Amazon Union Leader Chris Smalls Detained & Beaten by Israeli military, But US Media Ignores It
Smalls and twenty other human rights defenders were aboard a vessel bringing baby formula, diapers, food, and medicine to Palestinians being deliberately starved.
On June 26, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) boarded and seized the second Gaza-bound vessel in 2 Months. The Handala, a ship associated with the Flotilla Freedom Coalition, carried a shipment of critical humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza, including baby formula, diapers, food, and medicine. All cargo was non-military, civilian, and intended for direct distribution to a population facing deliberate starvation and medical collapse under Israel’s illegal blockade. "At 23:43 EEST Palestine time the Occupation cut the cameras on board Handala and we have lost all communication with our ship" writes Hay Sha Wiya of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Among those on the ship was Chris Smalls, who gained fame when he led a successful union drive at Amazon in Staten Island in 2021, founding Amazon Labor Union (ALU). President Biden invited Smalls to meet at the White House to strategize on union organizing in 2022.
On Monday June 28, details emerged that not only was Smalls detained, but he was physically beaten by the IDF. He was the only Black member of the Freedom Flotilla on the Handala.
“The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, U.S. human rights defender, Christian Small, was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” wrote the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on Instagram. “They choked him and kicked him, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back”.
Still, despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago.
In 2022, The New York Times even ran a Style section profile on his fashion choices among more than a dozen pieces that they ran on his organizing efforts, but the paper has not said anything about the detention and beating of a high-profile labor activist at the hands of the IDF. Thus far Zeteo, The Grio, Jezebel and PayDay Report covered it.
"As a union, we are demanding the immediate release of Chris Smalls and all captured activists," said the 29,000-member California Faculty Association in a statement late Monday. "We further call for an immediate end to the engineered famine and deliberate starving of the people in Gaza, labor complicity with genocide, and all US military aid to Israel".
Other unions are expected to denounce the beating & detention of Smalls by the IDF. Teamsters union President Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of of the Amazon Labor Union founder, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters.
The Handala carried 21 civilians representing 12 countries, including parliamentarians, lawyers, journalists, labor organizers, environmentalists, and other human rights defenders. The crew includes:
Human Rights Defenders Aboard Handala, by country:
United States: Christian Smalls – Amazon Labor Union founder; Huwaida Arraf – Human rights attorney (Palestine/US); Jacob Berger – Jewish-American activist; Bob Suberi – Jewish U.S. war veteran; Braedon Peluso – Sailor and direct action activist; Dr. Frank Romano – International lawyer and actor (France/US).
France: Emma Fourreau – MEP and activist (France/Sweden); Gabrielle Cathala – Parliamentarian and former humanitarian worker; Justine Kempf – Nurse, Médecins du Monde; Ange Sahuquet – Engineer and human rights activist.
Italy: Antonio Mazzeo – Teacher, peace researcher, journalist; Antonio “Tony” La Picirella – Climate and social justice organizer.
Spain: Santiago González Vallejo – Economist and activist; Sergio Toribio – Engineer and environmentalist.
Australia: Robert Martin – Human rights activist; Tania “Tan” Safi – Journalist and organizer of Lebanese descent.
Norway: Vigdis Bjorvand – 70-year-old lifelong justice activist.
United Kingdom / France: Chloé Fiona Ludden – Former UN staff and scientist.
Tunisia: Hatem Aouini – Trade unionist and internationalist activist.
Journalists Aboard Handala
Morocco: Mohamed El Bakkali – Senior journalist with Al Jazeera (based in Paris).
Iraq / United States: Waad Al Musa – Cameraman and field reporter with Al Jazeera.
The attack on Handala is the third violent act by Israeli forces against Freedom Flotilla missions this year alone. It follows the drone bombing of the civilian aid ship Conscience in European waters in May, which injured four people and disabled the vessel, and the illegal seizure of the Madleen in June, where Israeli forces abducted twelve civilians, including Greta Thunberg, and a Member of the European Parliament. Shortly before their abduction, the Handala‘s crew affirmed that they would be hunger-striking if detained by Israeli forces and not accepting any food from the Israeli Occupation Forces.
Israeli officials have ignored the International Court of Justice’s binding orders that require the facilitation of humanitarian access to Gaza. The continued attacks on peaceful civilian missions represent a grave violation of international law.
“Israel has no legal authority to detain international civilians aboard the Handala,” said retired United States Army colonel Ann Wright a member of the Freedom Flotilla’s steering committee. “This is not a matter of internal Israeli jurisdiction. These are foreign nationals operating under international law in international waters. Their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end.”
