Rising anger and the Global Sumud Flotilla

The Gaza declaration of the Islamic scholars, read out last Friday in front of the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, took place in the atmosphere of a small-scale rally amid the curious following of the natural crowd of people and the square that came out of Friday prayer. The slogans the crowd shouted here and there expressed not only support but also certain expectations of the scholars. From those whose words I overheard at the end of the meeting, or who approached me in person to express their feelings, I saw that the declaration fell well below expectations.

So what is the expectation? As people see that, despite everything done so far, no result has been obtained on Gaza, they are accumulating great anger. People cannot accept helplessness. The anger accumulated in people by the fact that Israel, with its tiny population on a tiny piece of land, reduces a billion Muslims to such helplessness is reaching a breaking point. This time what has been done is becoming meaningless and worthless. However much we say that nothing done in this regard is in vain, this sober stance does not satisfy the masses in the face of the situation confronting them.

In response to the genocidal, barbaric aggression against the people of Gaza that has gone on for 700 days, that solidarity with Gaza for the same 700 days has not prevented the deaths of children, and that now people must watch their starvation to death "in solidarity," opens incurable wounds inside people and stirs unabating storms.

"What needs to be done? Should Turkey declare war on Israel, and therefore on the USA?" I ask; no one gives a positive answer to this either, but they say that there is certainly a great deal that can be done apart from war. "Let them open the way for us, we will go and fight!" many of them say.

"States have their relations, they have the realpolitik calculations that bind them, but we, as the people, are ready to go," they say.

"Let an aid flotilla be formed with countries that have clear positions on Palestine, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Qatar and Algeria, carrying all their flags together, and let this flotilla, which has no intention of war, be delivered to Gaza with air support. If Israel attacks even ships of peace, let it think about the rest," says one, and this thought has almost become the common sense of the street.

IF RECOGNIZING PALESTINE DOES NOT STOP THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA

The great majority of European countries have begun to take a stance toward Israel that could never have been imagined before. Most have declared, one by one, that they will recognize Palestine in September or October, perhaps at the UN meeting. Fine, but even recognizing Palestine is of no use to Gaza, which is at this moment in fact subjected to genocide. The steps promised to be taken in the future to damn or punish Israel are of no use to Gaza today. With the courage it takes from these ineffective steps of the world, Israel, at this rate, will not leave any entity called Palestine in the meantime, will not leave a people for the Palestine that is to be recognized. All the discourses aimed at stopping Israel always expect someone else to do the job. No one challenges Israel directly; everyone uses a language that asks for someone to stop Israel. This language itself has no effect whatsoever on Israel.

WHO WILL BRING HUMANITY OUT OF THIS CRISIS?

In the end, humanity today faces the greatest crisis in history in the face of the hegemony of a world order formed around Israel, which tramples all values and humanity underfoot. In fact every crisis also offers a serious opportunity to get out of it. There is no doubt that whoever brings humanity out of this crisis will also be charged with the mission of building the world, of giving order to the universe, from here on. There is no doubt that the people of Gaza, who have raised the banner of revolt against this hegemony, have entered among the most unparalleled heroes of history. Now who will step in, entering into solidarity with these heroes, to save a people subjected to genocide? The conditions bring this call forward in an ever more urgent and heavier way. Exactly as it is decreed in the Holy Qur'an: "And what is the matter with you that you do not fight in the cause of Allah and for the oppressed among men, women and children who say, 'Our Lord, take us out of this city whose people are oppressors, and appoint for us from Yourself a protector, and appoint for us from Yourself a helper'?" (An-Nisa, 4/75).

Otherwise, whatever state we may be in today, in the future our today is recorded not by what we did but as having been unable to do anything while genocide was taking place in Gaza. The anger produced by this state of mind is gradually gaining mass spread. People want to do something, and this in fact becomes a threat in itself to the Zionist order. That is why, at this stage, what is expected of rulers loyal to the order is to suppress their own peoples. Even if states cannot do anything, the peoples and consciences of the world cannot accept what is happening and want to do something. In fact the Scholars' Declaration, for that reason, called especially on Arab regimes to "release their own peoples to protests and demonstrations." If the Egyptian people were not reined in by their own state itself, no one could stand in the way of the resulting popular movement reaching the borders of Israel.

THE NEWS IS NOT THE FLOTILLA'S MOVEMENT BUT HOW THE WORLD CAN REMAIN SILENT IN THE FACE OF THIS GENOCIDE

Indeed, peoples are moving at the global level. The "Global Sumud Flotilla," which has been under preparation for some time, set out as of yesterday into the Mediterranean to break the inhuman blockade Israel imposes on Gaza. On the flotilla are activists, artists and politicians of conscience from all corners of the world. Setting out from the Port of Barcelona, formed with support from 44 countries, it has begun a historic voyage toward Gaza. The flotilla includes 20 boats and more than 300 volunteers, among whom are Greta Thunberg, the Irish actor Liam Cunningham and the former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau. It is said that after this movement was first announced at least 500 thousand volunteers applied to join the Flotilla. This is a very good number, and in fact it foretells the potential of any mobilization to be formed against Israel these days, together with other movements, to set tens of millions of people in motion.

This is also a harbinger of the expected end that Israel is preparing with its own hands. The greatest threat to Israel is in fact none other than Israel itself.

The words of Greta Thunberg, one of the flotilla's participants, as she set out, "The news today is not that the flotilla is moving, but how the world can remain silent in the face of this genocide," although pointing to Western silence, are also a harbinger of a rising global tsunami.

The road of the Global Sumud Flotilla is open; may it reach its destination, may their voyage be blessed.