Internationalist piracy: “Where states have failed to uphold international law, ordinary people have stepped in to enforce it”

~ Contre-Attaque ~

Since April 12, the largest humanitarian flotilla in history has set sail from Catalonia towards the shores of Palestine. Dozens of boats and hundreds of participants from 70 countries, including many healthcare professionals, lawyers, and engineers, are on board. This is the third Global Sumud Flotilla to break the blockade imposed on the people of Gaza.

This time, the flotilla is already carrying out direct actions in the Mediterranean Sea. Yesterday (20 April) more than a dozen ships from the flotilla successfully diverted a vessel carrying raw materials destined for the Israeli arms industry, the Flotilla announced in a statement. “This is the first time a civilian flotilla has directly intervened to disrupt the maritime transport of equipment related to a state’s military operations.”

Specifically, the MSC Maya, a container ship belonging to the multinational shipping company MSC – Mediterranean Shipping Company – measuring nearly 400 meters and flying the Panamanian flag, was forced to change course. It was heading towards the Israeli ports of Ashdod and Haifa. A maritime radar image shows the MSC Maya surrounded by other ships, forcing it to deviate from its trajectory.

The flotilla highlights MSC’s role “as a key logistical hub for the Israeli occupation’s military apparatus” and adds: “Although the company presents an appearance of commercial neutrality, investigations and labour observers have revealed the systematic transport of high-quality alloy steel used in the manufacture of heavy artillery.”

The statement refers to the investigation published by Al Jazeera and the Palestinian Youth Movement, based on “commercial documents obtained through US import databases,” which revealed last February that the shipping company “regularly transported goods from companies located in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.” “Between 1 January and 22 November, 2025, MSC allegedly facilitated at least 957 shipments of goods from Israeli outposts to the United States. Of these shipments, 529 transited through European ports, including 390 in Spain, 115 in Portugal, 22 in the Netherlands, and two in Belgium.” The media outlet Off Investigation also explains that “steel intended for the production of munitions in Israel is present in large quantities” in MSC’s cargo.

The flotilla’s action “is part of a growing global movement to combat complicity wherever it manifests itself: in boardrooms, factories, ports, and now, at sea.” The Mediterranean is both a graveyard for refugees and a lawless zone where capitalists traffic weapons used in genocide, while humanitarian aid is blocked and the Israeli army illegally attacks flotillas bound for Gaza.

Machine translation