Palestine Pt. 15: The Gaza Freedom Flotilla w/ Chris Smalls & Huwaida Arraf

6 snips

Aug 26, 2025

Guest

Chris Smalls

Guest

Huwaida Arraf

Joining the conversation are Chris Smalls, a labor organizer and founder of the Amazon Labor Union, and Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American human rights attorney and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. They share riveting stories from the Freedom Flotilla mission to Gaza, highlighting the connection between labor rights in the U.S. and Palestinian liberation. The guests discuss international law, the complexity of activism against the Gaza blockade, and the need for a more global view in labor movements to truly support human rights in Palestine.

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ANECDOTE

Rapid Decision To Join The Flotilla

Chris Smalls describes being invited to join the Handala flotilla with 24 hours to decide and immediately agreeing.
He framed his participation as consistent with prior international solidarity work and bringing labor politics to Palestine.

ANECDOTE

Boat Bonding Under Hard Conditions

The Handala crew of 21 lived closely on an old 1968 boat and formed a family-like bond during long, difficult nights at sea.
They managed morale through shared meals, humor, and mutual protection during assaults.

ANECDOTE

Night Raid And Violent Detention

The voyage faced sabotage before departure and heavy drone surveillance; Israel intercepted them in international waters four hours from Gaza.
During capture Chris says he was thrown down, choked with chains, isolated, and taken to port of Bishad for detention.

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In this episode, Part 15 of our ongoing Palestine series, we've invited on two guests for a wide-ranging conversation around the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and the movement it's part of: Chris Smalls and Huwaida Arraf.

Chris Smalls is a labor organizer, founder and former President of the Amazon Labor Union, and was a member of the most recent Freedom Flotilla voyage to Gaza. In this conversation, Chris shares about his experience on the Handala—the boat that sailed from Italy to the coast off of Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's illegal siege and blockade of food, medicine, and other lifesaving necessities in Palestine. We talk about the IOF's siege of the Handala in the waters of the Mediterranean just off the coast of Gaza and Chris's treatment after being kidnapped by Israel. We also explore the connection between working class politics in the United States and the struggle for liberation in Palestine, the complicity of the Western labor movement and the Democratic Party in the Palestinian genocide, the need for a labor party in the US, and what's next for the Freedom Flotilla missions.

Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian-American human/civil rights attorney, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, and organizer with the Freedom Flotilla. In this conversation, Huwaida tells us about the history of the Freedom Flotilla and the various voyages to Gaza from 2008 to the present. We discuss the framework of international law, whether or not it still exists in a meaningful way, and how Israel and the US routinely violate it. Finally, we talk about a possible future where those responsible for the Palestinian siege and genocide, from Israeli leaders to IOF foot soldiers, are held accountable for their war crimes and crimes against humanity, and what the future holds for more freedom flotillas defying the brutal and illegal siege on Gaza.

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Intermission music: A section of "Deepwater Horizon Dream" by Robert Raymond

Covert art: Palestine Poster Project, Abel El Hameed

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