The aggressive raid by Israel in the middle of the Mediterranean, 600 miles west of Gaza, proves the endless audacity of the terrorist state. It also reveals its difficulty in confronting a mission of this scale (80+ vessels) near its shores, especially amid military operations in Lebanon and tensions with Iran. However, the fact that the Zionist state launched this attack in an area it considers “safe” for its actions—between Crete and the Peloponnese, within an area under Greek jurisdiction (and not in zones east of Crete disputed by other states)—highlights the disgraceful complicity of the Greekgovernment.
The government hides behind the claim that the attack took place in international waters. Yet, since it was a military operation that lasted for hours and endangered the lives of hundreds of people—who called for help from the Greek Coast Guard without receiving any response—it is clear that there was prior knowledge and coordination with Israel, with which there is, after all, a military alliance. This is one of the most humiliating acts by the government and the Greek state, especially while they claim to guarantee the security and control of EU borders. This control has even involved crimes, such as the Pylos shipwreck where 700 refugees drowned—a tragedy for which full responsibility is attributed to the Greek Coast Guard, and which occurred very close to the location of this Israeli attack.
Moreover, the complicit government was exposed by a post from Israel’s genocidal Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, who effectively took on the role of spokesperson for the Greek government. Sa’ar, after claiming that the IDF operation aimed to prevent the violation of the “legal naval blockade of Gaza,” announced: “In coordination with the Greek government, the individuals transferred from the flotilla vessels to an Israeli ship will disembark on a Greek shore. We thank the Greek government for its willingness to receive the flotilla participants.”
Signs of beatings are visible on the people whom the Israeli pirate warship “unloaded” at the small port of Sitia, in Crete: bloodstained clothes, bruised eyes. In total, 36 participants were transferred to the hospital in Sitia for treatment.
The entire development shows that the coordination does not concern only the disembarkation of those abducted, but the entire operation. Equally provocative is the stance of the European Commission, whose spokesperson stated—while hundreds of citizens of member states were being abducted—that “we do not encourage flotillas as a form of delivering aid.” Of course, they prefer bombers…
The reaction of the movement in Greece and other countries was immediate. In Athens, following a call by March to Gaza and many organizations (including ANTARSYA and Communist Liberation), a militant rally took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Greek mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla will sail, despite Israel’s piratical raid
The Greek mission of the largest Global Sumud Flotilla to date is scheduled to set sail on May 3 from Syros, despite Israel’s piratical raid. The departure will be accompanied by a two-day anti-war series of events on the island, where local collectives and activists will meet with hundreds of participants from across the Mediterranean.
The mission aims to deliver a strong political message of internationalist solidarity. Pantelis V. is among those preparing to set sail toward the martyred Gaza. Together with Christini D.L., they are the two members of Communist Liberation participating in the large Greek delegation of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Pantelis states: “The Palestinian struggle is the most just of our time. It encompasses everything: it is anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist. It is the forefront of a barbarity being prepared for all of us. When we speak of Gaza, we speak of Lebanon, Iran, and the future that is coming. Our country profits from the blood of Palestinians: 57 oil shipments from Greek companies were transported to Israel last year, military material for Elbit passes through our ports, Israeli real estate firms invest in our neighborhoods, and IDF soldiers rest at Greek resorts.
The contradiction—the distance between the people and bourgeois political representation—has intensified. The entire system (New Democracy, SYRIZA, PASOK) either remains silent or openly supports Israel; it does not express the popular will. People know this and speak with the means available to them: flags, slogans on walls, strikes at ports. Israeli companies are massively buying property in central Athens and on the islands, while workers cannot afford rent or holidays. The same policy that displaces Palestinians from the West Bank and seeks to turn Gaza into a ‘Riviera’ evicts pensioners in Athens and throws workers out of their homes.
The struggles are connected, even if they are not identical. We were told that the ‘strategic alliance with Israel brings security.’ But security for whom? For the profits of shipping capital and Israeli funds buying up Athenian neighborhoods? For the Souda NATO base, which is being turned into a US-Israeli military hub? For us, this same ‘alliance’ means involvement in a broader war in the Middle East. Our response is clear: an arms embargo on Israel. Greece out of NATO. Close the US bases. Not a single soldier, not a single square kilometer of airspace for the slaughter of peoples.”
The safety and success of the Fleet depend on the action of the movement on land! (photo: Marios Lolos)
A strong message of solidarity with Palestine was expressed in the May Day strike rallies
A message of workers’ defiance and subversive struggle for bread, jobs, peace, freedom, and the emancipation of the working people was sent by those who participated in the May Day strike rallies across the country.
In Athens, the independent class-based rally organized by grassroots unions and workers’ collectives at the Propylaea was both massive and militant. The poster circulated by these collectives calls for a struggle for wage increases, collective labor agreements, and peace. It opposes the government, NATO, and EU militarization, advocating for a society without wars and exploitation. Thousands of workers and young people took part in the large march towards Syntagma Square, highlighting the potential of radical forces within the labor movement.
“Their worst nightmare is for the working class to organize the power it holds in its own hands,” emphasizes Communist Liberation, adding that “the anti-capitalist–communist left is the only force capable of disrupting the consensus politics of the bourgeois parties. It promotes the common struggle of all fighting segments and is not afraid to say that capital must lose wealth and power for working people to live—therefore, all public goods and enterprises of strategic importance must be nationalized.”
A class-based May Day rally also took place in Thessaloniki. Of particular note was the internationalist initiative by Communist Liberation, which formed a joint bloc with the organization Socialist Dawn from North Macedonia, sending a strong message of internationalist workers’ action in the Balkans.
