Was hope of aid for Gaza seized with the Freedom Flotilla?
The Take
Al Jazeera
4.7 • 748 Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The seizure of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in international waters has not deterred other aid convoys from heading towards Gaza. Palestinian-American writer Ahmad Ibsais explains how humanitarian aid has become a politically charged weapon of war.
In this episode:
- Ahmad Ibsais, Writer of State of Siege
Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Amy Walters, Sonia Bhagat, Chloe K Li, Haleema Shah, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Sari El Khalili, Mariana Navarette, Kisaa Zehra, and our host, Manuel Rapalo. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz.
Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editor is Hisham Abu Salah. Alexandra Locke is the Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.
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@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Al Jazeera Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Today, one flotilla has been captured, but the movement to get aid to Gaza has not. |
| 0:18.0 | I think it shows that Gaza is in reach and that unless we're willing to sacrifice something, |
| 0:24.6 | genocide is just going to continue. |
| 0:26.6 | As Israel continues blocking convoys, one Palestinian writer says aid isn't about feeding Palestinians, |
| 0:33.6 | it never was. I'm Manuel Rapalo, and this is the take. |
| 0:48.6 | Activist Greta Tunberg boarded a flight from Tel Aviv to France on Tuesday. |
| 0:54.0 | She was being deported back home to Sweden. |
| 0:59.1 | They did an illegal act by kidnapping us on international waters and against our rule, |
| 1:04.2 | bringing us to Israel, keeping us in the bottom of the boat, not letting us get out and so on. |
| 1:09.5 | But that is not the real story here. |
| 1:11.4 | The real story is that there's a genocide going on in Gaza and a systematic starvation. |
| 1:16.5 | It was a very long journey cut short for Greta and 11 fellow activists on the Madeline, |
| 1:22.9 | an aid ship that was heading to Gaza. |
| 1:25.8 | Very early Monday morning, in international waters, Israeli |
| 1:29.6 | commandos raided the ship. Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a charity vessel, |
| 1:36.0 | trying to break a naval blockade of the war-torn Gaza Strip. Some, like Greta, have been deported, |
| 1:43.3 | while others are still detained. |
| 1:46.7 | But a few thousand kilometers away in Tunis, Mohamed Amin Benur, a Tunisian orthopedic surgeon, doesn't see this as the end. |
| 1:56.9 | After Greta's capture, he and more than a thousand others grabbed suitcases and kaffaias |
| 2:02.3 | and boarded buses also on route to Gaza. |
| 2:07.7 | The convoy, as its name suggests, the convoy of steadfastness, is a popular land |
... |
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