“Samud” Flotilla Reaches Its Spiritual Destination — A Symbolic Success, Says Columnist

In a column, Hussein Abdollahi-far writes that the passengers of the Samud flotilla from the moment they put to sea knew their voyage would not be an ordinary maritime trip. Their stated aim was not merely to move from point A to point B, he says, but to demonstrate unyielding resolve and to draw international attention to what organisers describe as “the unprecedented atrocities in Gaza.” The flotilla’s name — Samud, meaning steadfastness or resilience — was chosen to signal a refusal to surrender and preparedness to withstand hardship, including confrontations or detention by Israeli authorities.

Abdollahi-far argues that, even before the flotilla anchored at its destination, it had already achieved multiple objectives. He summarised ten principal outcomes:

1. Breaking the Silence: The flotilla succeeded in disrupting global indifference and inertia toward the Gaza calamity, stimulating renewed public empathy and civic mobilisation in many countries.

2. Exposing Brutality: The voyage further revealed, in the author’s view, the brutality of the Israeli regime and underscored the plight and legitimacy of the Palestinian people.

3. Challenging Western Human-Rights Narratives: The detention of flotilla passengers — described in the column as unlawful — exposed contradictions in Western human-rights rhetoric and the liberal democratic order, which the author claims continues to support oppressive actors.

4. Sparking a Continuing Movement: The Samud action triggered follow-on efforts, including other solidarity flotillas (the column notes that a “Freedom Fleet” set sail immediately after the arrest of some 470 passengers).

5. Raising Hope Inside Gaza: The flotilla bolstered morale among Gazans and among global supporters of Palestinian self-determination by demonstrating international solidarity and the possibility of breaking the blockade.

6. Demonstrating the Limits of the Occupation’s Policy: The voyage, the columnist says, showed that the occupation’s leaders are incapable of formulating effective responses to peaceful, pro-freedom initiatives.

7. Revealing the Gap Between Public Opinion and Western Media Narratives: The flotilla highlighted, according to the author, a growing divergence between global public sentiment — increasingly hostile to mass civilian casualties in Gaza — and Western media and state narratives.

8. Separating Governments from Their Peoples: The action distinguished the positions of many peoples from those of their governments, demonstrating popular opposition to official Western policies and institutions’ silence.

9. Undermining the Occupation’s Long-Term Objectives: The flotilla reinforced the argument that Israeli aims to eliminate Palestinian resistance and alter the region permanently will not succeed in the court of global public opinion.

10. Validating Resistance Through Perseverance: Finally, the flotilla — named for perseverance — validated the belief that sustained resilience is the path by which oppressed peoples can achieve political aims.

The column frames the flotilla’s mission as part of a broader, long-term political and moral campaign and presents its outcomes as politically and symbolically significant regardless of the immediate tactical results at sea.