The Handala Sails the Mediterranean Sea to Breach the Illegal Israeli Siege of Gaza and to Deliver Food, Medicine and Medical Supplies

I was introduced to the Gaza Flotilla by Bob Suberi, who was born in America, descended from Yemeni Jewish parents and has dual citizenship with Israel. He lives near St Louis.

Bob has been on Gaza Flotillas in the past and currently is serving as a volunteer ‘observer’ in the West Bank in an effort to minimize violence against the indigenous Palestinians by Zionist colonial settlers who are forcing them off their ancestral land which will then be annexed into Israel. Bob had rushed to the West Bank immediately after the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas knowing how much danger the Palestinians were in, many of whom had become his friends.

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One of many factors that motivated me to apply to be a member of the 2024 flotilla was the suicide of Aaron Bushnell. Aaron was a member of the U.S. Air Force with a top-secret clearance who was distressed by secret documents he had read which revealed that genocide was being waged against the Palestinians by Israel and the United States.

On Sunday, February 25, 2024, Aaron stood in front of the gates to the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C. and stated: “I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

He then stationed himself in front of the gates to the embassy and doused himself with a flammable fluid. As he lit himself on fire he said in a clear, firm, loud, and determined voice, “Free Palestine”.

He died in a hospital later that night. Aaron acted to bring attention to what was torturing him in a desperate effort to motivate people to care and to do something to help stop the killing, to stop the genocide.

I was too was familiar with the history and what is currently happening to the Palestinians:  the U.S. and Israeli governments are killing, wounding and maiming scores of thousands and destroying their homes, hospitals, schools, mosques and towns. This is ethnic cleansing in the 21^stCentury.

Essentially it is no different than the cleansing of the American Natives by European settler colonialists and their like colonialization of other parts of the world including, but not limited to, the Caribbean and Africa. Slavery of Africans also had attributes of genocide. It is no different than the Nazi genocide against the Jews of Europe. Except, after the creation of the United Nations, colonization and genocide have been outlawed.

German citizens who did nothing to oppose the Nazi genocide, now known as the Holocaust, were labelled good Germans, citizens who obeyed. Aaron Bushnell expounded on this:

Many of us like to ask ourselves, What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide? The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now

The Zionists have been engaged in apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians for a long time.  Zionism is not a religion. Zionism is a messianic ideology based upon blood and soil and the racial superiority of Jewish people. Many Jewish people are opposed to Zionism.

The final goal of Zionism is the colonial settlement of all the Palestinian land through expulsion, ethnic cleansing and terrorism. Some Zionists also wish to acquire parts of other nearby countries including Syria and Lebanon, and some have advocated parts of Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. These areas are believed to be part of Biblical Israel as described in the Bible.

In 1948, the Zionists initiated violent mass displacement and dispossession of the Palestinians from their homes and land, which included rape, torture, killing and other acts of terror to force the Palestinians off their land.

Between 400 and 600 villages were destroyed, village wells were poisoned and properties were looted to prevent the refugees from returning. Over 700,000 Palestinians were evicted or fled for their lives, many to Gaza. Many were killed. This is known as the Nakba which in Arabic means “catastrophe”.

These programs still continue today in Eastern Jerusalem and the Palestinian West Bank. Gaza, which has been recognized as the world’s largest open air prison with over two million “inmates” who are confined in an area only 25 miles long and 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide, 141 square miles. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Many Palestinians escaped to refugee camps in nearby countries and others have dispersed throughout the world, many of whom are determined to return someday to their ancestral homes.

The initial rulers of Israel, all Zionists, agreed Israel would need a powerful military force for scores of decades because they understood that no people would accept being exiled by outsiders from their homes without fighting back. Think October 7. Many Jewish people were against Zionism for this very reason. Some people characterize Israel today as a military without a country.

The International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024, ruled that Israel has and is forcibly displacing Palestinians from their lands through violence and by exploiting water resources, annexing large swaths of the occupied territories and is violating the right of Palestinians to self-determination.

The World Court of Justice also ruled that the occupation and annexation are illegal and Israel must vacate the seized land as rapidly as possible and that other nations were obliged not to render aid or assistance in maintaining Israel’s presence in Palestine.

The court found that the commission of genocide by Israel in Gaza is ‘plausible’ and has ordered Israel to cease engaging in acts that are genocidal. Respected and credible officials, academics and human rights groups have concluded with damning documentation and authoritative explanation that Israel has been and is indeed committing genocide.  Although the world court did not rule that the US is an active co-conspirator with Israel, I submit, it is self-evident to even the most casual observers.

Nevertheless, in spite of the World Court’s opinion the US and Western nations have ignored it and are continuing to provide arms and assistance to Israel. Limited numbers of US soldiers have been reported to be in Palestine engaging in the killing and destruction. Israel could not continue the genocide without massive Western involvement.

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The flotilla’s contribution to this cause this year was to sail a boat, the Handala, womaned with a volunteer crew and activists from many different countries, with a series of stops at ports along the European Atlantic coast, starting in the far northern countries, to engage with local activists and citizens in discussions, raise awareness, inform and learn from one another about the “situation” in Palestine, especially in Gaza, but also in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and to solicit support for an immediate cease fire, the release of hostages, the delivery of aid to the Palestinians and to create peace and justice, a win-win solution for the peoples’ of the Middle East if not the entire world.

The boat then sailed into the Mediterranean Sea and engaged in the same mission at various ports, the last one in Malta. The effort to publicize the genocide as widely as possible is with the belief that people of good will who learn more of the facts will rise-up and take action to oppose the mass slaughter of an entire civilian population. Time is of the essence.

After engaging in Malta, the boat, loaded with food, medical supplies and medicines, will sail towards Gaza attempting to break the Israeli siege which illegally blocks life sustaining supplies from the Palestinians, including babies, children, women and adults of all ages, many of whom, in addition to being killed and seriously wounded by military attacks, are now dying from starvation and associated diseases. There may be up to 200,000 killed according to humanitarian organizations. They are now being intentionally starved to death and also suffering and dying from diseases without medical care. Neither words nor photographs can adequately describe the catastrophic conditions in Gaza.

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To know all this, seeing and hearing about the genocide for so many months, I COULD NOT NOT apply to participate in the Gaza Flotilla. My application to join the flotilla on board the Handala from the Palermo, Sicily to Valetta, Malta leg was accepted. My application to be one of the few from a large number of applicants to go on to Gaza was not successful

I was instructed to arrive in Palermo several days before July 31, 2024, when the boat was to dock there and then depart for Malta on August 5.

I arrived in Palermo on July 26, expecting to be immediately engaged in rallies, press conferences, speeches and other activities before the boat’s scheduled arrival on July 31.

My expectations did not occur and I suffered many personal stressful situations. These situations are not of interest in and of themselves but are crucial to understand the dynamics that took place when I eventually boarded the Handala and began to engage with the crew.

Please bear with me as I relate a few of these stressful situations, by way of example, before I take you aboard that boat with me.

Before purchasing my plane tickets in early July, I telephoned a number I had for the flotilla offices. I left a message inquiring if the mission was still on as I was about to buy travel tickets and book a hotel room near the Palermo port. I received no reply, finalized travel arrangements, again called the offices, left a message of my travel itinerary and requested instructions about what I was to do upon arrival. I received no response but nevertheless, traveled as planned.

After 24 hours on the plane with lay-overs, I arrived and took a taxi to the hotel, being grossly over-charged by the taxi driver, checked in, called the phone number for the flotilla and, as previously, left what became another unanswered message.

My cell phone email in-box screen froze and I could not get out of the “freeze” or receive or send emails. I also had problems using the cell phone, about 60% of the time, some of which was due to, I am sure, operator error.

You may not know this but the people in Sicily speak a foreign language, Italian. I don’t, to my great disadvantage. I had difficulties communicating with taxi drivers, hotel staff, with restaurant employees and the people I met, albeit some spoke a little broken English; so you can imagine how very difficult and frustrating it was trying to communicate with people I randomly sought out for help to fix my cell phone. At least all I had to do to get food was point at a photo of a meal in the menu.

I not only do not speak Italian but I do not understand “Technoeze”. Luckily my ‘WhatsApp” worked flawlessly and all of the flotilla activists were plugged into it. As well as my sister back home which became important.

I had two Visa credit cards, one with “Amazon” emblazoned on the front of it and the other with “Marquette Bank” on the front of it. I lost the Amazon card and asked my sister to cancel it. She reported she did so and later that day I had to extend my hotel stay by additional days as the boat was going to arrive late. I offered the hotel clerk my Marquette card and it was rejected. Now I had limited cash and no credit cards. It was Visa’s error and it took several hours and days to remedy. Thank you sister Barbara and niece Shannon.

I am not a tourist so I remained alone in my room, turned 80 years old on the 28^th and received a birthday present, a group message from a flotilla activist instructing us to take a train to Messina, the new docking port for the Handala. I bought a ticket to leave the next day. I asked the woman sitting next to me on the train if she lived in Messina. She said, “No, New York.” English never was so soothing to me.

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I hooked up with activists in Messina who knew about my troubles. No more hotels, instead home hospitality was arranged for me with a tremendous family, the Molinos, who will be life-long friends along with their neighbors, the Pirak family who invited me for wonderful conversations and dinners at their home.

Nevertheless, several stressful situations also occurred in Messina including getting lost in the city and temperatures topping 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Luckily, an activist with the flotilla, Zohar, became my guardian angel, took my hand and helped me navigate through them all – except for the temperature which she too had to endure. Another new life-long friend to be.

Okay, enough on my stresses except to say the lack of replies to my messages and the prolonged stays in my hotel room were accepted with understanding. The flotilla is staffed with people of good will who had myriad tasks, many crucial to the success of the entire mission, which were also stressful for them. And, these troubles could just as easily have been caused by myself through ignorance of something I should have known. None of this matters.

Let me address the stresses experienced by the crew of the Handala sailing to Messina while I was awaiting their arrival. This is also important for you to understand because of what happened after I boarded the Handala and interacted with the crew.

Their first stressful situation was a fire that broke out on board of the boat, a 1960’s fishing boat that was converted to meet the needs of the flotilla. The boat had to wait at a port for the delivery of new parts which were needed to make necessary repairs to the damage. A security concern is Israeli sabotage of flotilla boats while docked in ports which has occurred in the past. What the cause was of this fire I know not.

When the parts failed to arrive on schedule, crew members traveled overland to somewhere in France to pick them up. After repairs were completed the boat sailed onwards again towards Messina. Until a new problem with the boat arose.

The boat motor was burning large amounts of oil and had to be taken to a port where the problem was investigated. At first, it was thought to be a two or three week repair and then maybe six months or more were needed. Instead of repairing the boat an additional supply of oil was brought on board and, in an effort to burn less oil the normal sailing speed of the boat was reduced.

As the boat was hobbling forward a storm arose with 15 feet high waves, which at best made the boat “rock and roll” violently, if not dangerously.

Then as the boat was slowly closing in on Messina we, who were waiting at the port, received a report that an influenza had broken out among the crew. Several were ill, one severely so. After docking, the ill were attended to and the remaining crew members sanitized the entire 58 foot long boat in near 100 degree temperatures with higher temperatures in the interior of the vessel.

My stress was nothing compared to what the crew must have experienced.

Okay, with this background, I attended a press briefing at the Messina port with the crew where I addressed those in attendance about the situation as I saw it in Gaza and why I flew 10,000 miles round trip to be a participant aboard the Handala with the hope of being selected for the next leg of the effort: to participate in the attempt to break the illegal and cruel siege and to deliver the supplies to Gaza.

I was greeted kindly by the crew who knew of my problems in Palermo and, partially, I think, to  help alleviate my probable stress, assigned me to the sole cabin on the deck instead of climbing up and down a 15 foot ladder to the interior of the boat where the crew members slept. Possibly, my age and unsteady climbing ability were additional reasons.

On board I spoke with the crew members most of whom had good command of English. They hailed from across the globe, including from Norway, Ireland, Brazil, Palestine and Australia. They told me some about themselves and what motivated them.

On the 2008 flotilla attempt the Israelis killed 10 activists and on another occasion its Navy rammed a flotilla boat dumping the crew into the sea. The current effort was fraught with additional concern due to the massive scale of violence the Israelis were now using against the Palestinians and their brazenly flouting of international law. Israel has specifically targeted doctors, nurses, hospitals, schools, journalists, civilians, babies and children who had been directed to so-called ‘safe zones’ which, when full of refugees, were turned into killing zones.

The crew members, all willing to risk their lives to support the Palestinians and demand a cease fire were dedicated, kind, determined and worked smoothly with one another. There was no bickering, decisions were arrived at in polite and thoughtful discussions. There was no arguing, ill will or pettiness.

The crew was joined in solidarity for a great cause with one another for those in Palestine. I was in awe of these people. More new friends!

When we were closing in on Malta I sensed the boat was slowing down and inquired of the reason. Port officials informed our captain that permission to dock had been revoked. This is a regular occurrence as Israel and the United States put great pressure on countries to deny the Handala docking privileges. They want to continue with their propaganda, lies and genocide without interference from knowledgeable truth tellers. Not unlike the slave masters who made it illegal to teach slaves to read our current masters work hard to keep us ignorant, indoctrinated and intimidated into obeying.

As the boat made a full stop in the sea, we were informed that negotiations to permit us to dock were taking place. The negotiations were successful but instead of docking in the main modern dock with cruise ships and yachts and large numbers of people to engage with, the Handala was relegated to an out of the way industrial dock.

As stated above, I had not been selected to be among those selected to go onto Gaza. I do not know the selection criteria except that the crew is to be representative of as many nations as possible. I was not deterred as I had contributed four presentations, two of which were reported on Italian TV. I learned more about the genocide from engaging with the crew members and allies from all over the world. I will seek to speak in various venues in the US, a condition of being accepted as a flotilla member.

The next night the crew went out for a great dinner and invited me to join them. I was grateful and very happy.

I had a small wire spiral bound memo book with me and laid it on the dinner table next to me. A crew member from Ireland, Aoife, a nurse who had in the past treated injured civilians in active combat zones. These injured were labelled “collateral damage” by government officials who had never been to an active war zone which they had helped to create, nor had their privileged children.  Aoife will be admitted into Gaza within a few weeks to serve the Palestinian victims of the on-going genocide.

She sat near me and took my memo book and started writing in it. This is what she wrote:

Wednesday 14^th August

Dear Sandy,

This is Aoife your fellow crew member from Handala. It is so wonderful to meet you. You have contributed enormously to the spirit of the Handala at a moment in which we were a bit tired and weary. You changed the dynamic in such a positive way with all of your humour, being, and enthusiasm, for scrubbing Handala’s deck. We appreciate you so much. Hope to see you in Cork, Ireland and Gaza, Palestine, when Palestine is free.

Aoife, Deckhand + Nurse

I was surprised to learn that the crew members had been so tired and weary and that I had changed them in a “dynamic” and “positive” way. But then, almost immediately, I realized that the crew had changed me simultaneously in exactly the same way. We were changing one another from our respective tired and weary places to a better place without the intent of doing so.

What I believe took me to that better place was our mutual caring and engagement with a worldwide humanitarian effort by people of goodwill in solidarity with an oppressed people, victims of the worst crime, genocide. It brought me to the realization that the crew members, including myself, were a part of a Beloved Community where love and peace reigned supreme.

The feeling, the emotions, that overcame me were transcendental and spiritual.

It saddened me to separate from my crewmates to return home on August 16, 2024. They were scheduled to set out on August 19, to challenge the Israeli blockade but, alas, this was delayed again due to more boat difficulties.  This will, yes, cause stress for the crew but they will never give up or stop until Palestine is free.

It may be idealistic, naïve, juvenile of me to say this, but if you are not yet a part of this cause, if you do not feel you are a member of a Beloved Community and want to, it is a simple step. Become knowledgeable about the on-going genocide of the Palestinians and you too will not be able to not join us. Welcome aboard!

 Cease Fire! Free Palestine!

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