By Moshe Phillips
The spotlight on the funeral events for Iran’s late leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran has exposed some of the most rabid anti-American and anti-Israel extremists for what they truly are.
Among the Americans in Tehran were Jackson Hinkle, who reportedly led “Down With The USA” chants and Calla Walsh, known as a co-founder of Palestine Action USA (now known as Unity of Fields). On social media Hinkle has shown support for the so-called Gaza Flotilla provocateurs.
Lisi Proenca is another prominent anti-Israel radical who was in Tehran and she is also a Gaza Flotilla veteran. While in Iran at the funeral, Proenca declared: “free people of the world” must support Iran to be a “border against Zionism” and said the Ayatollah was “martyred.”
The last time Proenca made the news was in April when she defended a fellow Brazilian who was accused of sexual misconduct while on the Flotilla. Proenca was on the same ship as Thiago Avila, a prominent flotilla ship organizer, who she called a “good friend and comrade” despite the accusations.
The moral bankruptcy of the flotilla radicals really requires deep examination.
A close look at the boats used in the past by these anti-Israel extremists aboard Gaza Flotilla boats reveals as much about their true motivation as attending the funeral of a brutal terrorist backer—something that both journalists and Israel’s supporters have missed, and should not have.
One would have expected that the banners on the ships would feature messages like “Stop The Blockade,” “Feed Gaza,” or even “Stop The Genocide,” but the boats I saw in the photos had no such messages at all. That’s because the anti-Zionist radicals on the boats do not really care about the residents of Gaza more than the Hamas terrorists do, and they know that in reality, there’s no genocide or starvation.
The signs on the boats that I saw in photos read:
“Free Gaza”
In response, it must be noted that before October 7, no Israeli soldiers were in Gaza when Hamas launched their terrorist invasion. The withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from Gaza concluded on September 12, 2005.
“Free Palestine”
One is left wondering what these signs mean, but the meaning should be clear. Mahmoud Abbas has been the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) since 2004, and to this day the PLO still features a map of “Palestine” that leaves zero room for a State of Israel of any size—”from the river to the sea.”
“Leve Palestina”
This last message—”Leve Palestina”—may be the most telling to understand the true motives of these haters. It almost certainly refers to a 1979 song that has this hate in its very first line: “Long live Palestine and crush Zionism. Long live, long live Palestine.” The song infamously glorifies violence and terrorism, stating, “And we have thrown stones at soldiers and police; and we have fired missiles.” In an August 2024 unabashed tribute piece about the song Al Jazeera reported that the song “has gained new life since … October 7” and YouTube videos with it have had millions of views.
In the first line of its October 1, 2025 coverage of the flotilla, The New York Times reported, “Activists on a flotilla of vessels carrying humanitarian aid,” and later that “Their mission is to deliver food during the humanitarian crisis there.” It should be plain that the fanatics’ only goals were to provoke Israel and ensure that the media continued to portray Israel as the only bad actor. The New York Times and others acted as accessories to the flotilla criminals and never analyzed the signs the ships carried or to what extent there were any real aid supplies.
The official website for the flotilla spells it out: “Our efforts build on decades of Palestinian resistance” (Source: https://globalsumudflotilla.org/about/). Despite claims of nonviolence on the part of the Israel-bashing Sumud flotilla fanatics, “Palestinian resistance” has meant one thing since the 1964 founding of the PLO (when Gaza was occupied by Egypt and Judea and Samaria was occupied by Jordan), and that one thing is violence. Are there any leaders advocating for nonviolence among Palestinian Arabs? If so, where are they? Such figures rarely make headlines.
Israel’s supporters must do more to educate the public about the extremists who are using social media to tell lies about the world’s only Jewish State and exhibit support for Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. This is absolutely crucial.
Moshe Phillips is national chairman of Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI: www.AFSI.org), a leading pro-Israel advocacy and education organization.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.