At the time of writing the Global Sumud Flotilla travels to its destiny. We do not know what the outcome of this adventure will be: the boats could head towards the Rafah pass, or even aim for Türkiye and then get aid to Gaza via land. If, on the other hand, they tried to force the Israeli block and dock on the strip, it is likely that all the crews would be stopped, questioned, card and delivered to the respective embassies to be repatriated, or end up in prison to be tried. But the worst is feared: the Israeli Navy could bomb the pacifists by treating them as invaders, even if pursuant to international law the invader is Israel, because that stretch of sea belongs to the Palestinians.
Defense Minister Crosetto, who sent a warship to protect and assist the flotilla, has already warned that he will not be able to force the Israeli bloc and that the crews meet very high risks. Precisely for this reason, the head of state Mattarella had addressed them an appeal, in agreement with Cardinal Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops, inviting them to deliver aid to Cyprus, and then make them get to Gaza through the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem. It was the wisest choice, because the salvation of human life has priority over everything, even if the flotilla mission deserves admiration for courage, evangelical radicality, and the ideals of peace and humanity that transports with aid.
But Flotilla declined the invitation, declaring that she wants to force the blockade to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people. The archbishop of Genoa, Monsignor Marco Tasca, invited them to go on, because “a sign is necessary against indifference, against addiction to war”. Not only aid and medicines therefore, but also a political and moral challenge, because the dignity of a people cannot be submerged by a military block. Because the priority of law on force must be affirmed. Because that devastation must be stopped.
But what is already possible to affirm is that this initiative is the most severe accusation act towards the actual governments of the world regarding the current genocide in the strip. Only the pacifists of the Flotilla have shown that they want to carry on that sense of humanity, in tune with the manifestations of solidarity that take place in the squares of Italy (the peaceful ones naturally, certainly not the violent ones). Beyond the declarations of the facade, the governments of the nations seem indifferent in the face of the extermination in progress, the civil society does not. Whatever the outcome of this adventure, those pacifists on sailing boats are a gash on our consciences, a reminder against arrogance and inhumanization, a lesson of hope.
