Many have asked me what I think of the Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza. I have not commented on this because I genuinely believe it is a waste of time, effort, energy, space, and focus. Approaching Gaza with a predetermined outcome, in which you know the Israeli navy is going to intercept you, and yet persisting with said useless and futile action tells me you are the most unserious player who is simply trying to gain attention and make a point, not to make a difference. Everybody knows that Israel has a blockade on Gaza, including a naval component; you are not raising awareness about anything that the entire world doesn’t already know.
You cannot access Gaza’s territorial waters during wartime without coordination with the more powerful and controlling party, which in this case is Israel. In fact, the maritime corridor between Cyprus and Gaza that was activated last year proved that the coastal enclave could be open for business if Israel’s legitimate security needs are met. This created a precedent that, after two decades of Israeli control of territorial water with coordination and trusted third parties, you could indeed make something happen in Gaza, even though that particular corridor is no longer in action.
If you truly wanted to make a difference, you might have considered using the port of Ashdod to deliver aid into Gaza or collaborating with Egypt and the UAE to land aid via El-Arish port and transport it via trucks to the Strip. The realities of war and realpolitik are not vanishing for a group of selfie activists who have no clue about how the real world works. I wish we would stop hearing about Greta Thunberg and Western activists trying to make this endeavor about themselves instead of making a difference and engaging in radical pragmatism. I wish we would stop wasting time and resources that could have been better spent on actually sending a larger quantity of aid into Gaza to support Palestinians.
I wish this time and energy were allocated toward the grunt work that I, along with many of my colleagues, do behind the scenes to conduct evacuations of patients and their families, as well as humanitarian cases from Gaza into Middle Eastern or Western countries. May this be the last selfie-flotilla that we have to discuss, and may these activists start actually helping the Palestinian people of Gaza instead of wasting time on self-centered and self-absorbed actions and interventions.
One of my all-time favorite type of videos is pre-fame bands playing their extremely famous songs to a tiny room of people, because they're not yet known.
A thread of some examples:
Bastille playing Pompeii in what looks like someone's living room:
@KipropAsbel Hello legend, I’m working on a project about athletes’ careers and challenges. Would love to connect. Could you please let me know the best way to reach you? Thanks!
Imagina una tierra tan vasta, tan rica, que parezca extraterrestre...
África es realmente como otro planeta 🧵
1. Magnífica vista de las cuencas fluviales de África
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