottom line. I’m in my sixties. Like like a lot of people, I’ve paid off my mortgage. I own my car, I don’t have any bills.
I do not have an iota of interest in any consequences that will come because of this. I have to be able to look at my grandkids when they when they hit their teens and say to me, ‘What did you do during this?’ I do not want to be one of those people that said, ‘I didn’t do anything’.
In World War Two, there was an excuse that you didn’t know what was going on with the Holocaust – an obscene event that was going on – there was an excuse to say, ‘I didn’t know’.
“Your only answer [for not acting now] to your grandkids, or your kids, when they grow up is, ‘I didn’t care’. The world cannot stand by and allow this to continue.
Thunberg featured in a video alongside fellow crew member Tania Safi as they sailed on the Madleen toward Catania, where the boat is set to depart for Gaza on Sunday morning:
Safi said:
Twelve people will sail to Gaza June 1st. What I love about the @gazafreedomflotilla is that we are parents, grandparents, siblings, kids, partners, funny, annoying, stubborn, cute, passionate humans united by a revolutionary imagination that allows us to see, and believe in, a world without Zionist violence. It is possible. And it will happen. Make damn sure that nothing happens to this boat with the same fervor as you give to fighting for Palestinian self-determination and an end to Izrl’s war crimes. No. More.
Thank you Augusta and Catania for your warmth and your welcome. ♥️
Actress and flotilla activist Nicole Jenes published a video as the Madleen arrived in Catania on Friday:
Jenes added:
All eyes on Gaza. The ‘Madleen’ sets sail tomorrow, carrying humanitarian aid and unwavering solidarity. This is not charity. This is a nonviolent, direct action to challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes. From the river to the sea, amplify the voices of Palestinians demanding their human rights, including the freedom of movement, and self-determination. Demand your government safeguard our journey to Gaza, now.
The Flotilla published a video of the scenes on Friday evening after the vessel’s arrival:
Other well-known figures who will either join the crew or attend to see the vessel off tomorrow include:
The Madleen’s full crew is as follows:
Baptiste Andre 🇫🇷
Greta Thunberg 🇸🇪
Şuayb Ordu 🇹🇷
Mark van Rennes 🇳🇱
Omar Faiad 🇫🇷
Pascal Maurieras 🇫🇷
Reva Viard 🇫🇷
Rima Hassan 🇫🇷
Sergio Toribio 🇪🇸
Thiago Ávila 🇧🇷
Yanis Mhamdi 🇫🇷
Yasemin Acar 🇩🇪
Follow the Freedom Flotilla here – and demand that your political representative speak out in support of the mission and against the genocide, and that they insist that the UK and other government’s take concrete action against the occupation’s blatant crimes against the people of Gaza.
Please remember to support Skwawkbox if you can, to help ensure it can keep running. The site is provided free of charge but depends on the support of its readers to be viable. If you’d like to help it keep revealing the news as it is and not what the Establishment wants you to hear – and can afford to without hardship – please click here to arrange a one-off or modest monthly donation via PayPal or here to set up a monthly donation via GoCardless (Skwawkbox will contact you to confirm the GoCardless amount as it has to be entered by us). Alternatively, if you prefer to make a one-off or recurring donation by simple card payment, please use the form below:
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Make a yearly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your support is hugely appreciated.
Your support is hugely appreciated.
Your support is hugely appreciated.
DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearlyThanks for your solidarity so Skwawkbox can keep doing its job of inconveniencing the right and helping to build the left!
If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so, but please include the donor information above – see here for more.
That girl has balls. Unlike ANY politician in power that I can think of.
Here are some clips from a Live Update page on Al Jazeera:
Israeli forces kill 31 Palestinians at US-backed aid sites in Gaza
Another Palestinian killed in Israeli shooting at US-backed aid hub in central Gaza
We’ve been following an Israeli attack on the GHF’s aid site in southern Rafah, which killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 120 others.
We are now getting reports of another deadly Israeli attack at another GHF site in central Gaza, near the so-called Netzarim Corridor.
At least one person has been killed and another wounded, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
We’ll bring you more when we have it.
US-Israeli aid sites in Gaza are ‘mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points’
The Government Media Office in Gaza has issued a statement confirming Israel’s killing of at least 22 people and wounding of 115 others at a US-backed aid site in Rafah, and said the toll is likely to rise.
It also said the latest killings have taken the toll at such sites to at least 39 in less than a week. More than 220 people have also been wounded.
It said the killings “reflect the nature of these areas as mass death traps, not humanitarian relief points”.
It added: “We confirm to the entire world that what is happening is a systematic and malicious use of aid as a tool of war, employed to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly gather them in exposed killing points, managed and monitored by the occupation army and funded and politically covered by the occupation and the US administration, which bears full moral and legal responsibility for these crimes.”
Here are the details of Hamas’s counter proposal
Al Jazeera has obtained the proposal Hamas presented to the US.
It calls for:
A 60-day ceasefire in Gaza
the release of 10 living Israeli captives in three stages
the return of the bodies of 18 captives
the entry of unconditional aid into Gaza, through the UN and its aid agencies
negotiations on a permanent ceasefire to begin on day one
the Trump administration to guarantee the talks to reach a final settlement to the war.
What is Hamas’s response to Witkoff’s proposal?
The Palestinian group says the proposal the group discussed with Witkoff was different from the one finally presented to it.
Earlier, we spoke to Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political and international relations. Here’s what he said:
One week ago, Hamas agreed with Witkoff on one proposal. The Trump envoy went to the Israelis to get their response and brought Hamas a “totally new” text, which “had nothing to do with what we agreed upon”.
This new proposal does take into account the “basics of our needs” and does not even guarantee a 60-day temporary ceasefire or the inflow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
There are also no guarantees for negotiations to end the war, or a permanent ceasefire or a total withdrawal of troops from the Strip.
Instead, it “legitimises” the US-Israeli plan for aid distribution in Gaza, which has been rejected by the international community.
It also only talks about the “redeployment” of Israeli forces inside Gaza, and requires “negotiations from the beginning about the new redeployment plans within the 60 days”.
That’s why, he said, Hamas has sought changes to the proposal, to find a way to guarantee “the minimum of the needs of our people”.
In a statement earlier, the Palestinian group said:
Its proposal “aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and ensure the flow of aid to our people”.
As part of the agreement, 10 living Israeli captives will be freed and the bodies of 18 others will be returned in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/6/1/live-israel-pounds-gaza-hamas-seeks-changes-to-us-ceasefire-proposal
Jonathan Cook blew Israel’s pretext for setting up its so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation out of the water:
Israel’s claim that ‘Hamas is stealing aid’ is patently a lie. Here’s why
27 May 2025
Israel’s claim that Hamas is “stealing aid” is so preposterous no serious journalist or politician ought to give it any kind of airing – yet there it is continuously cropping up in the coverage of Gaza.
How do I know Israel’s claim is utterly worthless? For this simple reason:
Israel has a fleet of surveillance drones constantly hovering over the tiny strip of land that is Gaza, monitoring every inch of the territory. The incessant whine you hear every time you watch someone there being interviewed is from one of those drones. They are Israel’s eyes on the enclave. If you are outside in Gaza, you might as well be living in the Truman Show.
Were Hamas stealing aid in Gaza, Israel would easily be able to document it. It would have the video footage from its drones. The fact that it has not provided any footage showing Hamas’ theft of aid – its ransacking of aid trucks, or its fighters smuggling themselves into aid warehouses – is confirmation enough that Israel has simply invented this claim to rationalise its plans to starve the people of Gaza to death through months of an aid blockade or force them to flee into neighbouring Sinai, whichever comes first….
There are lots of others reasons, of course, to reject Israel’s lies about “Hamas stealing aid”. Not least, because every single charity and aid agency dealing with Gaza says that aid is not being stolen by Hamas….
https://www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2025-05-27/israel-hamas-stealing-aid/
And ditto for Israel’s pretext for bombing and murdering civilians sheltering in schools and hospitals etc, as it’s done on numerous occasions during the past nineteen months – ie that Hamas has set up a command and control post at the location. But not once has Israel provided the media with drone video footage as proof…. and the reason they haven’t is because there is no footage and it’s a Big nazi-type Lie.
I seem, to recall that it was militant Israelis who were stealing and destroying aid at the time it “allowed”* in in earlier times. NOT Hamas.
*”allowed” what a disgraceful term that is when we’re talking about vital aid.
Let us once more revisit the Berlin Airlift, at a time just three years since we (UK, France, USA) had been bombing the place from the air and shelling from land as the avowed enemy! Just three years and we were using all our military options to ensure the Germans in West Berlin were fed. What blithering idiots and utter cowards our politicians are now that they don’t do similar for Gaza, and indeed allow (or support) Israel in preventing aid as in the aid convoy. They are pygmies compared to those politicians of the 1940s who knew right from wrong. And yet Starmer uses the example of Attlee to compare his awful government with!
How very Dare You Skwawkbox! Publicising dangerous antisemitic extremists like Greta Thunberg, Liam Cunningham and The Freedom Flotilla activists.
Sure, Greta Thunberg and Liam Cunningham, along with other activists, are set to sail on a Freedom Flotilla ship named “Madleen” from Catania, Sicily, to Gaza on Sunday, June 1, 2025, to protest Israel’s blockade of the occupied territory called ‘Gaza’ on Sea. For heaven’s sake,they’re even going to try and deliver humanitarian aid stuff themselves. But NOTE THIS – not a single burial shroud. Not one!! I’m shocked and don’t detect even a hint of righteous indignation or disgust in your report about these hamas-loving extremists.
If you’re not careful man, you’ll be barred from every platform in the META empire and force our wonderful anti terror police to seize every electronic device you’ve ever owned. My mother warned me about journalists and bloggers like you…
Go Madleen!
Brave souls for humanity & peace.
The oppressed of the world is with you.