World: Internal rifts shadow Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla as LGBTQ inclusion sparks dispute

The Global Sumud Flotilla, a multinational effort coordinated in part by Greta Thunberg to break the Gaza blockade, is facing a period of internal discord as leadership roles are redefined and activists dispute who is on board for the mission. The convoy, designed to deliver humanitarian aid and raise awareness, began with roughly 350 pro-Palestinian activists aboard about 20 vessels departing Barcelona on Sept. 1, with the goal of reaching Gaza and delivering food, water and medicine.

Two weeks into the voyage, the flotilla paused off Tunisia to collect additional participants and supplies. Organizers publicly described the process as a broadened, decentralized effort, but the journey quickly became entangled in disagreements over identity and inclusion. Claims that two flotilla vessels were targeted by drones near Sidi Bou Said circulated on social media, even as Tunisian authorities denied the drone attack report and attributed a fire on one vessel to an internal incident, a claim backed by the Tunisian interior ministry and the national guard. Authorities dismissed the drone allegation as unfounded, leaving the broader narrative to be shaped by competing accounts and video clips from participants.

Disputes soon shifted from tactical concerns to questions of who represented the flotilla’s political and cultural dimensions. Khaled Boujemaa, the Tunisian coordinator, is reported to have defected from the leadership after learning that Tunisian LGBTQ+ activists were joining the convoy in Bizerte. In two social-media streams, Boujemaa complained that organisers had hidden the identity of some participants from the broader leadership and accused them of “lying about the identity of some participants in the vanguard of the flotilla.” The disagreement centered on activist Saif Ayadi, described in translated posts as a “communist queer militant” who boarded the flotilla when it stopped in Tunisia. The exchanges underscored a broader fault line over how the Gaza cause should be framed and who should be at the forefront of the mission’s public narrative.

Other voices joined the chorus of dissent. Mariem Meftah, an outspoken activist on the flotilla, wrote on social media that while sexual orientation is a private matter, embracing LGBTQ+ identities presented a challenge to a movement she described as sacred to Muslims. She warned that aligning with queer activism could place families at risk and urged followers to reconsider the approach so that the cause would not be “hijacked.” In a separate social-media post, presenter Samir Elwafi echoed concerns about maintaining a focus on what he framed as the spiritual and religious dimensions of Palestine. He suggested that those concerns should be prioritized over broader social agendas before Gaza’s fate.

In the midst of the leadership tensions, Thunberg stepped back from the flotilla’s steering committee, telling Il Manifesto that the committee had been preoccupied with internal communications rather than the humanitarian crisis in Palestine. Her name was removed from the flotilla’s public board listing, and she was seen moving between vessels on the docks in Tunisia as she prepared to continue participating in the mission as an organizer and volunteer rather than as a member of the steering body. Thunberg emphasized that she remained committed to the goal of delivering aid to Gaza and to a decentralized, de-colonial movement focused on the mission’s purpose, adding that her new role would leverage her ability to contribute as an organizer and participant rather than as a coordinator in the leadership.

The latest developments come as the flotilla reels from earlier reported incidents and weather-related delays. Organizers had said two ships were struck by drones at the Tunisian port, a claim that was disputed by Tunisian authorities, who attributed a fire on one vessel to a non-drone cause and called drone reports unfounded. The group said its ships were about 715 nautical miles from Gaza, with a Greek fleet expected to join in the coming days. The flotilla represents a broad international effort, with delegations from 44 countries, and is advertised as the largest attempt to break the blockade by sea since the blockade began nearly two decades ago. The mission contends that Gaza faces a severe hunger crisis, with the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification indicating that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are experiencing hunger; Israel has denied that Gaza faces a starvation crisis and has criticized the flotilla as supporting Hamas.

New questions about leadership, inclusion, and strategy add to the complexity of the voyage as it moves closer to the Mediterranean crossing toward Gaza. The group has not released a unified public statement detailing how it will reconcile internal disagreements with the imperative to deliver aid and maintain a singular humanitarian objective.

As the journey continues, observers note that the flotilla’s ability to sustain momentum could hinge on how organizers address concerns raised by participants who advocate different moral and religious frameworks for the Gaza mission. The mix of humanitarian aims, local political sensitivities, and diverse activist philosophies illustrates the challenges facing transnational coalitions that attempt to fuse solidarity campaigns with on-the-ground logistics.

Comment requests directed to the Global Sumud Flotilla and Greta Thunberg were not immediately answered. The Daily Mail reported on the flotilla’s status and invited comment from the organizers, though no formal statement had been made publicly available at the time of this publication.