On September 2nd the BBC News website published a report by Gabriela Pomeroy headlined “Gaza flotilla with Greta Thunberg on board departs Barcelona”.
Obviously the BBC did not appreciate the irony of describing someone sailing on a vessel that reportedly burns up to 45 litres of diesel fuel every hour as a “climate change campaigner”.
“A flotilla of boats headed for Gaza carrying 350 pro-Palestinian activists – including climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg – has departed from Barcelona.
Around 20 vessels displaying Palestinian flags left the Spanish port at 19:00 local time on Monday, stocked with medical and food supplies.”
The BBC has of course nothing to tell readers about the actual amounts of any “medical and food supplies” those vessels may be carrying.
Readers are told that: [emphasis added]
“The aim of the mission is to “break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza“, the organisers said – though a previous attempt to reach Gaza by sea was intercepted by Israeli forces.
The Global Sumud Flotilla Mission plans to launch in two waves – the first from Barcelona and the second from Tunis on 4 September.”
BBC audiences are not given any information about those “organisers”, including the fact that one of them is the Freedom Flotilla Coalition – which was behind the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla as well as two other maritime stunts earlier this year. Neither are readers told that one of that organisation’s leaders is UK-based Hamas -Muslim Brotherhood activist Zaher Birawi who in July this year told Al Jazeera that the real aims of the flotilla project are political:
Zaher Birawi: “The Freedom Flotilla Coalition that runs these ships is not a charity organization. Rather, it has media and political goals.
[It strives] to exert pressure on the Israeli occupation state, in order to completely end the siege, in addition to ending the occupation – even if the siege is over, these activities will continue until the occupation is over. Delivering the symbolic aid on board these ships also constitutes a political message. It reveals that the measure taken by occupation state are crimes that should be confronted by all the countries in the world.”
Despite her quoted reference to “Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza” and a mention of the Mavi Marmara flotilla in the report’s final paragraph, Pomeroy does not inform BBC audiences that following that 2010 incident, a UN Panel of Inquiry ruled that the naval blockade is legal, stating:
“Once a blockade has been lawfully established, it needs to be understood that the blockading power can attack any vessel breaching the blockade if after prior warning the vessel intentionally and clearly refuses to stop or intentionally and clearly resists visit, search or capture. There is no right within those rules to breach a lawful blockade as a right of protest.”
Using the name of the band rather than of the singer concerned, Pomeroy finds fit to inform readers that:
“Punk singer Bob Vylan – who provoked controversy for leading a chant of “death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” at Glastonbury – spoke at the flotilla’s departure on Sunday.
He called the activists as “brave individuals” who were “attempting to do what should have been done by government intervention a long time ago”.”
Interestingly, Pomeroy has nothing at all to tell BBC audiences about any of Greta Thunberg’s fellow travellers, including the fact that at least three of them – an Irish comedian, a South African and a Brazilian member of the flotilla’s steering committee – attended the funeral of Hizballah terrorist Hassan Nasrallah in February. Another participant is Jaldia Abubakra who is involved with the PFLP-linked organisations Samidoun and Masar Badil.
As for Thunberg herself, Pomeroy’s tepid description clearly does not provide BBC audiences with any information about the additional activities of that “climate change campaigner”, such as her January 2025 participation in an event organised by the Polisario Front.
Pomeroy promotes the discredited IPC report claiming ‘famine’ in Gaza City and uses the term “controversial” in what has become standard BBC practice whenever mentioning the GHF. As was the case in a previous BBC report, she portrays that American mission as an Israeli “system”.
“In March, Israel introduced a nearly three-month total blockade on goods entering Gaza, before allowing a limited amount of goods back into the territory in late-May following international pressure. a [sic] UN-backed body has since declared there is a famine in parts of Gaza.
Israel has since tried to impose its own distribution system through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been criticised by aid agencies.”
Pomeroy’s failure to provide readers with any useful information about the affiliations, views and motives of the organisers and participants in this latest flotilla will not come as much of a surprise to anyone familiar with the BBC’s coverage of previous such publicity stunts. For over fifteen years the BBC has avoided telling the whole story behind the various episodes of maritime agitprop as well as the obviously relevant topic of the naval blockade and its legality.
The same omissions were evident in yet another BBC News website report published five days later on July 7th – “Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla arrives in Tunisia” by Ruth Comerford – which provides amplification for the activist’s false claims of ‘genocide’ and ‘mass starvation’.
And so, in a few days’ time, when the BBC rushes to report on Israel’s interception of the flotilla and detention of its attention craving passengers, BBC audiences will once again be badly placed to understand the whole story.
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I rarely leave comments as I seldom have anything to add to your excellent reports, and all I’ll say now is keep up the pressure and the superb work.
Thank you.