Everyone knew the Israeli military would seize the Madleen.
Everyone knew the brave activists aboard would be arrested.
And that’s precisely what makes their actions so powerful.
These are people, peaceful, principled, determined, who sailed straight into the storm with open hearts and clear moral purpose. They knew they wouldn’t reach Gaza. But they also knew that the world needs reminders, loud, visible, defiant reminders, that what’s happening in Gaza is not normal, not justifiable, and not tolerable.
Let’s be honest: except for the government of Israel, many of its citizens, and a shrinking group of their most extreme allies, the world knows that what’s happening in Gaza is a genocide. The numbers speak for themselves: over 54,000 killed, including 19,000 children [1], and starvation used as a weapon. Entire communities have been erased, along with basic services, homes, schools, and hospitals.
This is not “self-defence.”
This is a systematic destruction of a people.
At Greenpeace Canada, we believe in peace, in life, and dignity for all. We take nonviolence seriously. We resist oil drilling, deforestation, and nuclear threats using peaceful protest. But we also know that nonviolence is not passive. It demands courage. It requires us to put our bodies, voices, and values on the line, even when we know we might fail in the immediate sense.
This is what the crew of the Madleen did.
They are not fringe radicals or publicity-seekers. They are committed activists, many of whom, like Greta Thunberg, are leading climate justice and human rights advocates, who understand that climate justice and human rights are inextricably linked. We cannot fight to protect life on Earth while ignoring the mass killing of civilians, the destruction of entire ecosystems under bombardment, or the use of humanitarian crises as tools of war.
Some walls will not break on the first try. Sometimes, we must bang our heads against them, again and again, until they bleed. Not out of despair, but out of hope. Because the wall only falls when enough people refuse to walk away.
And let’s be clear: Israel has made its choice, a choice of war, occupation, and devastation. This is not a judgment of individuals, but a condemnation of policy. The people aboard the Madleen made a different choice: a choice for life. A choice for solidarity. A choice to bear witness.
This is the clash we’re watching unfold, not just between Israel and the Palestinian People, but between two visions of the world. One rooted in domination, fear, and control. The other is rooted in dignity, courage, and a shared future.
Evil may seem immovable, but it is already cracking. As Greenpeace, we must find strength in that crack. We must raise our voices, not just for forests and oceans, but for justice wherever it is under threat, because environmentalism without human rights is empty. And peace without accountability is a lie.
The wall will break. And when it does, it will be thanks to those who kept pressing, even when the world wasn’t watching.
[1] Source: https://www.ochaopt.org/ The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2023/10/9/israel-hamas-war-in-maps-and-charts-live-tracker (updated at the beginning of February 2025).
Yossi Cadan currently serves as the Interim Managing Director of Greenpeace Canada and is a dedicated human rights activist. In the early 1990s, he worked in Gaza to draw attention to human rights violations in the Gaza Strip and the occupied territories.
