Two Attacks

On April 29, Israeli commandos boarded 22 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla 80 nautical miles from Greece. On May 18, they intercepted 50 more boats west of Cyprus. Both assaults were in international waters far from Israel. Both involved the illegal boarding of civilian vessels and the forced transfer of unarmed non-violent civilian flotilla participants to prison ships. These assaults were not for Israeli security; they were state-sponsored piracy.

Filmmaker Juliet Lamont describes her experience here: https://youtu.be/Xq6V8p55V80?si=cU81mWtvULd2Sc-L

Dark Torture Chamber Treatment for Each Participant

The Israeli government violence was not incidental. Australian activist Violet Coco testified: “Every participant was stripped of our layers, pushed to a dark torture chamber where five Israeli soldiers waited to beat us.” Irish physician Dr. Margaret Connolly – sister of Ireland’s president – enumerated the injuries among her fellow detainees: “35 fractures, 5 head injuries, 15 sexual assaults, eye injuries, ear injuries, and a huge number of taser injuries.” She called the detention a “concentration camp.”

Israel’s prison-service denied the allegations. But then National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir posted a video showing bound activists kneeling forehead-to-ground as the Israeli national anthem played, captioned “Welcome to Israel.”

The video shows Ben-Gvir himself assaulting a woman for shouting “Free Palestine,” then waving a flag and heckling the detainees.

No prison service denial can survive that video. Irish participant Catriona Graham was the woman Ben-Gvir assaulted, and she talks about her experience here:

The Tipping Point for Israeli legitimacy: Allies Break Ranks

This time, the international response was not limited to routine admonition:

• Ten nations (including Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Libya, and the Maldives) issued a joint statement citing “clear violations of international law.”

• Colombia reaffirmed its freezing of diplomatic and security ties with Israel and its termination of a free-trade agreement after Israel attacked the October 2025 flotilla.

• Poland, France, and Italy imposed entry bans or sanctions on Ben‑Gvir.

• Ireland, called for suspending all or part of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.

• 37 Members of the European Parliament signed a letter calling for “Immediate suspension of the EU–Israel Association Agreement pending compliance with its human rights provisions.”

• Malaysia announced it would take Israel to the International Court of Justice.

• U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee – a longtime Israeli ally – broke ranks: “Universal outrage… for despicable actions by Ben Gvir. Flotilla was a stupid stunt, but Ben Gvir betrayed the dignity of his nation.”

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Ben‑Gvir’s conduct “is not in line with Israel’s values.”

When Israel’s own European allies, the US Ambassador, and its own Prime Minister condemn its sitting National Security Minister’s actions in real time, its legitimacy crisis is real. For the first time, Israel didn’t just lose the argument; it lost the cover of its own allies, accelerating its slide toward pariah status faster than any military victory could reverse.

The Israeli Violence is Structural, Institutionalized, and Longstanding

Some will blame Ben‑Gvir alone. That is a trap. As the Freedom Flotilla Coalition noted:

For decades, Palestinians have endured killing, arbitrary detention, torture, forced displacement, home demolitions, land theft, siege, military assaults, starvation policies, and the systematic denial of their fundamental rights.”

The attacks on the flotilla are consistent with these Israeli policies, not deviations from them.

This violence did not begin with Ben Gvir, nor does it depend on any single political figure. It is structural, institutionalized, and longstanding. Most importantly, it has been enabled and protected by governments that continue to shield Israel from accountability.

Ben‑Gvir’s video removed any hope of plausible deniability for Israel and for those shielding governments.

Legitimacy Matters More than Military Power

Princeton emeritus professor Richard Falk has argued that legitimacy matters more than military power. South African apartheid,[i] French colonialism in Algeria, and the U.S. in Vietnam all collapsed despite overwhelming military superiority – because they lost legitimacy.

Israel is now following that playbook. Since 2008, over 20 flotilla missions have been met with escalating violence. But the April-May 2026 attacks, capped by Ben‑Gvir’s gloating video, arrived at a moment when Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, carpet bombing Lebanon, and participating with the US in a war of aggression against Iran. The cumulative weight of war crimes and crimes against humanity stripped away every remaining pretense.

Countries can no longer rely on mere statements to avoid complicity. What is needed now is a comprehensive arms embargo and suspension of military and economic agreements with Israel by each country.

Conclusion: Israel Faces a Future of Deepening Isolation

For the flotilla participants, there is bitter solace: their suffering gave Israel a chance to reveal its true character. The government accepted that challenge twice – and twice responded with willful brutal violence against unarmed civilians.

Israel faces a future of deepening isolation. Not because its enemies are stronger, but because its own actions have delegitimized itself and made alliance with it unsustainable.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has vowed: “We will sail again. Israeli violence will not deter us. We will not stop until the blockade ends and Palestine is free.” And each time the flotilla sails, Israel will have a choice – to act lawfully or to further delegitimize and isolate itself.

Given its record, the outcome is not in doubt. The public is increasingly aware. Israel faces a future of unrelenting international protest, on land and at sea. And deepening isolation that its further violence will further accelerate. Only freedom for Palestine, equal rights, and return of refugees will work.

[i] The increasing delegitimization and isolation of South Africa was demonstrated by passage of Security Council Resolution 591 in 1986, which strengthened the arms embargo. And by passage of economic sanctions in the US Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act (passed over President Reagan’s veto), also in 1986. These were among the factors that encouraged the ruling National Party of South Africa to recognize that their apartheid system was politically and economically unsustainable and to begin considering a peaceful transition from apartheid to equal rights. Nelson Mandela walked out of prison in 1990 and was inaugurated President in 1994.

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On Tuesday evening, Israeli forces finished illegally seized the Lina, the last of the more than 50 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as they were sailing towards Gaza in international waters. The heavily armed Israeli commandos illegally forced the activists onto a prison ship which brought them to the port of Ashdod in Israel.

Al Jazeera reports on the avalanche of criticism produced by the posting of a video by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir showing him “taunting activists who were kneeling on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs.”

Fastest ever deportations as Israel scrambles to contain PR damage

Al Jazeera’s reporter, Nida Ibrahim, said “the ongoing deportations were the fastest Israel has ever carried out, as it scrambles to contain the public relations damage caused by Ben-Gvir’s video.” Al Jazeera further reported that:

Several nations, including France, Canada, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their capitals to express their outrage. Meanwhile, European Council President Antonio Costa said he was “appalled” by Ben-Gvir’s behavior, calling it “completely unacceptable.” Italy has demanded an apology from Israel. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani contacted European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, requesting that sanctions against Ben-Gvir be discussed at the bloc’s next meeting of foreign ministers.

In an effort to contain the outrage expressed by these governments, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare rebuke to Ben-Gvir.

Condemnation is not enough; action is needed to stop the genocide

However, at a news conference Huwaida Arraf, a founder of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in 2010, said that it is not just Ben Gvir and that condemnation is not enough. “What Ben-Gvir displayed is the true face of Israel—a colonial apartheid regime,” she said. “The brutal treatment of activists is a tiny dose of the genocide Israeli forces inflict on Palestinians. Words of condemnation by government leaders must be accompanied by action to force Israel to end its crimes and to comply with international law.”

Thiago Avila, a leader of the Global Sumud Flotilla, noted that countries that signed the Geneva Convention and the Genocide Convention have an obligation to take action. “Issuing words is not enough. Action to stop the genocide is needed.”

Mobilizing to continue

Both flotilla leaders said, they will continue mobilizing until Palestine has achieved self-determination, freedom, and dignity. “The flotilla is one tactic,” said Huwaida. “One piece of a greater puzzle. There will be other tactics, too, including land mobilizations.”

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Each boat of the flotilla was equipped with cameras for live streaming a view of life on board during its voyage. Through that live stream, members of the public could get a view of the happenings on each of the still-sailing boats until the moment the Israeli armed forces illegally attacked, boarded, and cut off the live streaming.

Each boat was also equipped with a transponder that used the Automatic Identification System (AIS), a standard maritime system, that broadcasts the boat’s location, speed, and identity. Thus, the public could track the path of the entire voyage of each of the boats on a map of the Mediterranean Sea. Here is the link to the map where the entire voyage of each boat is tracked: https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-gsf-tracker/

This post was also edited at 3:10 pm with the final picture from the last boat still sailing, the Lina Al Nabulsi, just before Israeli forces in their Zodiac boat appeared in the distance. Israeli forces illegally seized the Lina and captured its participants shortly after this picture was taken:

Here is the joint statement by the foreign ministers of 10 countries regarding the Israeli Assaults on the Global Sumud Flotilla, 18 May 2026:

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Türkiye, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Federative Republic of Brazil, Republic of Colombia, Republic of Indonesia, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, State of Libya, Malaysia, Republic of Maldives, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Kingdom of Spain condemn in the strongest terms the renewed Israeli assaults against the Global Sumud Flotilla, a peaceful civilian humanitarian initiative aimed at drawing international attention to the catastrophic humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people.

The Ministers recall with grave concern the Israeli interventions against previous flotillas in international waters and condemn the continuation of hostile acts targeting civilian vessels and humanitarian activists. Such assaults, including attacks against the vessels and the arbitrary detention of activists, constitute blatant violations of international law and international humanitarian law.

The Ministers express serious concern regarding the safety and security of the civilian participants of the flotilla and call for the immediate release of all detained activists, as well as for full respect for their rights and dignity.

The Ministers further stress that repeated attacks against peaceful humanitarian initiatives reflect the continued disregard for international law and freedom of navigation. They call on the international community to assume its legal and moral responsibilities, ensure the protection of civilians and humanitarian missions, and take concrete steps to end impunity and ensure accountability for these violations.

This post was first edited at 12:48pm EDT to provide a live stream from the Lina, then the last boat still sailing. That live stream was replaced by the following replay.

Also see: https://globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker/

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25 U.S. citizens are among the over 500 participants from 45 countries on the nearly 60 boats of the 2026 flotilla to Gaza.

Flotilla organizers are reaching out with an URGENT REQUEST for solidarity and action.

The Israeli attack on the boats of the flotilla was preceded by intensive hostile rhetoric from Israeli media and political circles, including the false accusation that it is a “terror” threat. Such rhetoric is designed to delegitimize the mission and lay the groundwork for the unlawful aggression and violence by Israeli forces now underway against unarmed civilians and their boats as they lawfully sail on the high seas.

The attack today follows the 29 April attack on 22 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) by Israeli forces east of Crete. Both of these Israeli government actions are blatant violations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and Customary International Law, which makes provisions of the Convention mandatory for all countries, including Israel. The Convention protects freedom of navigation in international waters and provides exclusive jurisdiction to the country in which the vessel is flagged. The Convention specifically prohibits personnel of a warship from boarding a foreign ship or boat on the high seas except under narrowly defined circumstances—none of which apply in this instance. The Convention also reserves the high seas for peaceful purposes and requires states to refrain from any threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, including their vessels, operating on the high seas.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition calls upon all governments to enforce the Law of the Sea in the same way it was enforced in cases of previous violations, including:

• Demanding the prompt release of vessels

• Demanding compensation

• Banning Israel from accessing ports

• Freezing the assets of Israel

• Restricting trade with Israel

• Banning the transfer of military goods to Israel

• Establishing a tribunal to investigate and prosecute the Israeli political and military leaders who are responsible.

US Army Colonel Ann Wright (ret.) an FFC spokesperson said: “Flag countries have a heavy responsibility to enforce the law. If they fail to act, they effectively grant impunity to the perpetrators, invite further violations, and encourage even more extreme illegal actions by Israel and any other rogue state that follows its example.”

Boats of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Global Sumud Flotilla were sailing together in a lawful, civilian-led initiative challenging the ongoing illegal blockade of Gaza imposed by the Israeli government. The boats carry unarmed civilians and humanitarian aid. The blockade has devastated Gaza for nearly two decades.

The blockade is violence. Along with the Israeli government’s bombing of farms and fishing boats, the blockade has been critical to implementing and maintaining starvation and genocide in Gaza. Efforts to portray the sailboats of the flotilla as “terrorism” reveal the extent to which roles are reversed.

The unsupported allegations against the flotilla follow a familiar pattern in which humanitarian and solidarity efforts are deliberately misrepresented to rationalize state violence. Nevertheless, these threats must be taken seriously. Israeli forces have murdered civilians, humanitarian workers, journalists, and solidarity activists while facing no meaningful accountability from powerful governments.

Silence at this stage only increases the danger. Flotilla organizers say it is critical that organizations, elected officials, community leaders, and individuals publicly demand the protection of ships and boats in international waters and everyone on board, as required by the law of the sea.

Organizers are calling on everyone to take the following actions immediately:

1. Follow all the boats of the flotilla on the tracker: freedomflotilla.org/ffc-gsf-tracker

2. Share news from the flotilla across social media and public platforms, including Instagram content FFC and GSF.
   Follow on: Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, Bluesky, and LinkedIn and share that content.

3. National and community organizations, unions, and faith institutions: Issue a public statement or press release calling for the flotilla’s protection, the right of civilians to reach Gaza, and end to the blockade, for release of flotilla participants, and for release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Organize a local vigil or protest.

4. CONTACT members of Congress and demand that they publicly oppose the attack on the vessels. Call on them to demand an end to the blockade and an end to U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. The U.S. Capitol switchboard is: (202) 224-3121.

5. Contact the governments of the flotilla participants who’ve been kidnapped by Israeli forces and demand that they take action to ensure the safety and immediate release of their citizen, to condemn the kidnapping, to call for an independent investigation, and to end complicity. Here is the contact information for 13 of the governments: https://freedomflotilla.org/action/

6. CALL ON local and state officials to speak against any violence targeting civilian flotilla participants and call for the immediate release of detainees.

7. DONATE: http://usboatstogaza.org/donate

Howaida Arraf, a Palestinian American lawyer from Detroit Michigan and one of the founders of the flotilla campaign in 2008, said: “The violations against the GSF and FFC flotillas are nothing compared to the mass murder committed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Yet they are still an escalation. The law-breaking is now directed against the European countries that flagged the vessels. The failure of European governments to enforce the International Law requirement to stop the genocide in Gaza is coming home to roost. Israel is now directing its law violations against European governments.”

“It’s never too late to enforce the law,” said Col. Ann Wright. “But pressure from members of the public and from civic organizations is needed. Contact your members of parliament and foreign ministry. In the US contact your members of Congress and the State Department. Demand enforcement action to protect the boats, to protect Palestine, and to protect international law.”

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Today, five Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) sailboats joined up with 54 Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) boats departing from Marmaris, Türkiye, to set sail to Gaza in a new phase of the flotilla mission.

This new phase continues the mission to break the siege of Gaza notwithstanding the Israeli government’s April 29 attack on 22 GSF civilian vessels off the western coast of Crete and its abduction and abuse of two (GSF) organizers, Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek for 12 days. They were released without charge on May 10.

Despite the April 29 attack, FFC launched its boats from Siracusa Italy on May 2. They arrived at a port on a Greek island near the Turkish port where 54 more GSF boats had assembled. Flotilla organizers from the two groups temporarily paused when they reached these ports on each side of the Greek-Turkish border to assess security conditions and coordinate next steps.

The flotilla mission is now restarted and underway. “We sail one day before the anniversary of the Nakba, not only to commemorate the anniversary, but to act on it,” said Abu Keshek at a GSF news conference on May 13.

Italy Mobilizing

Meanwhile, an Italian member of the FFC land crew reports that “organizers in Rome are planning a big march against 78 years of genocide on Saturday, May 16, leading to a general strike in Italy on May 18.” She further reports that on Italian TV journalists routinely talk about the flotillas as “the conscience of the world” that make the genocide and the complicity of governments visible.

Governments Agreed to Prevent Genocide and Punish Perpetrators

The FFC and GSF boats are sailing in defiance of a brutal and unlawful blockade of Gaza designed to isolate, imprison, persecute, kill, and maim the 2 million Palestinians who live there. The boats sail to break that genocidal blockade. They include hundreds of ordinary people from dozens of countries, sailing because of the failure of governments to take action to stop the genocide. Action the governments had agreed to take when they signed and ratified the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Under that Convention, 153 governments agreed to “prevent and suppress” the crime of genocide and to punish the persons responsible “whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.” Among those 153 countries are the law-breakers in chief: the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Australia, and Israel itself.*[i]

Flotilla Initiatives

Since 2010, the FFC has organized and sailed dozens of vessels in direct challenge to Israel’s unlawful blockade of Gaza, building on the historic missions of the Free Gaza Movement, which first broke the blockade by sea, landing in Gaza with 5 boats in 2008.

Following the FFC’s June 2025 voyage of the Madleen, international participation in flotilla initiatives exploded, with the formation of two new coalitions, the GSF and Thousand Madleens to Gaza (TMTG), reflecting increasing global awareness of the need to act because of our governments’ failure to act while siege and genocide were raging.

Israel, and all countries cooperating with its criminal acts, are on clear notice that there is no lawful pretext to attack the flotilla: this campaign is civilian, unarmed, sailing in accordance with international law, and sailing in defense of fundamental human rights. Any act to interfere with these vessels would be illegal under multiple articles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In recent weeks, Israel and the United States have attempted to smear and criminalize the GSF through baseless allegations clearly aimed at delegitimizing the growing civilian resistance. And to manufacture public consent for further attacks on the flotilla mission.

The release of organizers Saif and Thiago on May 10 without charge only further exposed the emptiness of the Israeli and US claims. As GSF noted in a press statement, “Their return is a testament to international mobilization, yet their release does not constitute true freedom while over 9,500 Palestinian [prisoners in Israeli jails] remain trapped in a system of torture and impunity.”

For Palestinians in Gaza who have endured two decades of a deadly blockade, repeated military assaults, forced deprivation, sexual violence and ongoing genocide, this flotilla represents far more than the humanitarian aid the boats carry. It is an act of international civilian resistance against settler colonial violence and the global machinery that sustains it.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Global Sumud Flotilla remain committed to direct, nonviolent action–at sea and on land–to halt Israel’s illegal closure of Gaza and to stand with the Palestinian people in their struggle for freedom, dignity, return, and self-determination.

*[i] Blatant violation of decency and law has become routine for public officials in the US who follow the Israeli model. And it’s not just ICE. For example, under the authority of the governor of Vermont, the state air national guard daily illegally assaults nearly 7000 of Vermont’s own citizens, including 1,300 children, by training with the 115-decibel F-35 jets from a runway in the City of S. Burlington. Such a city location for the ear-and-brain destroying F-35 training causes mass suffering. But it’s excellent training for pilots if their job is to commit crimes against civilians when called up for war. That child-harming training explains why the F-35 airmen of the Vermont Air National Guard were the ones selected by Secretary of War Peter Hegseth to participate in the US-Israeli war against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Iran.

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Under international law, all countries that have signed onto the Genocide Convention are mandated to both prevent and stop genocides, and yet the genocide of Palestinians, particularly in Gaza, has continued unabated. Given the failure of most governments to fulfill their duties, civilians from around the world are organizing humanitarian flotillas to break through the blockade on Gaza. Clearing the FOG speaks with James Marc Leas, a lawyer and Palestine solidarity activist who is in Italy to support the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. He discusses the conditions in Palestine, the laws, and Israel’s illegal seizure of Global Sumud Flotilla boats and activists. He also discusses the use of F-35 jets to deliberately attack civilians in Gaza, Venezuela, Iran, and Vermont.

Listen here: https://popularresistance.org/activists-are-risking-their-lives-to-break-the-brutal-blockade-on-gaza/

The location of the boats of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (green) and the Global Sumud Flotilla (blue) can be seen and tracked here: https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-gsf-tracker/

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The statement is deeply valued by campaigners seeking to free Palestine. It is reminiscent of the encouragement of international solidarity offered by the African National Congress and its allies when they were seeking to abolish apartheid in South Africa. The South Africans valued the solidarity actions on college campuses and by religious, civil rights, and legal organizations, unions, and activist employees of corporations doing business in apartheid South Africa as crucial to isolating that apartheid regime.

While the statement from organizations in Palestine expressly applies to the Global Sumud Flotilla, 22 of whose boats were attacked by Israeli government forces in international waters west of Crete on April 29, it is also relevant to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, whose five boats are now sailing past the eastern tip of Crete on their way to Gaza, as can be seen on this continuously tracking map.

Following is the full text of the statement issued on May 7, 2026 and the list of more than 60 organizations in Palestine that signed on:

Civil society organizations salute the activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla and condemn the occupation’s piracy and demand the immediate release of the detained activists Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila ‎

“Civil society organizations salute the organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), consisted of dozens of ships carrying hundreds of international solidarity activists.

“The flotilla included a broad and distinguished group of activists working in various fields, including parliamentarians, diplomats, human rights activists, unionists, artists, athletes, and civil society activists from around the world.

“These activists express the will of freedom fighters in the face of the occupation’s arrogance, in defiance of the siege, and in condemnation of the genocide perpetrated by the occupation army against Gaza, which it continues to perpetrate in various forms.

“While we salute the spirit of determination and struggle of this elite group fighting for human rights and upholding the banner of freedom, we condemn in the strongest terms the acts of piracy committed by the occupation navy, which involved storming the ships, abusing the activists, and arresting some of them.

“What happened should compel the world to take action against the occupying power and punish it for this crime, which is yet another link in the chain of crimes it commits against our people and against activists who support them, as this is a matter of freedom, dignity, and justice.

"Civil society organizations reiterate their appreciation for the role of steadfast activists and call for more solidarity campaigns with our people to strengthen their inalienable and legitimate national rights in the face of the occupation and its crimes against our people and demanding the immediate release of the detained activists Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila.”

List of signatories:

AL Harah THeater

Al Sattar Garbee Association for Developing Countryside and Farmer

Al-Ataa Charitable Society

Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights –Gaza

Al-Firdaws Association for Women and Child Development

Al-Haq

Alliance Relief and Development Association

Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights

Al-Yasser Association for Child and Women’s Service

Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS)

Arab center for Agricultural Development (ACAD) /Ramallah – Gaza

Aseel Association for Development

Association for the Protection of Female Workers from Violence

Baitona For Community Development

Bisan Center for Research and Development

Bisan Charitable Society

Brilliant Tomorrow for Homes Sons Society

Center for Legal Research, Consulting, and Protection of Women

Disability Representative Body Network

Dr. Haider Abdel Shafi Center for Culture and Development

Future Association for Development and Environment

Future Development Commission

Gaza Community Mental Health Programme

Gaza Urban & Peri-urban Agriculture Platform

Health Work Committees

Horizons Association for Development and Progress

Housing and Land Rights Network

International Commission to support Palestinian People’s Rights

International Movement for Human and People’s Rights

Jabalia Rehabilitation Society

Labor Resources Center

Ma’an Development Center/Gaza

Ma’an Development Center/WB

Mashareq charatiy Associtaion for Development and Improvment

National Society for Rehabilitation

NAWA for Culture and Arts Association

Palestine Avenir For Childhood ‎Foundation

Palestinian Agricultural Development Association

Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR)

Palestinian Developmental Women Studies Association

Palestinian farmer Association

Roya Assosiation For Development Abilities

Salsabeel Association for the future of women and children

Teacher Creativity Center

The Arab Center for Agricultural Development/ACAD

The Center for the Defense of Freedoms and Civil Rights (Hurryyat)

The Freedom Theatre

The General Union of Palestinian Persons with Disabilities, North Gaza

The International Movement for Human and Peoples’ Rights (IMHPR)

The Jordan Network for Human and Peoples’ Rights (JNHPR)

The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy – MIFTAH

The Palestinian Working Women Society

The Society for Care of the Handicapped

The Society of Women Graduates in Gaza Strip

Union of Health Care Committees

Union of Palestinians Women’s Committees

United Cultural and Social Association

Watan Association for Heritage and Family Development

Yafa Youth Center Association

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Reports from the vessels this morning indicate that the 30 participants are in good health and high spirits, despite encountering some rough seas.

At their current speed, the sailboats are expected to arrive in Gaza in six or seven more days—around May 11 or 12—unless their voyage is attacked by Israeli armed forces, which would constitute a violation of the Law of the Sea. The relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea were detailed in the article, “Israeli Attack on Flotilla Violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.” That article describes how heavily armed Israeli forces illegally seized 22 of the boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) on April 29, while they were sailing in international waters approximately 80 nautical miles west of Crete. During that operation, Israeli forces kidnapped 180 GSF participants. The state-sponsored pirates later released all but two of those captives—GSF leaders Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek.

The mission: to break the illegal US-Israeli siege of Gaza

Both the GSF and FFC sailboats are on a mission to break the illegal Israeli-US siege of Gaza. The boats carry no arms, and all participants are trained in nonviolent resistance. The missions are legal and peaceful, launched in response to the Palestinians’ call for solidarity. They uphold human rights and seek to put a stop to the illegal and immoral US-Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The siege itself is what is illegal: it is collective punishment against the entire civilian population of Gaza, half of whom are children, in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. The broader objective of the flotilla campaign is to dismantle the US and Western systems that assault and murder indigenous Palestinians with impunity. It is the perpetrators of the siege, not the human-rights supporters on the sailboats, who must be held accountable.

Detained GSF activist Thiago Ávila, who has been subjected to appalling brutality by Israeli authorities since he was kidnapped on April 29 and brought to Israel, dictated the following poignant letter to his baby daughter via his lawyer:

Dear Teresa,

I’m sorry I’m not at home with you right now.

Unfortunately, your father, your mother, and so many people around the world have understood the historic task that we have the responsibility to carry out.

Today, more than a million children are suffering a genocide: they are left to die of hunger, undergo amputations without anesthesia, and endure the pain of horrible, hate-filled ideas, even though they don’t know what Zionism and imperialism are.

I’m sure you miss me terribly; all the mothers and fathers of Palestinian children feel their absence terribly too, and they would give anything to live a life filled with love, happiness, and joy — the kind every human being deserves, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or any other characteristic.

Your world will be safer because so many parents have decided to give everything to build a better future for you.

I hope that one day you can understand that, precisely because I love you so much, there was nothing more dangerous for you and for other children than living in a world that accepts genocide.

Please remember your father as the person who sang to you and played the guitar to lull you to sleep. And when you grow up, your mother will also tell you that your father was a revolutionary and that, even in the face of the world’s most terrible people — Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Itamar Ben-Gvir — he stood firm in his conviction to build a better world.

Please, never forget Palestine.

With all my love.

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On Saturday May 2, the FFC launched four new sailboats from Siracusa, Italy. The FFC is determined not to give in to the Israeli violence.

The launch continues the demand to end the siege of Gaza, to end the policy of collective punishment, to end the genocide Israel is inflicting on Gaza, and to end the apartheid system Israel established in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

Israel’s April 29 attack on the GSF flotilla was carried out while the boats were more than 600 nautical miles (over 1100 km) from its shores. The attack revoked the freedom of the seas. It violated the exclusive jurisdiction of the countries that flagged the 22 GSF vessels. It seized boats and property and physically assaulted sailors and passengers, putting many in the hospital. It kidnapped and tortured two GSF leaders, Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek. It was vicious state-sponsored piracy.

If the Israeli government had persuasive facts or arguments with which to answer the charge that its siege on Gaza inflicted heinous crimes on its 2 million people it would have used them. Its resort to violence against sailboats filled with civilians and humanitarian aid admits it had none.

The attack on civilian sailboats was part of a pattern of abuse, lawlessness, and violence that has been enabled, normalized, and shielded by powerful western countries for decades, especially by the United States.

“The launch of our four FFC vessels is a direct response to Israel’s escalation of violence,” said Colonel (Ret) and former US diplomat Ann Wright of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

“Israel’s violent attack on the GSF boats should have triggered immediate international action to defend the freedom of the seas, to defend the exclusive jurisdiction of the countries that flagged the vessels, and to defend the right of the civilian participants to take peaceful and legal action to stop a genocide.

“Instead, we see the same pattern of inaction that has enabled Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Yemen, and Iran. So more people are stepping up—organizing across borders, launching vessels, and refusing to accept a world where war crimes and crimes against humanity are normalized and where civilians protesting them are met with armed force.”

The four FFC boats have 30 participants from 12 countries.

While governments continue to enable Israel through silence or complicity, the Freedom Flotilla boats and complementary land mobilizations represent collective acts of global civil society intervention to support the people of Gaza.

“Sailing to Gaza is both an act of solidarity and a call for accountability,” adds David Heap, another Freedom Flotilla Coalition spokesperson. “It tells Palestinians that they are not alone and not forgotten. It tells the political leaders enabling these crimes that the world is watching, organizing, and acting. It says we will not accept the violent, lawless world that they want to create for us. Our mission is both to break the siege of Gaza and to confront the shameful silence and complicity of our governments that has enabled the genocide.”

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition issued a call on people in every country to demand accountability for Israel’s attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla and for its attacks on Gaza. It calls on people to press their government officials to guarantee safe passage for all flotilla vessels and to uphold the basic principles of international law on sea, in Gaza, and in every country. It calls on all people not to look away from the heinous crimes the Israeli government continues to inflict on Gaza.

Now they come for Gaza. But it won’t stop there. Do not be deterred. Do not be silenced.

Follow the live video feeds:

Track the flotilla here: https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-tracker/ and here:

https://mycaregazaflotilla.org.my/

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On May 1, the BBC reported that Israel released all but two of the detained participants in Greece. Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek remain in Israeli custody, and Israel has stated that it is transporting them to its territory.

Schellekens passed on a report that 34 of the abductees were physically abused by Israeli commandos while protecting the two men. The 34 were hospitalized, and 4 of them remain in the hospital at Heraklion on the Island of Crete. See the video by Elly Van Reusel, a medical doctor on “Magic,” one of the 22 seized boats.

The GSF condemned Israel’s actions as an act of piracy and called for the immediate release those still held by Israel.

The flotilla was engaged in a legal and peaceful mission aimed at breaking the internationally condemned Israeli siege of Gaza—a siege that imposes collective punishment on Gaza’s civilian population. The mission seeks to end Israel’s illegal policy of starvation, a policy that stunts the physical and cognitive development of children.

The flotilla was necessary only because, after destroying farms and fishing boats, Israel restricted or closed all land routes for aid into Gaza, and governments worldwide have so far failed to use their legal and political powers to force an end to the illegal siege.

The U.S. government has gone further than any other nation in collaborating with Israel’s illegal assault on Gaza’s civilians—the US provides the funds, bombs, F-35 jets, and bulldozers, along with the diplomatic cover that grants the Israeli government impunity.

US states have done little. Rather than adopt human rights promoting purchasing and investment legislation, Vermont has gone so far as to train its Air National Guard with 115-decibel F-35 jets low over one of the state’s most densely populated cities, where political and military leaders knew the flights would cause suffering to working-class and ethnic minority children. This location was deliberately selected to prepare the unit to target civilians. It was foreseeable that the Trump Administration would call the Vermont F-35 unit up, first to bomb in Venezuela, and now poised to resume their bombing in Iran.

The Israeli Assault on the Flotilla Violated International Law

Although Israel is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the core provisions of the treaty are recognized as customary international law and are legally binding on all countries.

• Article 92 grants a vessel’s flag state exclusive jurisdiction, effectively making the vessel sovereign territory of that country. By boarding the flotilla’s vessels without permission, abducting passengers, and seizing the boats, Israeli commandos violated the sovereignty of each of the flag states.

• Article 87 guarantees freedom of navigation on the high seas. Freedom revoked by Israeli commandos.

• Article 110 specifically prohibits warship personnel from boarding a foreign ship on the high seas except under narrowly defined circumstances—none of which applied in this case.

• Article 88 reserves the high seas for peaceful purposes.

• Article 301 requires states to refrain from any threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. Which includes the vessels of any state.

Israel violated all of these provisions.

Enforcement of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

Previous violations of the law of the sea have led to enforcement actions, including:

• Ordering the prompt release of vessels

• Awarding compensation

• Banning the perpetrator from accessing ports

• Freezing the perpetrator’s assets

• Restricting trade with the perpetrator

• Banning the transfer of military goods to the perpetrator

• Establishing a tribunal to investigate and prosecute those responsible

Enforcement Action Is Needed Now

Similar enforcement actions must be taken in response to Israel’s gross violations of the Law of the Sea. If flag states fail to act, they effectively grant impunity to the Israeli perpetrators, invite further violations, and they encourage even more extreme illegal actions by Israel.

Demand that your government officials take enforcement action now.

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Medics reported that an Israeli drone killed the child, Adel Al-Najjar, in eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. In a separate incident, an Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle in Gaza City, killing four others.

A Ceasefire in Name Only

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF / Doctors Without Borders) reports that in the 180 days since the ceasefire went into effect, Israeli forces have killed 733 Palestinians and wounded 1,913. The title of MSF’s latest report says it all: “This is not a ceasefire.”

As a grandparent it is also agonizing to know that after the systematic destruction of farms, fishing boats, homes, schools, universities, hospitals, water infrastructure, and sanitation systems in Gaza, Israeli forces continue their violent attacks while expanding their military control over the Strip. Living conditions for Palestinians remain dire, and Israel continues to deliberately obstruct humanitarian aid—resulting in entirely preventable deaths.

The ‘Yellow Line’ and a Shrinking Safe Zone

MSF further reports:

“The space where people are living is continuously shrinking and framed by violence. Since the ceasefire, the Gaza Strip has been effectively divided along the ‘yellow line,’ which marks an area—currently 58 percent of the territory—under full Israeli military control. This is pushing Palestinians into the remaining 42 percent of largely destroyed territory. The perimeter of the yellow line has become a kill zone, with gunfire, airstrikes, and shelling from Israeli forces happening daily. Israeli warships are also firing inward from the sea, trapping people with active firing on all sides.”

The Israeli government’s siege of Gaza—which began with severe restrictions on imports and sales in 2006—sharply intensified in October 2023 and has continued unabated after the October 2025 ceasefire.

After more than two and a half years of bombing with Israeli F-35 jets supplied by the United States, “people’s needs are massive, yet Israeli authorities have continued to systematically restrict the entry of humanitarian aid,” said Claire San Filippo, emergency manager for MSF. “People face shortages of clean water, food, electricity, and access to healthcare.”

Mass Murder with Impunity

This ongoing horror unfolds with the full support of the United States government. Whether under Trump or Biden, the U.S. continues to supply money, bombs, jets, artillery, bulldozers, UN vetoes, and impunity for perpetrators. Most Western allied governments and a largely captured mainstream news media have also enabled these actions—even as the Epstein files and the illegal war on Iran divert public attention.

Gaza Is Not Forgotten

Global campaigns, including the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and the Global Samud Flotilla (GSF), are working to restore world attention to Gaza and the heinous crimes committed there by the Israeli and U.S. governments.

A reporter with cancelF35.substack.com is currently in Siracusa, Italy, with the FFC, which is expected to embark for Gaza soon. 50 GSF boats set off from the neighboring town of Augusta two days ago.

End the Siege of Gaza Now

While each flotilla carries aid, their fundamental purpose since the first five boats arrived in Gaza in 2008 has been to break the siege imposed by the Israeli and U.S. governments. Participants understand that Gaza was—and could be again—self-supporting, with working agriculture, fishing, health, education, and industrial sectors. Humanitarian aid is needed only because of the siege. Ending the siege is the fundamental demand.

What You Can Do

Every person can help force an end to the siege through their own purchasing and investment decisions—and by influencing their local and state governments’ policies.

• Do not buy Israeli products. Avoid purchasing from or investing in companies that operate in Israel, sell Israeli products, or supply the Israeli military.

• Oppose legislation that restricts freedom of speech critical of the Israeli government or its policies.

• Call on your representatives in Congress to demand safety for participants in legal, peaceful actions, like the flotillas, that call for ending the siege of Gaza, freedom for Palestine, equal rights for all, an end to the occupation, self-determination, and return of refugees.

• In Vermont: Demand that the Vermont governor refuse to authorize any further training of Vermont Air National Guard F-35 pilots in the City of South Burlington. As shown in this article, the US Air Force itself wrote that the 115-decibel F-35 harms the hearing and cognitive development of the 1,300 children in the 3000 families living in the extreme F-35 noise zone around the Burlington Airport. This city location for the F-35 training was deliberate: It provides training for harming civilians. This training is why Trump selected Vermont’s F-35 Air National Guard unit for bombing Venezuela in January and for then sending the unit for bombing Iran since February 28. With 6 years of training hurting Vermont children, Vermont F-35 Air National Guard is the trained-for-war-crimes unit.

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Cetraro, Italy – CancelF-35.substack.com’s reporter arrived in Cetraro, a small coastal village in southern Italy where 150 members of groups preparing for the next flotilla to free Gaza are meeting. Organizers say more than 70 boats and 1,000 people are expected to participate, setting out from multiple ports across the Mediterranean.

Around 40 boats departed from Barcelona last Wednesday, and another 20 set sail from Marseille, making stops at several ports for solidarity events. Organizers are closely monitoring the geopolitical situation and have yet to confirm the timing of the final leg to Gaza.

The U.S. has Already Agreed to Prevent Genocide

Flotilla organizers are not seeking U.S. agreement to prevent the genocide—the United States has already agreed to doing just that. It committed itself, by treaty, not only to prevent genocide but also to punish those responsible.

Article 1 of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide obligates signatory governments to act “to prevent and to punish” genocide, “whether committed in time of peace or in time of war.” When the U.S. Senate ratified the Convention in 1988, and President Ronald Reagan signed the ratification instrument, the U.S. government formally agreed to these binding obligations.

Governments Have Failed, So Civilians Must Act

Yet the U.S. government has not only failed to prevent the genocide or punish the responsible Israeli government officials—it has facilitated the very crime it swore to stop. The U.S. provided the Israeli government with funding, bombs, F-35 fighter jets, diplomatic cover, UN vetoes, and platforms for lobbying and propaganda. By doing so, members of the U.S. government have acted as accessories.

The results have been described in a film and reports by Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, in reports by the UN Human Rights Commission and the UN Special Rapporteur, and in a series of orders from the International Court of Justice—all willfully ignored by the Israeli and U.S. governments. Israeli government actions include:

• Indiscriminate bombing of civilians and civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, farms, schools, universities, water and sanitation in Gaza. And the bombing has been ongoing despite the so-called ceasefire.

• Ongoing mass starvation of civilians in Gaza, more than half of whom are children.

• Ongoing bulldozing of homes in the West Bank.

• Mass incarceration and torture of prisoners.

All conducted with impunity.

Civilian Action to Force Government Action

Starting in August 2008 with two small boats carrying 46 people, the Free Gaza Movement challenged Israel’s blockade and successfully delivered aid to Gaza. Four more of the group’s vessels reached Gaza by December of that year, before Israel began attacking and intercepting them in international waters, in violation of the freedom of navigation on the high seas guaranteed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. That initiative later evolved into a broader international network involving parliamentarians and human rights organizations from multiple countries—now known as the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).

The repeated attempts to break the total Israeli blockade have galvanized international solidarity with Gaza. The sailing missions have also challenged the normalization of the occupation and of the government-sponsored violence directed against the enclave.

In June 2025, the FFC launched a single small sailboat, the Madleen, carrying 12 civilians. This boat captured global attention for defying the blockade and the genocide that governments had failed to stop. The mission inspired two new independent initiatives, Thousand Madleens to Gaza and the Global Samud Flotilla, which sponsored the flotilla in October 2025.

Now, the three flotilla initiatives are joining forces to launch the largest Gaza flotilla yet this spring. At every port it visits, the flotilla calls for mass civilian participation on land in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their liberation movement.

Join in demanding:

• An immediate halt to all shipments to Israel and its military.

• A refusal to purchase from or invest in companies directly or indirectly supporting the Israeli government’s genocide.

• Bring our airmen, sailors, soldiers, and marines home now.

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CancelF-35.substack.com is aware of a national call for marches and rallies on May 1, and a Mayday coalition has formed in Vermont. Email VTMaydayStrong@gmail.com

Watch for an emergency call for action sooner than May 1 as well to stop the escalation. This is Vietnam and Iraq all over again only worse. Urgent action needed

Here is the Brave Little Voices post:

Human Chains amongst Business as Usual

Regardless of what Trump does tonight, we must register our condemnation

https://open.substack.com/pub/bravelittlevoices/p/human-chains-amongst-business-as

Dear Readers,

As we all have heard by now, our president has issued a deadline of 8 p.m. tonight for a deal to be reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. If Iran doesn’t comply, then “a whole civilization will die tonight,” Trump wrote, “never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

Yesterday, Trump outlined the plan to destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran by midnight, CNN reported. “I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock.” Striking civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime under international law. “We’re seeing basically a direct threat to something that we know is going to be catastrophic to civilians,” Margaret Donovan, a former lawyer in the US Army’s JAG Corps, told CNN.

In response to Trump’s threats, the NYT reported that Iran’s leaders have stopped engaging in diplomatic talks and vowed revenge. Meanwhile, civilians are creating human chains across bridges and around power plants:

https://youtube.com/shorts/fqqWEK9roPo?si=5T_nk-PbAfeVSHO9

POWERFUL: The Iranian people are now forming human chains on bridges and around power plants after Trump threatened to attack civilian infrastructure — which is clearly defined as a war crime under international law. Share this widely.

Meanwhile, Iranians are questioning what happened to the values that the US was founded on. The Times interviewed Mohsen Borhani, a law professor at Tehran University, who said that he “thought about the global order established after World War II, centered around the United Nations and shaped under Roosevelt’s leadership. And I wondered, how it is possible for a U.S. president to undermine and discredit all American values and 250 years of human legacy?” Furthermore, he said, there’s the “false assumption” that enough military might will pressure Iran’s rulers to surrender. “Based on my understanding of Iranian society and governance,” Borhani said, “I can state clearly that even several nuclear bombs would not achieve such an outcome.”

Meanwhile, the resentment and vitriol amongst Iranians is building, even in those who long opposed their authoritarian government. As US warplanes bomb schools, universities, and civilian infrastructure, loyalties have shifted. As one former activist sympathizer told the Times, “So now, we are supporting Iran and whatever government is running it.”

Meanwhile, here in Vermont, I am about to go to the food co-op, run up a snowy trail in search of some endorphins, and then meet my sweet girls at home for “huggles” (our new word for hugs + snuggles) in front of the fire.

As Paul Krugman wrote this morning:

“Damned if I know what’s going to happen. I mean, at some level, I think that the civilization that may be destroyed tonight is our own. I mean, are we civilized if we do this kind of thing? If America as a nation doesn’t stand up against this, what are we?

“So, God help us. Normal life will continue. It’s going to be a really weird thing to be out there, you know, grocery shopping and taking the subway and all of those things. But this is, in a way, the defining moment. The fate of the whole American idea is on the line.”

What We Can Do Today:

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says that House Democrats will force another vote on a war resolution: “We only need one or two additional Republicans, and I think we’re on track to securing that.”

Let’s call our Reps and Senators and ask them to “return from recess and use every tool possible to stop Trump from committing war crimes and unilaterally launching us into a nuclear war.” Find find numbers and follow the 5 Calls Script here.

Final Note:

“When we choose to wonder about people we don’t know, when we imagine their lives and listen for their stories, we begin to expand the circle of those we see as part of us. We prepare ourselves to love beyond what evolution requires.”

~ Valarie Kaur

Braver Together ♡

Liza and Lorni

New here? Welcome! You can read more about what we’re up to in this post. As Calvin Coolidge once said, “If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the union and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont

Please pass along Brave Little Voices—let’s grow our chorus!

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To the men and women of the 158th Fighter Wing bombing Iran,

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained how Israel forced the US into joining its attack on Iran. He said the US knew of Israeli plans to attack Iran. He explained that “if we didn’t pre-emptively attack” before Iran launched its retaliation, US forces based in the region “would suffer higher casualties.”

Americans understand that this war serves Israel, not the American people: A March 2 - 4 PBS News/NPR/Marist poll shows that only 36% of Americans approve while 54% disapprove of Trump’s handling of Iran. The New York Times reports that only 41% of Americans approve “of the U.S. decision to take military action in Iran.”

An unprovoked attack during negotiations

Trump and Rubio made no valid case for the Israel-directed war. Iran was not threatening or attacking the United States, Israel, or any other country before the US-Israeli assault on February 28. In fact, Israeli and US missiles and bombs began striking Iran while US negotiations with Iran were set to continue, with the next meeting scheduled for Vienna the following week.

A war of aggression

The attack was not just perfidy; it flatly violated a fundamental principle of international law embodied in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, which is a ratified treaty: The joint attack launched a US-Israeli war of aggression.

In 1946, the International Military Tribunal’s judgment at Nuremberg called such a war the “supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.” Ten high-ranking Nazi officials were convicted and hanged, including seven for planning, preparation, initiation, or waging a war of aggression.

That is the unsavory legal and moral territory the Trump Administration entered by ordering you, our Vermont airmen, to attack Iran on February 28.

War crimes and crimes against humanity

US and Israeli strikes in Iran are targeting civilians and civilian buildings. The BBC reported that at least 1,230 Iranian civilians have been killed so far by US and Israeli missiles and bombs. NPR reported that 175 children were killed by “what appears to be a US cruise missile” striking an elementary school for girls.

The BBC reported strikes on schools, hospitals, and historic landmarks in Iran. On March 11, Drop Site News published reports from Iran that “over 1,000 children have been injured, including 65 under the age of 5, and 35 infants under two years old;” and that “at least 11 children under the age of 5 have been killed.” Also, that “over 19,000 civilian buildings across Iran have suffered damage since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began,” including “77 medical centers, 65 educational institutions, and 16 Red Crescent facilities.”

The Geneva Conventions and US military discipline require distinguishing civilians and civilian infrastructure from military objectives and prohibit an attack if the damage to civilians is disproportionate to the military advantage.

The March 8 Israeli and US strikes on the oil depots in the City of Teheran filled the air and the lungs of millions of city dwellers with thick black smoke, soot, and toxic chemicals, as reported in The Guardian. By targeting and blowing up these oil depots, the US and Israel produced a chemical weapon and used it as a weapon in the war against the civilian population of Tehran, in violation the 1925 Geneva Protocol and Article 1 of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Israel does not have a record of adhering to international law

Bombing Iran at the behest of Israel does not defend Vermont. It does not defend America or the American people. The Israeli government has maintained a system of undemocratic military rule over millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The Israeli government systematically oppresses half the people living under its rule who are Palestinians. This is the same government that the International Court of Justice issued findings and the Israeli human rights organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, issued reports with overwhelming evidence of Israeli war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

Israel lost public support

You are fighting for a Trump administration that got elected claiming to put “America First.” But it now uses you to advance the interests of a foreign power whose vicious conduct in Gaza lost it the support of most Americans: Sympathy with Israelis plummeted from over 60% in 2018 to 36% in 2026, according to the February 27 Gallop Poll.

Vermont’s congressional delegation declared the war illegal

As noted by members of the Vermont Congressional delegation, Trump ignored, bypassed, and violated the constitutional process. Congress did not declare war or authorize war on Iran. As Senator Bernie Sanders put it, “President Trump, along with his right-wing extremist Israeli ally Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun an illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war.”

You have the power to say no and the duty to say no

You, members of the Vermont Air National Guard, have the power to say no. You are not robots. You are American citizens, bound by military law that allows you to refuse an unlawful order, as shown by Articles 90, 91, and 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

Six members of Congress put out a video on November 18, 2025 in which they took turns stating that members of the armed services can refuse and must refuse illegal orders:

Their statement was consistent with a decision of the US Court of Appeals for Military Appeals, which made refusal mandatory when “the order was of such a nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal.” (United States v. Keenan, 18 U.S.C.M.A. 108, 39 C.M.R. 108 (1969).

The order to participate in (a) a war of aggression, that (b) targets civilians and civilian buildings starting with the girls’ school on the very first day of the war, and for which there was (c) no congressional declaration or authorization is an order of such a nature that a person of ordinary sense would know it to be illegal.

History provides a roadmap for you, members of the Vermont Air National Guard

During the Vietnam War, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines organized, spoke out, demonstrated, and took other courageous actions to oppose that illegal, immoral, and unjust war, as documented in the book, Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War.

The law of war, embodied in the DoD Law of War Manual and in DoD Directive 2311.01 exists to protect civilians. An order to bomb schools, hospitals, homes, or any other civilian target is an order to commit a war crime. You can refuse that order; you must refuse that order.

And you must refuse to harm Vermont children anymore

We know the path that led you here was paved with a deliberate callousness by Vermont political and military leaders. You trained using your 115-decibel F-35 jets thousands of times a year from the Burlington International Airport. You took off from the runway in one of the most densely populated cities in Vermont, even as the Air Force itself had said that repeatedly exposing a child to the extreme military jet noise of the F-35 can cause hearing loss and cognitive impairment. The Air Force said that nearly 3,000 households would be exposed to that high-decibel noise and cited studies showing impaired reading, concentration, memory, and problem-solving for the children living in those 3,000 households. This state-sponsored child abuse continues to this day under the direction of the governor and with the ongoing support of Vermont’s two US senators.

Why F-35 training was located in a city

Locating F-35 training in the City of South Burlington was not an accident. The decision came after years of careful study, including the production of a 1000-page Environmental Impact Study by the US Air Force. The selection of the city location was deliberate.

No valid purpose was announced for that location. But after such deliberation, the purpose of using that city runway for your F-35 training could only have been to do what it actually did: normalize the infliction of severe harm on civilians, especially children. So you, the pilots and ground crew, are used to violating the military discipline that prohibits targeting civilians. So you would readily load and drop bombs on civilian targets when called up for another regime-change war, like the one in Iran.

Refuse illegal orders to drop bombs on civilian targets

Trump counts on your obedience. He counts on your compliance and on your silence.

Your illegal F-35 training is why Trump selected your unit for callup for his “Operation Epic Fury” in which he seeks to inflict such massive violence and destruction that Iranian citizens will rise up. However, targeting civilians and civilian property for political change—well, that’s the definition of terrorism. You can refuse. You must refuse.

1. Refuse to commit the crime of aggression.

2. Refuse orders to bomb civilians or civilian property.

3. Refuse to bomb any more oil depots, inflicting chemical warfare on civilians.

4. Refuse to hurt the children in Iran, who are as innocent and precious as the children in Vermont.

5. Defend the Constitution. No to sending the state national guard or any military forces to war without a declaration by Congress, as required by the constitution.

The best way to support our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines is to bring them home now. No to any funding for this illegal, immoral, and unjust war of aggression.

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Vermont Town Meeting plus People Power!

But before giving you the 4 big questions we just want to share one story of how Town Meeting votes made a difference. This was back in 2007. After a Town Meeting resolution to impeach Bush and Cheney passed in over 40 towns, 130 Vermonters came to the State House to lobby for its passage. Then-President of the Vermont Senate, Peter Shumlin, told two activists at a meeting in his office at the State House, “read my lips, impeachment will not come up for a vote in the Senate.” But within a few days he changed his mind and allowed it to come up for a vote: The impeachment resolution passed by a wide margin in the Vermont Senate, as reported in local and national news media: The Times Argus, Green Mountain Daily, Reuters, The New York Times, NBC. The most complete story, including what happened in the Vermont House was in the Green Mountain Daily

Here are the 4 related “big question” items. Select one or more of them to move for a vote in your town (one at a time). Here is how: When “other business” is announced by the moderator, immediately raise your hand and get up to get his or her attention, clearly read the resolution you choose, and be sure to have someone ready to immediately second the motion. Feel free to modify the wording for your town.

1. The people of ________[Town Name] condemn the terror and murder being perpetuated by I.C.E. operatives and call on the U.S. Congress to de-fund and abolish the agency as it now exists.

2. The voters of _______ [Town Name] oppose President Trump’s military buildup for war with Iran and believe the best way to support our Vermont Air National Guard F-35 personnel stationed there is to bring them home now.
(Note: if bombs are already falling on Iran before your Town Meeting vote remove the words, “military buildup for.”)

3. The Town Meeting of __________ [Town Name] requests that the Vermont legislature adopt the “Defend the Guard Act” to prevent the Vermont National Guard from being sent into combat absent congressional authorization, consistent with the Constitution’s assignment of war-making authority to Congress.

4. The people of ______ [Town Name] AFFIRM our commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and all people; OPPOSE all forms of racism, bigotry, discrimination, and oppression; DECLARE ourselves an Apartheid-free community, and to that end, PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s Apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.

Immediately after the meeting ends, send an email to us with your name and town, the issue or issues voted, and the results for each issue. We will compile and share the results with news media that night.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact one of us.
Thank you.
Dan DeWalt <patrioticresponse@yahoo.com>
Duncan Nichols <duncandnichols@gmail.com>
Isaac Evans-Franz <Isaac@isaacforvermont.com>
Paul Fleckenstein <pflecken@gmail.com>
Jennifer Decker <galloway.jennifer@gmail.com>
James Marc Leas <jolly39@gmail.com>

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This supplemented Bernie’s December 14 statement responding to “public reports that members of the Vermont Air National Guard Wing are deploying on federal orders connected to Venezuela.” Bernie further said, “After campaigning against ‘endless wars,’ the Trump administration is threatening a military intervention in Venezuela, which may include the Vermont Air National Guard. I will do everything I can to prevent that conflict.” Bernie further criticized Trump for being “focused on engaging in an illegal armed conflict,” instead of “addressing the crises facing the American people.”

While Bernie’s statements rightly identified Trump’s assault on Venezuela as illegal and unconstitutional, noted Trump’s hypocrisy, and indicated concern about Trump’s selection of Vermont airmen for the illegal attack, Bernie unfortunately neglects to mention his own role, along with then-Senator Patrick Leahy and then-Congressman Peter Welch, in paving the way for their selection for the operation on Venezuela.

But first, Bernie is right: the attack was illegal

Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter states: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

The UN Charter is a treaty, signed on June 26, 1945 and ratified by an 89-2 vote of the US Senate on July 28, 1945. Regarding ratified treaties, Article VI of the US Constitution states:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.

Therefore, the UN Charter is part of the supreme law of the land here in the USA.

However, the UN Charter allows two exceptions to the prohibition on the use of force: (1) under Article 42, if the Security Council authorizes the use of armed force, “as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security,” and (2) under Article 51, for “individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member.”

That neither exception applies is beyond doubt: First, the Security Council did not authorize the use of force against Venezuela. Second, even if we assume for the moment that Trump’s pretext of drug trafficking by the Venezuela government is correct, the sale of illegal drugs is not an armed attack against the US, and this was described in the article, “International Law and the U.S. Military and Law Enforcement Operations in Venezuela,” by 3 international lawyers, Michael Schmitt, Ryan Goodman and Tess Bridgeman. Nor was Venezuela’s acquisition of control over its oil resources under the presidents previous to Nicholas Maduro ever an armed attack against the US. So there is no valid pretext.

The US attack on Venezuela was naked aggression in blatant violation of US law

As no exception to the Charter’s prohibition on the threat or use of force applies, the US military attack on Venezuela violated Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, and, therefore, US law. Additional violations of US and international law are described in an article by by Marjorie Cohn called, “Trump Will Try to Defend Aggression Toward Venezuela. It’s Still Illegal,” .

The illegal invading US forces murdered about 80 people, kidnapped President Nickolas Maduro and First Lady, Cilia Flores, and removed them to a prison in Brooklyn, New York. The sovereignty and independence of Venezuela and the right of its people to self-determination were blatantly violated. The US Government set an example of brazen aggression in violation of the Charter of the United Nations. The attack was yet another US regime-change operation based on lies. And yet another action to degrade the rule of law and international law.

Vermont F-35 pilots joined in executing the illegal order to attack Venezuela

Vermont F-35 Air National Guard pilots were called up for federal service and deployed to a base in Puerto Rico from which they participated with their F-35A jets in the illegal military action against Venezuela.

The duty to refuse illegal orders

Vermont F-35 pilots had the duty to refuse that blatantly illegal order. Six members of Congress put out a video on November 18, 2025 in which they took turns stating that members of the armed services can refuse and must refuse illegal orders:

Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear: You can refuse illegal orders; you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.

That a member of the armed services can refuse an illegal order is codified in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Articles 90, 91, and 92 of the UCMJ only allow punishment of a member of the US armed forces for disobeying a lawful command or order.

That a member of the armed services must refuse an illegal order is contained in a landmark decision of the United State Court of Military Appeals (U.S.C.M.A.):

The general rule is that the acts of a subordinate done in good faith and in compliance with a supposed duty or order are justifiable. This justification does not exist however, when these act[s] are manifestly beyond the scope of his authority, or the order was of such a nature that a man of ordinary sense and understanding would know it to be illegal. (United States v. Keenan, 18 U.S.C.M.A. 108, 39 C.M.R. 108 (1969).

Nor did the justification exist to attack Venezuela, both because it was manifestly beyond the authority of any president to order and because a pilot of ordinary sense and understanding would know that such an attack is illegal aggression. But Vermont pilots had been corrupted by their deeply flawed training in Vermont so they were incapable of refusing any order, no matter how illegal.

Flawed training of the Vermont Air National Guard

Under the US Constitution, the authority of training the militia (now called the National Guard) is “reserved to the states.” That provision effectively provides that the training of state national guard units is under the authority of the governor of each state. The Constitution includes but one condition: the training must be conducted “according to the discipline prescribed by congress.” That discipline protects civilians, as described in a Complaint to the Inspector General that 657 Vermonters submitted on October 20, 2020.

However, Vermont military and political leaders, including the Vermont governor, flagrantly violate the discipline by conducting the 115-decibel F-35 training from a runway within a densely populated City of South Burlington, where state officials know it causes immense suffering to nearly 3000 Vermont families and is particularly harmful to their children.

The Air Force itself described severe harm to civilians

Well before the 2019 arrival of the first F-35 jet in Vermont, Volume II of the 2013 Air Force Environmental Impact Study (EIS) described the harm to civilians that the Air Force anticipated from their exposure to the noise of those 115-decibel jets that the Air Force wrote would happen 5,486 times a year: The Air Force especially highlighted severe negative effects on children, including noise-induced hearing loss and impaired cognitive development, including impaired reading, concentration, memory, and problem solving. The Air Force had put Vermont political and military leaders on notice that the training with such dangerous jets in a city location was incompatible with public health and safety and with the discipline prescribed by Congress.

Eglin Air Force Base demonstrated respect for the obligation to protect civilians from F-35 training

By contrast with the training from the runway within the City of South Burlington, the US Air Force trains differently with F-35 jets at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, which is located just 1 mile south of the closest populated area, the City of Valparaiso. The Air Force, to its credit, signed an agreement with then-Mayor Bruce Arnold to use the longer runway at Eglin AFB that aims west, mostly away from Valparaiso, which is to the north. The agreement provided that the Air Force would use the runway for routine F-35 training that aims away from Valparaiso, and, with a few exceptions, would not to use the runway that aims directly at the city.

That same respect for civilians and for the discipline prescribed by Congress was absent in Vermont. Just the opposite. The Burlington International Airport has a single suitable runway, which is within the densely populated City of South Burlington. This runway aims directly at the City Winooski, 1 mile away. Notwithstanding years of deliberation, Vermont political and military leaders pushed for selection of this city airport for the 115-decibel F-35 training flights—instead of selecting from among the 17 other airports in Vermont that are appropriately isolated from populated areas.

The decision for F-35 training in the city location was announced in 2013, after 3 years of deliberation, including a 1000-page Environmental Impact Statement, and in the face of tumultuous and persistent mass protest. The decision to base the F-35 in a city was not mere negligence. The purpose was plain: the purpose was to harm civilians as an integral part of the training of the pilots so they would be prepared to indiscriminately bomb civilians when called up for federal service, as pilots did in Vietnam and Iraq, where the US killed and wounded millions of men, women and children in wars based on lies.

The state’s military and political leaders, including Leahy, Sanders, and Welch, had joined in lock-step support of basing the F-35 in the city of South Burlington. They intentionally chose the most densely populated part of Vermont for the training. Their point was to corrupt a whole wing of Vermont Air National Guard commanders and aviators who were willing to set aside their duty to comply with the military’s own discipline that protects civilians from military operations. F-35 pilots knew that the 115-decibel F-35 would inherently blast the ears and brains of 6,663 Vermonters living in the oval-shaped 115-decibel F-35 danger zone surrounding the runway, as described by the Air Force itself in a table from Volume I of the EIS (using average noise level contour bands rather than actual noise level):

It was eminently logical for Trump to chose those corrupted Vermont Air National Guard F-35 pilots for the murderous and illegal assault on Venezuela. Trump owes a debt to Senators Leahy and Sanders, and now-Senator Welch, as well as Vermont Governor Phil Scott, for their leading role in corrupting the state’s air national guard that they were rendered incapable of refusing any order, no matter how blatantly illegal.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch must immediately take action to put a stop to the training with F-35 jets in a city to stop the suffering of thousands of civilians, including 1,300 children living in the F-35 flight path, and to stop corrupting the Vermont Air National Guard. Along with the Governor, they can and they must use the state’s constitutional authority over the training of the state national guard to order a halt to the F-35 training in a city. This is the simplest and best way to abolish the suffering of Vermonters, to return honor to the state national guard, and to prevent Trump from using our Vermont airmen in yet another illegal act of aggression. So long as F-35 training in a city continues, words from Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch condemning Trump for the illegal attack on Venezuela are purely performative.

Another perilous time

We live at a time when very few in the political and military leadership can be trusted to respect the rule of law and constitutional rights. As student Mario Savio said during a massive sit-in organized by the Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley during a similar period in 1964:

There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus -- and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it -- that unless you're free the machine will be prevented from working at all!!

Savio had earlier participated in the Freedom Summer in Mississippi. He graduated with a degree in philosphy and later earned a graduate degree in physics.

As was the case then, for all who want sanity in government, respect for the rule of law, peace, justice, and prosperity, now is the time to raise our voices. As Martin Luther King said in his April 4, 1967 speech, entitled “Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence,” which he delivered at the Riverside Church in New York City, “Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”

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Closed since 2004 Roosevelt Roads was officially reactivated in September as a staging ground for attacking Venezuela. Vermont Air National Guard F-35 jet pilots await orders to attack from that base just 500 miles from Caracas.

The buildup of military forces threatening Venezuela

Newsweek reported on September 15 that the U.S. forces already stationed at Roosevelt Roads included F-35B fighters, V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and ground units. It reported that naval forces in the Caribbean then included the destroyers USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson; the cruiser USS Lake Erie; the littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis–Saint Paul; the amphibious ships USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio, and USS Fort Lauderdale; and the nuclear-powered submarine USS Newport News.

Since then, the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and other ships have arrived, C-17 heavy-lift cargo planes have been conducting flights to Puerto Rico from bases in 7 states, including Vermont, and 15,000 troops have been deployed, according to the New York Times, “U.S. Is Adding to Its Military Buildup in the Caribbean,” December 23, 2025.

On Monday US President Donald Trump called the naval buildup in the Caribbean the “largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.” He said that he was planning action on land in Venezuela “soon,” according to the Times article.

Trump added to the threat to Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, saying “it would be smart” for him to leave power, according to an ABC News report, “Trump, ramping up pressure on Maduro, says it would be ‘smart’ for Venezuelan leader to step down,” December 23, 2025.

The threat or use of force violates the UN Charter

Article 2 section 4 of the UN Charter prohibits “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence” of any country. The Charter is a senate-ratified treaty.

Escalation of threats and use of force

Trump has been gradually escalating both the threats and the use of force. According to the Times article,

Mr. Trump in August secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations. Since then, more than 100 people have been killed in a series of more than two dozen boat strikes.

Normal Coast Guard interdiction could have confirmed Trump’s allegation of drug trafficking in each case. Instead, the bombing, killing, and destroying, sunk the evidence. That leaves the possibility that drug trafficking is mere pretext and that the real purpose is to provoke a response from Venezuela so the US can massively escalate while pretending self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

On December 17 Reuters reported further escalation of threats and use of force: “U.S. President Donald Trump ordered on Tuesday a ‘blockade’ of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington’s latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government, targeting its main source of income.” The announcement of the blockade followed the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on December 10. A second tanker was seized on December 21.

The Guardian reported on December 24, 2025, “On Monday, Trump suggested oil seized from Venezuela could be treated as a US asset. ‘Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it,’ he told reporters. ‘Maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserves. We’re keeping the ships also.’”

“U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, called the blockade ‘unquestionably an act of war,’” according to the Reuters article. “‘A war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want,’ Castro added on X.”

Vermont political leaders, including the state’s 3-member congressional delegation and the governor, have similarly criticized the callup and deployment of the Vermont Air National Guard to Puerto Rico and the escalation toward war for failing to hold an authorizing vote in Congress. But none of these leaders mentioned that congressional authorization would not be adequate to make the threat or use of force legal under the UN Charter. Nor did any of them yet take action to organize a campaign to mobilize public opposition to the coming war of aggression.

The crime of aggression

In his opening statement as chief US prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in November, 1945, Justice Robert Jackson said:

War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent States alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

Trump called for using American cities as training grounds for the military

Shortly after implementing some of the provocations for war with Venezuela, during his meeting with over 800 generals and admirals on September 30, 2025 President Trump said that American cities should be used as “training grounds for our military.”

But Vermont political leaders were way ahead of Donald Trump in doing so. In 2013, then-Senator Patrick Leahy, joined by Senator Bernie Sanders and then-Congressman Peter Welch were in lockstep support for the city-training with F-35 jets. It is the city-training that makes the Vermont Air National Guard the perfect unit for Trump to use for his new war of aggression. The area of the City of South Burlington around the runway is one of the most densely populated in Vermont. As part of their training, F-35 pilots have been daily torturing nearly 3000 Vermont families in the flight path, including more than 1000 children, whose ears and brains have been blasted thousands of times a year by the 115-decibel F-35 training flights. Having spent 6 years terrorizing children and adults for their training in a Vermont city, the Vermont Air National Guard pilots are thoroughly compromised. They trained to commit war crimes. And now they are deployed awaiting orders to do just that. The complaints by Vermont political leaders are purely performative.

A large majority of Americans oppose military action

The Hill reported on December 17:

A majority of Americans say they oppose the United States taking military action against Venezuela as the Trump administration escalates its campaign against the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

Pollsters found that 63 percent of American respondents said they oppose military action in Venezuela compared with 25 percent who said they support it. Democrats overwhelmingly said they are against it at 89 percent, followed by 68 percent of independents and 33 percent of Republicans.

Organize and mobilize the opposition now

Trump is building up forces in the Caribbean for a new Vietnam War. A new Iraq War. Another Gaza genocide. Another war based on lies. Another war of aggression. An illegal, immoral, unjust, planet-killing war for oil. Now is the time to organize and mobilize the public to stop the war! Bring the troops home now!

Vermont political and military leaders were way ahead of Trump. Under their leadership the cities of Burlington, South Burlington, Winooski, and the town of Williston have been used as training grounds for Vermont Air National Guard F-35 pilots since 2019. The pressure was in the opposite direction: Then-Senator Patrick Leahy, who was President pro tempore of the Senate, used his influence to pressure the US Air Force to base twenty F-35 jets at the Burlington International Airport.

The Air Force Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) says that Burlington was not the environmentally favored one of the six candidate locations. Yet Senator Leahy was successful in pushing the Air Force. In a joint statement, Senator Bernie Sanders, and then-Congressman Peter Welch joined Leahy in touting the decision to base the F-35 in a city as supposedly “protecting hundreds of jobs.” They omitted mention that the 50 states, DC, and several US territories all have an Air National Guard, and that Vermont’s is among the nation’s smallest. So the jobs were never in doubt.

The Burlington Airport was not favored by the Air Force because the runway is located in a densely populated section of the City of South Burlington Vermont. The flight path takes the 115-decibel F-35 low over similar densely populated sections of the Cities of Burlington and Winooski and the Town of Williston. Locating such military aircraft amidst civilians violates distinction, a fundamental principle of the law of war and of US military discipline.

The Air Force Environmental Impact Statement cited scientific papers that repeated exposure to aircraft noise at the 115-decibel level of the F-35 can cause hearing loss and can impair the cognitive development of children. That’s not good. The Air Force said that F-35 training involves more than 5000 takeoffs and landings each year and that 6,663 Vermonters live in the oval-shaped extreme noise zone of the F-35. The Air Force said there was “disproportionate impact on low-income and ethnic-minority populations.”

Vermont leaders who pushed for the F-35 never mentioned the hearing loss or the cognitive impairment. They never mentioned that subjecting children to such harm is a way train F-35 pilots so they are accustomed to routinely hurting civilians. Our pilots have been compromised. Vermont civilians are being used to prepare pilots to conduct mass murder with F-35 jets in future wars. That is why the training is amidst densely populated cities. Vermont pilots are training to do what Israeli F-35 pilots do in Gaza.

The F-35 training in a city location is a crime. Targeting civilians and civilian neighborhoods with any kind of weapon violates the Geneva Conventions and US military discipline. It also violates the fundamental right of the people to be free of government oppression that was established in the Declaration of Independence and in the US and Vermont Constitutions.

The US has a sorry record of indiscriminate carpet bombing in Vietnam, including with napalm and white phosphorus. A record of “killing anything that moves.” A record of showering Vietnam with Agent Orange. The US long ago jettisoned all respect for law-of-war principles.

Then President Bush added torture in Iraq and in Guantanamo.

Presidents Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump all supplied the jets, bombs, money, and impunity that sustained the mass murder of children and adults in the Israeli military assaults on Gaza in December 2008, November 2012, July-August 2014, March 2018, May 2021, August 2022, and the genocide and systematic destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, water systems, and farmland in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

To their credit, more recently elected Vermont Congresswoman Becca Balint and Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, and the city councils in Burlington, South Burlington, and Winooski distinguished themselves from the state’s top leaders by calling on the Air Force to provide a different mission for the Vermont Air National Guard. But the abuse of Vermont families for training F-35 pilots continues to have the unwavering support of US Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch and Governor Phil Scott.

Under the US Constitution, the federal government has authority over the arming of the national guard. But the constitution expressly reserves to the states the authority of training the national guard. This is the opposite of federal pre-emption: The states have full control of national guard training.

As in Memphis, here in Vermont the national guard did not need to be federalized for Vermont cities to be used as the training ground. That is because the mass abuse of children and adults with F-35 jets has the full support of Governor Phil Scott, the commander in chief of the national guard. The governor is responsible for ordering the pilot training with the F-35 jets from the airport in the city location that daily assaults 6,600 Vermonters, including some 1300 children, for training pilots to assault civilians in the next US war for oil based on lies. The governor has authority to stop the F-35 training in the city, if only he would use it.

Despite her expressed opposition to the F-35, the Mayor of Burlington did not enforce Burlington’s long-standing Aviation Ordinance to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the low income and minority people of her city who are subjected to its 115-decibel noise. That ordinance only permits aircraft that “complies with the requirements of the Federal Aviation Agency” to use the city-owned airport. The F-35 is the only aircraft regularly using the airport that does not comply. Its noise level is far above that allowed by the FAA. The city’s aviation ordinance makes no exception. It bars anyone, including the governor, from ordering use of the Burlington-owned airport for non-FAA-compliant aircraft, including the F-35.

Despite its expressed opposition to the F-35, the City Council of South Burlington also did not enforce an ordinance; here it’s the city’s noise ordinance. This ordinance makes it “unlawful for any person to make or cause to be made any loud or unreasonable noise. Noise shall be deemed unreasonable when it disturbs, injures or endangers the peace or health of a person or when it endangers the health, safety or welfare of the community.” The South Burlington noise ordinance is almost identical to the Burlington noise ordinance that both the Vermont Supreme Court and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals found to be constitutional and enforceable.

The failure of these municipal leaders to demand compliance with their own ordinances makes them complicit in the F-35 harm to their citizens.

With Trump sending an armada of US ships to the Caribbean to threaten war with Venezuela, now is the time to demand that the governor, the mayor, the senators, and the city councils put a stop to the targeting of Vermonters with F-35 jets to train pilots to commit war crimes in the coming war. Urgently demand an end to using our cities as training grounds for our military. Demand respect for and enforcement of military discipline, the Geneva Conventions, and local ordinances. Protect thousands of Vermont children and adults living in the F-35 flight path. Demand an immediate halt to the training of our Vermont airmen in any city location. Say no to another war for oil based on lies. Replace all Vermont officials who support or allow our cities to be used as training grounds for our military.

contact:

Governor Phil Scott: 802 828-3333

Senator Bernie Sanders: 800-339-9834

Senator Peter Welch: 888-605-7270

Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak: 802-865-7272

South Burlington City Council: citycouncil@southburlingtonvt.gov

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Yet an area of land near the Burlington Airport the size of 44 football fields where 200 affordable single-family houses once stood will continue to remain vacant under this Executive Order. What holds up rebuilding on this land is not wetland, energy efficiency standards, permitting costs, or land ownership. What holds up building housing here is the F-35 fighter jet.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules designed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public allow rebuilding housing on this land when the governor orders the Vermont Air National Guard to discontinue F-35 training from the runway at the Burlington International Airport. The FAA regards these 44 acres of vacant land—plus a much larger area of densely populated parts of the Cities of Burlington, South Burlington, and Winooski and the Town of Williston, where 6,663 people live in the noise zone of the F-35—as “unsuitable for residential use” because of the ongoing training flights of the 115-decibel training flights of the F-35. The FAA regards the best solution for protecting those Vermonters, 1,300 of whom are children, is to purchase and tear down their 2,963 homes and relocate them far away from the F-35 noise zone: The FAA states, “The best way to mitigate noise, at high noise levels, is to buy homes and remove” the houses and the people. That’s what the FAA has been doing all around the country. The F-35 is the root of the housing crisis in these, the most densely populated cities and towns in the state.

In the 1970s the FAA banned civilian aircraft emitting far less noise than the F-35. Since then, the FAA has adopted increasingly stringent aircraft noise regulation. Manufacturers correspondingly made civilian aircraft much quieter. The FAA reports that over 90% of the homes that were in dangerous aircraft noise locations no longer are because civilian aircraft have become quieter.

But in Vermont, the governor, the congressional delegation, and the then-mayor of Burlington successfully countered the FAA program to protect public health, safety, and welfare by lobbying the Secretary of the Air Force to bring a far more dangerous military aircraft—that is not regulated by the FAA—to the Burlington airport, which is in the heart of the City of South Burlington.

Building housing on the 44 acres does not require slashing wetland protection, disposing of state-owned land, cutting revenue from permit applications, or reversing energy efficiency regulation. In fact, recent changes in zoning in South Burlington, where the Burlington airport is located, would now allow high-density-multistory housing on that land. Thousands of units can be built on the vacant acres facing the airport—if only the F-35 departs.

Relocation of the F-35 training would sharply reduce aircraft noise, allowing the 44 acres of now vacant land to meet FAA standards for the return of housing.

As the 44 acres of land was purchased with federal grants and is already owned by the City of Burlington, this is a perfect location upon which to build much of the desperately-needed affordable housing the governor says is needed.

The Governor has the Power

Under the US Constitution, the states have full authority over the training of their state national guards. That means the governor needs no permission from any federal authority to halt the F-35 training at the city-owned airport to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the people and to restore housing to the 44 acres of vacant land to help solve the housing crisis he touts. The governor is fully empowered to allow any of the 17 other airports in Vermont that is remote from populated areas to be used for the F-35 training. Or the governor can demand a mission for the Guard that is compatible with their current city location.

This means that the governor can not only make the 44 acres eligible for building thousands of units of housing. He can also put a stop to the grievous harm the Vermont Air National Guard under his command daily inflicts on the 6,663 low income and minority civilians who live in the extreme noise danger zone of the F-35.

But the governor is more determined to retain the F-35 at the airport in the city than to solve the housing crisis. His plan is to continue leaving the 44 acres vacant while continuing the suffering he imposed on the 6,663 Vermonters living in the F-35 noise zone. The only reasonable conclusion is that this governor is merely using the housing issue as pretext to slash wetland protection, dispose of state-owned land, cut permit fees for developers, and reverse energy efficiency regulation. This governor personifies all that is wrong with government.

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On Monday, the Palestinian resistance, including Hamas, accepted a 60-day ceasefire proposal presented by the Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

However, the Israeli government is opposing its own people: “Israel announced plans to forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians toward southern Gaza as part of its operation to seize Gaza City,” writes Drop Site News on Monday.

In preparation for the occupation of Gaza City, Israeli genocide forces have been using F-35 jets, artillery, drones, and explosive robots. Gaza City’s southern Zeitoun neighborhood has been systematically destroyed, including its residential towers. Six days of this continuous Israeli bombardment there has created a "catastrophic" situation, according to a report on the BBC on Sunday. Thousands of Palestinians have fled.

The BBC further issued another report in this video:

US government complicity

The US government has been complicit in the genocide since it began. Provision of special computer files to help Israel’s fleet of US-supplied F-35s to bomb Gaza was confirmed by the Pentagon acquisition chief Bill LaPlante during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing back in December 2023. “We have added some capabilities to that airplane in a very short period of time,” said F-35 Program Executive Officer Lt. Gen. Michael Schmidt during that hearing.

US government complicity also includes provision of helicopters, bombs, artillery shells, and missiles for the mass murder of civilians. It also includes vetoes in the Security Council. The ethnic-supremacist Israeli government requires the impunity provided by the US government to carry out its stated objective of killing off and driving out of over 2 million indigenous Palestinians.

As Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi told Democracy Now:

They have bombed every single hospital in Gaza at least once, and some of them have been completely destroyed. They have destroyed every single university in Gaza. They’ve destroyed water treatment plants. They’ve destroyed sewage treatment plants. This is genocide. And this is American-facilitated, -supported, -financed genocide. The Israelis should stop the war. The Israeli people should rise up. But it is Americans who have to rise up. It is our war. It is our money. These are our bombs. These are our bullets. Every single warplane in the Israeli arsenal is American — F-35, F-15, F-16. Every single combat helicopter is American. They do not do what they’re doing without the United States holding them up. And we must stop this.

It's not just complicity with the military assault on civilians: The US has also been complicit in the starvation policy of the genocidal Israeli government, as pointed out in a statement by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-Minn).

A huge march and rally in New York City on Saturday demanded, “Stop starving Gaza.”

Public support is melting away

A Gallup Poll taken in July shows that 60% of Americans disapprove of the Israeli military action in Gaza. 32% of Americans approve. While among Republicans 71% approve, among Democrats only 8% approve of Israel’s military action. The Israeli government shredded its own moral legitimacy with its viciously ethnic supremacist system and its ongoing genocide of indigenous Palestinians in Gaza.

Vermont F-35 pilots are training to commit mass murder, just like their Israeli colleagues

Here in Vermont, twenty F-35 jets are used by the state government for training pilots for the mass murder of civilians they will be ordered to commit in the next illegal US war based on lies. The airport in the City of South Burlington Vermont was selected for the 115-decibel F-35 “training” because the 6,663 city dwellers living in the extreme F-35 noise zone—including more than 1000 children blasted by that ear-and- brain-damaging noise thousands of times a year—makes the location perfect for compromising the pilots and ground crews. The location for this F-35 “training” hurts civilians while using them as human shields for the F-35 jets. The location blatantly violates the law-of-war and military discipline principles of distinction, unnecessary suffering, and military necessity. After nearly 6 years of viciously abusing civilians here, the Vermont F-35 pilots are well prepared for bombing civilians anywhere with the conventional bombs and B61-12 nuclear-bomb-capable F-35 jets. Not one Vermont political or military leader ever raised significant objection to the city location for this training. Not one demanded that the state use its constitutional power over the training of its own national guard to demand that the Governor halt the F-35 training in a city.

Change is coming

The rapidly growing mass movements and protests against the Israeli-US mass slaughter in Gaza, and the collapse in support for those policies and those governments, means change is coming.

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