Israel Piracy Attack on the ‘Madleen’ Gaza Aid Ship Triggers Protests in France

The British-flagged sailboat “Madleen”, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and aimed to deliver symbolic aid to Gaza to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in the Strip, was illegally boarded by an Israeli commando early Monday morning. Twelve activists, including Swedish campaigner, Greta Thunberg, and six French nationals, amongst whom the Franco-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, were all forcibly detained at sea in direct violation of maritime law. The Madleen crew was escorted to the port of Ashdod by Israeli authorities, and the Hebrew state requested that the 12 passengers “return to their countries”.

As reported by the media outlet i24, MEP Rima Hassan, along with five other French activists aboard “Madleen”, have been moved to Giv’on prison, where they are set to be forcibly deported by the week’s end. At least seven of the twelve activists have reportedly declined to return to their home countries, as reported by a source familiar with the activists’ legal representatives.

VIDEO: Watch: Moment Israeli forces board Gaza aid boat (Source: BBC)

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By resisting their expulsion by Israel, the activists are exposing themselves to potential risks, which may involve the possibility of imprisonment.. “Once an individual states, ‘I refuse to leave,’ they are sent to prison,” affirmed Eric Danon, the former French ambassador to Israel, during an interview on Franceinfo on Tuesday, June 10. According to the above-mentioned I24 report, Greta Thunberg was scheduled to fly to Sweden on an Israeli El Al plane earlier today. The Israeli media outlet Kan also reported that the French activists have declined to sign expulsion documents in the absence of their legal representatives. At this point, it remains uncertain what specific demands Israel included in these documents. Regarding Rima Hassan, her situation prompts inquiries about her status as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), as she may be eligible for diplomatic immunity. Nevertheless, the arrest of the MEP by Israeli officials infringes upon this immunity, and her detention could represent an additional breach, even though Rima Hassan was not acting within the framework of her parliamentary mandate.

In an address on Monday evening, during the UN Ocean Conference held in Nice, France, the French President Emmanuel Macron said France “stands by all its citizens when they are in danger” and has reiterated calls for a ceasefire and the lifting of the “disgraceful” humanitarian blockade in Gaza. He also added:

“France is calling for a ceasefire as soon as possible and for the lifting of the humanitarian blockade. This is the scandalous, unacceptable situation unfolding in Gaza. And this is what has been a disgrace since the beginning of March.”

VIDEO: French President Emmanuel Macron has called for the repatriation of French citizens who were detained by Israeli forces when the Gaza-bound aid boat ‘The Madleen’ was boarded on international waters.

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Earlier on Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged Israel to extend consular protection to the passengers to guarantee their safety. He stated:

“Our consulate has asked to be able to visit them as soon as they reach the port of Ashdod, in order to check on their situation and facilitate their rapid return to France,” he said. The Quai d’Orsay had ” alerted ” the French participants in the operation of the risks they faced in attempting to travel to Gaza”

On Monday evening, more than 150,000 protesters took to the streets across France in support of the 12 activists arrested by the Israeli army aboard the sailing ship “Madleen.” The French press reported nearly 200 rallies” across the country. At Place de la République in Paris, it was reported by “La France Insoumise,” a movement created by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, that 50,000 demonstrators were in attendance, while the police, unsurprisingly, estimated the number to be 8,000.

Video: In France, pro-Palestinian protesters at Place de la République in Paris demanded the release of Rima Hassan and the Madleen Freedom Flotilla crew. The video was taken around 10:30,  Monday 9 (Source X account Enzo Rabouyy)

⚡️BREAKING:

Police violently pushed back & assaulted pro-Palestinian protesters at Place de la République in Paris as they demanded the release of Rima Hassan and the Madleen Freedom Flotilla crew.

The protest continued into the night with no evacuation order, and some… pic.twitter.com/KBtt2h1KXB

— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) June 9, 2025

We have translated from French to English the Press release issued by “La France Insoumise” regarding Israel’s interception of the Freedom Flotilla ship Madleen.

The protesters are denouncing an arrest that occurred in international waters, a claim that has not been corroborated by the Israeli military. On French TV network BFMTV, the Israeli ambassador to France even asserted that the ship was seized “when it entered Israeli territorial waters” and not prior, in international waters. According to a post by MEP Rima Hassan on  X,  the Freedom Flotilla vessel was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 am.”The Madleen was equipped with a live tracker to ensure safety, accountability, and global solidarity. In partnership with  @ForensicArchi,  live geolocation of the Gaza flotilla vessel was made available to the public. Based on Madleen’s live tracking data available here and other maritime live tracking tools, it would seem that the Madleen was indeed intercepted and boarded in international waters,  which, if confirmed,  would constitute an act of piracy.

In a post shared on X by Palestine Deep Dive and subsequently reposted by Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Albanese urges coastal States in the Mediterranean Sea to challenge the blockade of Gaza and proposes that they dispatch their navies to Gaza with humanitarian assistance.

Israel’s ongoing infringement of international humanitarian law, as well as Maritime law in this instance, further illustrates its absence of compassion and humanity, underscored by a profound disregard for both United Nations resolution on the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, but most importantly, for life itself. French outlet, “Revolution Permanente” has the story…

IMAGE: Monday, June 9, rallies across France to support the Freedom Flotilla after the illegal arrest of its crew by Israel (Source: L’Insoumission)

Enzo Tresso reports for Révolution Permanente…
(Approximate translation from French to English)

Thousands of Protesters for Gaza and the Freedom Flotilla: Let’s Build a Mass Mobilisation!

The images of last night’s protests give hope. Now that Israel has arrested twelve Freedom Flotilla activists and the army is tightening its genocidal grip on Gazans, (…)

Images that give hope. Last night, throughout France and elsewhere in Europe, tens of thousands of people marched in the streets in solidarity with the twelve Freedom Flotilla activists, arrested by an Israeli shock commando, 57 kilometers off the coast of Gaza on the night of Sunday to Monday, and immediately detained some of the activists in a prison near the port of Ashdod.

Arrested in international waters, the crew of the Madleen sought, with extraordinary courage, to break the blockade of Gaza, imposed since 2006 to starve the Palestinian people. At the call of the Freedom Flotilla, dozens of rallies took place across France.

In Paris, the Place de la République was packed with people. In Toulouse, a procession formed spontaneously and marched through the city streets. The same thing happened in Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Rennes, Marseille, and Metz. In Belgium, too, the Place de la Bourse in Brussels was overflowing with demonstrators.

SOS! the volunteers on 'Madleen' have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.
Rima Hassan is a French citizen.
Pressure the foreign ministries and help us keep them safe!

E: [email protected] & [email protected]
X : @FranceDiplo_EN & @francediplo &… pic.twitter.com/hypzpbwhV8

— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 9, 2025

The anger was sparked by the arrest of Rima Hassan, Greta Thunberg, and several Madleen activists, along with the significant escalation of Israel’s genocidal actions since March, especially with a plan approved on May 6 by the Israeli war cabinet to concentrate Gazans in the ruins of Rafah before deporting them or, worse, exterminating them.

Israel has put in place a particularly horrific mechanism—if the massive bombardments raining down on the Strip are not enough to force the population to leave, famine will. The army has in fact built concentration centers for the distribution of food aid in the south to bring Gazans there. When the distributions do not turn into massacres, the army opens fire on civilians, as it occurred in Tal al-Sultan in the Gaza Strip. Israel also arms gangs in the areas under its control to loot the few humanitarian trucks that international pressure forces it to bring in.

Meanwhile, European leaders, led by Macron, continue to unconditionally support Israel. Without responding to the piracy attack on the Madleen, these three leaders have even renounced recognising the Palestinian state, a hypocritical promise they made a few weeks ago amidst timid criticism of Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Should Macron and his acolytes change their minds, it would certainly not be out of emotion for the suffering of the Palestinians, but to protect the interests of their respective imperialisms in the region, while the carnage in Gaza could provoke massive mobilisations of workers in the Near and Middle East. At the same time, they continue to fiercely repress Palestinian supporters and any voices which dare to denounce the genocide, such as Anasse Kazib, on trial on June 18, Rima Hassan and many others…

As the people of Gaza and all Palestinians in the occupied territories face annihilation, the imperialist powers continue to provide unconditional support to the State of Israel. Monday’s protests resonate as an absolute necessity.

Mobilisations are also resurfacing on the other side of the Atlantic. While Trump is dispatching the National Guard and Marines to suppress the protests against deportations and the anti-migrant offensive that have erupted in Los Angeles, the spectre of the Palestine solidarity movement is resurfacing in universities, notably at Harvard and Columbia.

Above all, in recent days, certain sectors of the workers’ movement have entered the fray: the dockers of Fos-sur-Mer are continuing their heroic actions to block arms deliveries to Israel. This initiative has been followed by the dockers of Genoa, after those of Tangier. The surge of solidarity with the flotilla must translate into new demonstrations of force, like those of the workers of Fos-sur-Mer, in all our workplaces and places of study, to put an end to the genocide with the methods of class struggle. (…)

After a year and a half of genocide, we know that international law, tailor-made to justify the policies of the major powers, is of no help to the people of Gaza. The dockers’ actions show that it is our social camp that holds the key to ending the imperialist states’ support for Israel. Tonight’s mobilisations must continue and expand. As for the union leaderships, they must break with their silence and passivity, which make them complicit in the ongoing massacre, and fully engage in the battle to end the genocide: the workers’ movement must organize a first day of strikes for Gaza, as Anasse Kazib, a railway worker and union leader at SUD-Rail, called for during his speech at Place de la République. Last night’s images gave hope. It is urgent to structure it into a powerful movement that can put an end to the unbearable carnage we have been witnessing for too long.

See more reports from Révolution Permanente