Greta Thunberg, in a video posted on social media, said she and other members of the Freedom flotilla en-route to Gaza have been kidnapped by Israeli forces. This comes after the Daily Mail reported that several Israeli vessels surrounded the ship Madleen, prompting the crew to raise an alarm.

Thunberg shared a pre-recorded video appealing for international help. “My name is Greta Thunberg, and I am from Sweden,” she said in the clip. “If you see this video, we are being intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel. I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible.”

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[–] 189 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Isn't boarding and taking over a ship in international waters piracy?

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  • [–] 104 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    For private citizens yes.

    If a nations official forces do it. It is an act of war.

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  • [–] 59 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Curious to see how the EU and other European countries will respond. One of the people on board is a EU PM.

    Besides Greta the boat had people from many other European countries such as France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. There are also a Turk and a Brazilian on board.

    I really hope the people on board are safe. They don't deserve this.

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  • [–] 27 points 1 year ago

    They will respond politically. And that is all.

    The history means every nation in Europe is split to hell on this subject. So what ever action any specific gov takes. Will be the end of that gov. So no gov will have the courage to challenge with anything but diplomacy.

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  • [–] 96 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist, was also in that boat and was kidnapped by the Israeli state. That's a crime against humanity.

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  • [–] 149 points 1 year ago (20 children)

    Why is everyone so hands off and permissive with Israel? Like they can do nothing wrong when they go out of their way to do wrong things?

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Do you mean governments or people?

    People don't have much power here. Other than boycotts, what can people do?

    For governments, Israel is fairly powerful. They have powerful lobbyists, and aren't shy to leverage claims of antisemitism against anybody who speaks up against Israel. In many cases, there's also the guilt over how jews were treated in WWII. This is one reason Germany is so incredibly pro-Israel. Then there's the fact that Israel is still more-or-less a democracy, which makes it unique in the middle east. It's the one country in the region pushing back against various Islamic fundamentalist goverments, movements and terrorist groups. Many countries don't want to lose that "friend".

    And then there's spyware. Most of the best spyware in the world is produced in Israel. Some cynical people would say that countries don't want to lose access to the world's best producer of spyware. Some even more cynical people would say that that spyware has already been used on politicians and Israel is using it for blackmail. Who knows what the right level of cynicism is.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    there's also the guilt over how jews were treated in WWII.

    How many are still alive? That excuse has long expired.

    the region pushing back against various Islamic fundamentalist goverments

    You can thank the CIA for that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    How many are still alive? That excuse has long expired.

    It's not individual guilt, it's institutional guilt. In many other cases that's a good thing. We want German kids to grow up learning about the holocaust and thinking "we can't allow that to ever happen again". I don't think what's happening in Gaza could happen in Germany because of what Germans are taught growing up.

    OTOH, in Israel they seem to only be taught that jews are victims and can never be perpetrators.

    You can thank the CIA for that.

    Yeah, they were involved. They were saving the world from the dangers of communism. Looking back, all the west really had to do was sit back and wait for the communist system to collapse. But, I wonder what the middle east would look like without the CIA's interference. It sure seems unlikely it would be a land of healthy, stable democracies. Look at all the places where the CIA didn't interfere. Countries ruled by strongmen is the rule rather than the exception.

    But, however we got here, that has been Israel's traditional role. It was a democratic country with somewhat similar values to the west, nestled among Islamic Arab countries with very different values.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    We want German kids to grow up learning about the holocaust and thinking "we can't allow that to ever happen again".

    I think they kind of overdid it 'cos know they activelly defend nazis...

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  • [+] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This is a complete inversion of the relationship and a very loud antisemitic dog whistle

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    While their statement is a hyperbolic and reductive statement about only the other side of the symbiotic relationship, we must also not strip Israel of its agency. Also, Israel≠Jews, as much as Israel tries to convince you they are the same.

    In the macro scale. Yes, Israel is propped up by the west as a powerful tool against other regional powers and the imperial system funnels funds into their upkeep.

    But it's also true that in the micro scale. Politicians are more directly and personally rewarded to keep those funds flowing (AIPAC exists regardless of tropes) and Israel uses the leverage they have as one of the more valuable strategic tools to grant them leeway others wouldn't have.

    It's a two way street. Israel and The US/west aren't parasites leeching off one or the other, they're symbiotic.

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    [–] 148 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    All they had to do was wait until the boat entered Israeli waters to do it legally. Why do it in international waters? Israelis seem to want to break laws just for the sake of showing they dont consider any laws to matter. In some ways they are worse than nazis. They are like perpetually angry butthurt toddlers with weapons.

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  • [–] 77 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    They want to make a point that they don't care about international law

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  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    And that they will most likely suffer no consequences from it

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You may be right. The whole world is on the brink ,deciding if we will move forward as a global "rule of law" or a global "might makes right" future.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    We have always lived under "might makes right". Ask any country that has been under the boot of western imperialism.

    This is just the collapse of the charade of "rule of law" as the stranglehold of the western might begins to slip.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    this country is run and heavily populated with most vile criminals ever to exist

    when contemplating about what they are capable of, then think of them as the most disgusting mexican drug cartel not a country of law and human decency.

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  • [–] 34 points 1 year ago*

    #BringThemHome

    Good thing Sweden isn't Israel or else they'd have bombed their hospitals already.

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  • [–] 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I don't think kidnapped should be in " ", it's an entirely literal act of piracy and terrorism

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  • [–] 109 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    "The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," the ministry added.

    They will toss the aid to the wood chipper and laugh about it, won't they...

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  • [–] 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Nah, they will give it to their ISIS aligned collaborators and then shoot anyone/bomb anyone else who goes near it.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    They will then destroy Hamas. Once Hamas is destroyed, they will demand that the new group be destroyed before the war can end. They will then fund a third group to distribute aid.

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  • [–] [S] 50 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Israel has a reputation for not even following through on these basic minute propaganda gestures. Because they are comically evil.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    remember that time where they piled a bunch of boxes with a printout that said medical aid, then have soldiers move them into an hospital they evacuated, showing how weightless they are. and how useful will those empty boxes will be in the hospital they vacated

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  • [+] 126 points 1 year ago* (7 children)
  • [+] 46 points 1 year ago (7 children)
  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Yeap, she knew exactly what danger she was going into, and did it anyway. That is bravery.

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  • [+] -20 points 1 year ago (4 children)
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  • [–] -4 points 1 year ago*

    There was the chance they'd just get shot down.
    I guess israel still gives some credit to international opinion and deemed the rich white brat a relevant human better kept alive.

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    [–] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Israel has decided to grab the attention of some of the people who weren't already outraged. It's a bold more. I hope it works out the way I think it will.

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  • [–] 49 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    Of course idf kidnaps a kid

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  • [+] -15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Like Israel did to Palestine in 1948?

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  • [+] -12 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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    [+] -10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    She was no dummy. But was always going to die this way.

    (I only assume she is dead.)

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago

    I can understand where the fear that she'll be killed comes from, but I really don't think that's what will happen. She's too high profile, and her and the others know it. That's what's part of what makes this such a bold move. They were basically daring Israel to do something about it. There is a legitimate chance of harm coming to them, but I really expect they'll just be released in a few days.

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  • [+] -7 points 1 year ago

    Yeah I admire Greta, but anyone who's been paying attention had to know this would eventually happen.

    Punch enough knife-tips and you'll get cut. Greta wouldn't shut up and wouldn't sell out, now she's going to die a lot.

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  • [+] -51 points 1 year ago* (20 children)
  • [–] 54 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    They abducted her in international waters. Don’t try to legitimize that. They stopped her on the basis of trafficking weapons to Hamas. Israel and Egypt acknowledge that stopping humanitarian aid in international waters is a violation of their treaty, and yet Israel did it anyways.

    If you try to rationalize this type of behavior, what else do you rationalize?

    You should look into the atrocities that have been committed at Israel/Us “aid” checkpoints, specifically the massacre of innocent, starving people.

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