Release the Hostages! Break the Siege!

Nearly 500 members of the Global Sumud Flotilla—including my friend and comrade Logan—have been taken prisoner by Israel for attempting to deliver aid to the victims of US-backed genocide in Gaza.

The Ohwayla (Reuters/Stefanos Rapanis)

In the next week or so I’ll be publishing an interview with acclaimed Salvadoran journalist Julia Gavarette, on the rise of fascism in El Salvador—so please keep an eye out for that. Today, though, I wanted to briefly highlight a disturbing and developing situation: the mass arrest and imprisonment of the nearly 500 members of the Global Sumud Flotilla—including my friend, comrade, and longtime migrant solidarity worker Logan Hollarsmith—who were intercepted at sea while attempted to deliver life-saving aid to the survivors of Israel’s US-backed genocide in Gaza.

Logan and hundreds of other flotilla members are being held in Israel’s notorious Kitzi’ot Prison, along with thousands of Palestinian political prisoners.¹ This is the same detention camp where the majority of Palestinians taken captive during the First Intifada were warehoused and tortured. (Incidentally, and perhaps of interest: Kitzi’ot is also the same prison where the current editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg, once served as an IDF prison guard). Conditions in the camp are infamously cruel and inhumane, and reports have already surfaced that Flotilla members have suffered abuse and humiliation in detention. These reports, and those that will undoubtedly follow, provide just a glimpse of the unending daily horrors suffered by the thousands of Palestinian hostages languishing in Israel’s concentration camps.

Shortly after the Sumud Flotilla was intercepted, another fleet of aid boats left Turkey en route to Gaza. As Dylan Saba wrote last week: “The Global Sumud Flotilla is demonstrating the efficacy of tactical nonviolence in forcing a political crisis over the Gaza genocide. They are putting Israel on the back foot and forcing states to act. These brave comrades deserve our full attention, solidarity, and support.” May there be a million more boats, until Palestine is free.

In the meantime, please do what you can to demand the release of Logan and every member of the flotilla, and help spread the word about their situation. And of course, continue speaking up and doing what you can to stop the genocide in Gaza and end the illegal occupation of Palestine.

For more information: globalsumudflotilla.org

For legal team updates: whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb6ReXG8PgsLxkVY643j

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Below is a press release published today by No More Deaths, the borderland aid group that Logan and I volunteer with in southern Arizona.

On Thursday, Oct. 2, Logan Hollarsmith, a longtime NMD volunteer and beloved Tucson, AZ, community member, was illegally detained in international waters while attempting to deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid as part of the 42-boat Global Sumud Flotilla. Logan was captain of the Ohwayla, which made it within 40 nautical miles of Gaza before being intercepted along with 41 other boats in order to break the illegal and genocidal starvation campaign against the people of Gaza.

We demand the release of Logan and the 500 other members of the Flotilla detained by Israel, who are currently being held in deplorable conditions in the Kitzi’ot in the Negev Desert. The Flotilla’s legal team reports Israel is withholding food, water, and medical attention, and over 200 hearings were held without any legal representation. The group was forced to kneel for 5 hours while handcuffed in retaliation for chanting “Free Palestine.”

The US embassy is failing in its responsibilities, refusing to support Logan and the 20 other US prisoners, including many of his crewmates, who were largely US military veterans, as well as a Ukrainian orthodox priest/medic, a reporter from Al Jazeera, and two from Finland.The United States must demand their immediate release and return home.

Help us spread the word in releasing Logan and the other US citizens abandoned by our government:

Logan Thomas Hollarsmith (Ohwayla)

David Rashi Kremen Adler (Ohwayla)

Gregory James Stoker (Ohwayla)

Philip Kuper Tottenham (Ohwayla)

Susan Carole Jernstedt (Ohwayla)

Thomas George Marcus (Ohwayla)

Windfield Moon Beaver (Ohwayla)

Zuleyka Morales Rivera (Ohwayla)

Christopher Paul Hausler

Leila Monique Hegazy

Stephen George Wahab

Geraldine Ramirez

Torleif Rafeek Stumo

Paul William Reid

Eric Jason Lien

Adnaan Michael Stumo

Michael Fix

Carlson Amanda Blanton

Dane Cassidey Hunter

Alexander Lee Colston

Jasmine Sau Mun Ikeda

1. Current reports indicate that more than a hundred flotilla members have been released and more than 300 remain captive.