The activist Chris Smalls is ready to go back to Gaza.
In a few posts on X yesterday, he expressed his disdain for the Israeli forces that occupy Palestine and said he is ready to go again after he was arrested just two weeks ago on a mission to challenge the blockade that prevents food and other necessities from entering the Gaza Strip. The experience seems to have only motivated the Amazon union organizer to continue the mission.
“Damn right I will go back on another flotilla again and again until we break the illegal siege that Israel upholds and Palestine is finally free!” He wrote on X.
Smalls made national headlines as an organizer in 2022 when he successfully founded the first Amazon labor union at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse. With a group of activists this year, he’s formed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, whose mission is to sail to Gaza to bring in humanitarian aid. He was the only Black person sailing on their ship called “Handala” when they were reportedly detained in international waters by Israeli naval forces on July 26. The group reported that he was also singled out and beaten because of his race.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition reported that he was kicked and choked by seven uniformed officers upon arrival in Israeli custody. Smalls also said in an interview that one of the soldiers used his hair, which is in dreadlocks, and his chain necklaces to perform the choking while saying “racist remarks” to him. By July 31, Smalls was released from prison and returned to the US with the other organizers.
The posts from Smalls also reveal details of his arrest from his side. He wrote to his followers, “I did curse the IOF straight to their faces for all the bloodshed and it was worth every word.” He also speculated that the Israeli military did not release propaganda videos of his arrest because it would prove that the claims he was the aggressor were false.
“I would love to see the footage!… it would shock the world, ” He wrote in another post.
