We need immediate government action over the Madleen kidnapping, argues Michael Lavalette

At around 3am on Monday morning, Israeli forces hijacked the humanitarian-aid ship the Madleen that was sailing towards Gaza. The ship was in international waters when it was surrounded by Israeli naval boats that proceeded to spray the boat and those on board with chemical weapons. The ship was then boarded and those on board arrested, detained and taken to Israel under arrest.

The Madleen was sailing under the UK flag and should, therefore, have been under UK protection from the Israeli pirate operation. As the hijacking was taking place, the UK Foreign Office was bombarded with phone calls and emails from UK citizens demanding action by the British government to protect the ship and those on board. It will come as no surprise to anyone that the Labour-government response was weasel words and inaction.

The Madleen was organised by the UK-based Freedom Flotilla Coalition. It sailed with twelve crew and activists drawn from different countries and including Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan. The Freedom Flotilla made it clear that the ship carried no arms, was on a humanitarian mission and carried aid in an attempt to break the murderous blockade of the beleaguered Gaza strip by the Israeli state.

In May, an earlier sailing organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition had to be abandoned when the ship was attacked by Israeli drones and set on fire. The crew had to abandon ship and abandon the mission.

This time, the crew and activists selected well-known individuals committed to the Palestinian struggle and sent out the message to the global Palestinian movement: ‘all eyes on the Madleen’. The crew sent daily updates on social media and the ship’s progress was followed on GPS systems by news outlets, radical social media and individuals from across the globe.

On Monday morning, they sent their last message which showed the early stages of their kidnapping. The Israelis used chemical and sound piercing disorientation weapons before forcing the activists to hand over their phones and recording devices.

The attack on the Madleen came after several days in which Israeli forces have shot and killed starving Palestinians attempting to get to aid-distribution centres. The Madleen’s mission was a timely and symbolic attempt to break the siege and directly challenge the Israeli and US narrative (or blatant lie) on food distribution and make it clear that starvation is being used as a weapon of war by the Zionist entity.

On Monday evening, thousands of activists across Britain took to the streets to demand that the British government immediately intervene to rescue the crew and activists on the Madleen, impose immediate sanctions on Israel and immediately stop all arms sales to and spy-mission support operations for the Zionist entity. We need immediate action from the British government; the time for Labour’s weasel words is over.