Anna Ruiz: "I saw the red laser of the rifle pointing at my comrades' heads"

PalmaAnna Ruiz (Montuïri), an activist and nautical professional, was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international initiative that aimed to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge the Israeli naval blockade. On April 30, her boat, the BribonA, was intercepted along with other vessels of the mission in international waters near Greece. Ruiz joined the flotilla in the midst of a war that, since October 2023, has caused the death of more than 72,000 Palestinians and displaced most of the population of the Strip. While Benjamin Netanyahu's government has announced its intention to expand military control over the enclave to 70%, the Majorcan activist asserts that she could not stand aside from the conflict. In this interview, she recounts how she experienced the interception, the aggressions she reports witnessing, and the role that, in her opinion, Western governments are playing in the face of the situation experienced by the Palestinian people.

How did you decide to participate in the Global Sumud Flotilla?

— I am dedicated to the world of nautical and, when I learned about the mission, I felt that I had to participate. Seeing a genocide broadcast live made me understand that I had a moral obligation to act.

You went to Gaza with Joan Carles I's old racing yacht, the Bribón. How does a Bourbon sailing boat end up involved in a humanitarian mission?

— We bought it. There were many for sale. In the words of a mission companion; “That the Bribón, the former king's ship, sails to Gaza transformed into ‘BribonA’ with an anarchist A... is simply, poetic justice”. What was a symbol of privilege, of a monarchy distant from the people, today transforms into a tool of solidarity, into a humanitarian mission to break the siege and bring hope. Perhaps this is what it should have always been. That what belongs to the people returns to the people. That what has been paid for with everyone's money serves to defend life and not the privileges of a few. From a symbol of power, to a symbol of resistance.

How did the Israeli army intercept you?

— The interception could have been expected at any moment when crossing the orange zone, an imaginary line located about 150 nautical miles from Gaza, where the Israeli occupation forces exercise an illegal military naval blockade. That is to say, far beyond the 12 nautical miles that international maritime law recognizes as territorial waters of a country. What no one expected was that this would happen 650 nautical miles from Gaza, about 60 miles from Crete, Greece. In the middle of the Mediterranean, in international waters and surrounded by European countries.

What were the first moments like?

— Very confusing. We saw drones flying overhead and large ships surrounding us, but it was difficult to grasp that the Israeli occupation forces had come to kidnap us in European waters. Many ships were able to escape by accelerating towards Greek territorial waters, because they felt they would be protected that way. Later we would learn that this interception was carried out with the complicity not only of the government of Greece, but also of Italy and Cyprus.

Did the Israeli army physically and psychologically mistreat you, as the 18 Catalan activists on the Flotilla recently reported?

— From the moment they boarded us, they pointed a rifle at our heads. The entire interception was very violent, much more so than the previous one. They approached in a fast boat and ordered us to go to the bow and get on our knees with our hands up. Then they boarded and took control of the ship. They threatened to shoot and assault us if we didn't tell them who the captain was. We saw the red laser of the rifle pointed at our companions' heads. They took our passports, searched us one by one, made us get into their boat, and took us to the military ship. It must have been around one or two in the morning; I think we were one of the last sailboats to be intercepted.

Once there, what happened?

— The level of violence escalated rapidly. They pushed us, grabbed us by the arm and twisted it backward. They forced us to walk hunched over with our heads down. Suddenly I could see comrades kneeling on the ground. They searched us again one by one more thoroughly, taking off all the clothes we were wearing and leaving us only in a t-shirt and trousers. Subsequently, they put a tight cuff on our wrist with a number, almost cutting off our circulation, and made us enter the area they had prepared to detain us. Many comrades were assaulted and ended up with bruises and wounds all over their bodies, with broken ribs, shattered faces, sexual assaults, and a gunshot wound to the leg. In total, 30 people ended up in the hospital for serious injuries. And this level of violence was nothing compared to what they exercised during the next interception, two weeks later, against the rest of the comrades; nor, even less, compared to the violence that the Palestinian people suffer every day.

How do you rate the institutional response?

— The rest of the world's countries allow the Zionist state of Israel to commit this genocide. In many cases, they are accomplices by maintaining commercial relations and sending weapons that are later used to exterminate the Palestinian population. Governments should actively protect the citizens who are trying to do something to prevent this from continuing to happen. And, honestly, I have not seen the Spanish government nor the one in the Balearic Islands act and clearly position themselves in this regard.

What do people not know about day-to-day life on board?

— A long crossing is a complicated challenge because you have to work as a team without stopping. We organized ourselves in shifts, some of which were on duty. Considering that we could be attacked at any moment, we practiced drills for "man overboard", possible fires, abandoning ship in a lifeboat, and drone attacks, among others. There is practically no free time or rest. After days of sailing and sleeping in shifts, fatigue accumulates and becomes increasingly arduous. Also, many people think that on ships we did not carry humanitarian aid, when precisely that is the part that takes up the most space: boxes full of food, diapers, and powdered milk for infants. There was not much space left to live.