{"id":448079,"date":"2026-05-18T18:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/448079\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:12:11","slug":"jewish-arab-israeli-activists-launch-hasbara-flotilla-to-counter-gsf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/448079\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish, Arab Israeli activists launch ‘Hasbara’ flotilla to counter GSF"},"content":{"rendered":"

One day before Israeli naval forces began seizing boats<\/a> participating in the latest Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla on Monday morning, Israeli Jewish and Arab activists launched their own smaller, counter flotilla in a message that Israelis could respond in kind and would safeguard their territorial sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did our own flotilla,\u201d said Arab-Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad<\/a>, the organizer of the flotilla. Speaking on board one of the three ships in the Israeli \u201cHasbara\u201d flotilla as it sailed in the waters outside of Herzliya, he asserted that the Gaza-bound flotilla would not reach its intended destination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe send a clear message to all the \u2018terror flotilla\u2019 activists,\u201d he continued, addressing the participants in the GSF. \u201cYou are not welcome here. You will not be able to enter Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to assert that, despite the GSF\u2019s<\/a> claims, it was not bringing in any aid and that the activists on board were Hamas supporters.<\/p>\n

Haddad went on to call on everyone around the world who wanted to support the Palestinians in Gaza<\/a> to \u201cfree Gaza from the terrorist organization Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli activists on board one of the vessels of the Israeli ‘Hasbara’ flotilla. May 17, 2026. (credit: SAM HALPERN)<\/p>\n

The participants in the Israeli flotilla included a group of prominent pro-Israel figures, including Golda Daphna, Hallel Abramowitz-Silverman, Cindy Seni, Marwan Jaber, Ashley Waxman Bakshi, and 12-year-old activist Ben Carasso.<\/p>\n

Noting that it had no intention to violate the sovereignty of other countries, but rather to make a symbolic statement, the \u201cHasbara\u201d flotilla remained in Israeli waters, not far from where it set sail from the Herzliya Marina. It remained out for several hours before returning to port.<\/p>\n

On board, the activists waved signs mocking the GSF, which, in previous runs, had been unsuccessful in reaching Gaza and carried little aid.<\/p>\n

One sign read, \u201cIs Gaza free yet?\u201d Another stated, \u201cI was promised a sandwich,\u201d a reference to the online trope that Israelis, and in some usages, Jews as a whole, assert they were promised something 3,000 years ago whenever they want it.<\/p>\n

It also referred to the sandwiches Israeli forces distributed to the participants in the last Gaza flotilla when it was intercepted.<\/p>\n

Haddad: We will show the world the difference between us and them<\/p>\n

Haddad expounded on the purpose of the flotilla when speaking to The Jerusalem Post, which was on board the vessel with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we encounter the \u2018Marmara II\u2019 flotilla, the \u2018terror flotilla,\u2019 our mission is actually to show the world the difference between us and them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to shout \u2018terrorists, baby killers,\u2019 all this nonsense, and we\u2019re going to shout \u2018peace.\u2019 We\u2019re going to shout about the partnership between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and we\u2019re going to show that partnership from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IsraeliIsraeli activists on board one of the vessels of the Israeli ‘Hasbara’ flotilla. May 17, 2026. (credit: SAM HALPERN)<\/p>\n

Haddad went on to double down on his statement that the GSF was a \u201cterror flotilla,\u201d adding, \u201cThey are part of a terror flotilla, and they need to know that, and the world needs to know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GSF is linked to the Turkish IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation<\/a>, a proscribed terror group in Israel with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

Haddad also had a message for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan<\/a>, who, in recent months, has been escalating his rhetoric against Israel. In 2024, Erdogan went as far as to suggest that Turkey may attempt to invade Israel.<\/p>\n

Turkish President Erdogan a ‘terror supporter,’ Haddad says<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a terror supporter,\u201d Haddad told the Post. \u201cThis is not me saying this. He himself admitted this time after time in his speeches, supporting Hamas, even giving them shelter in Turkey. And, of course, talking about invading Israel and coming to \u2018free Jerusalem.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to say that Israelis were a different kind of people, noting that during the 2023 earthquake that hit Turkey, a disaster that resulted in some 60,000 deaths, Israel was one of the first countries to assist in rescue and aid efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the difference between us, human beings who sanctify life, and your government \u2013 not your people \u2013 your government, that sanctifies death.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One day before Israeli naval forces began seizing boats participating in the latest Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2037,66633,2729,50,8319,40127,72253,85,46,43,146415],"class_list":["post-448079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-activism","tag-arab-israeli","tag-flotilla","tag-gaza","tag-global-sumud-flotilla","tag-hasbara","tag-herzliya","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-yoseph-haddad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}