Brave Hearts to the Front
Indigenous Women Join Freedom Flotilla to Deliver Aid to Gaza
The International Indigenous Youth Council announced today solidarity with two Indigenous women from Turtle Island joining the Freedom Flotilla bringing aid to Gaza.
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Updated Sept. 19, 2025
 |
| Dr. Suzanne Shoush, St'atl'imx/Sudanese, and Mskwaasin Agnew, Cree/Dene Salt River First Nation |
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail today from Italy, Tunisia and Greece to unite in International waters, the flotilla said Sunday morning, at noon New York time. Boats from Spain had already set sail, among 44 countries sending delegations and boats from around the world.
Dr. Suzanne Shoush, St'atl'imx/Sudanese, and Mskwaasin Agnew, Cree/Dene Salt River First Nation, are joining the Freedom Flotilla Coalition Women's boat to Break the Siege on Gaza.
"Israel is breaking the laws of humanity, engaged in a cycle of escalating aggression and impunity," Dr. Shoush said.
"This learned behaviour is modeled after settler-colonial states like Canada. I am the daughter of a Coast Salish woman whose ancestors survived the brutality of genocide and colonial erasure by taking their survival into their own hands, and protecting and caring for one another."
"Indigenous resistance is more than a tradition: It is an obligation."
"I am joining the Freedom Flotilla Coalitions' Women boat to Gaza, part of a global effort to break the Siege of Gaza NOW. Our boat is named the Hind Rajab, honoring a beautiful little Palestinian girl killed while pleading for help to come. We will come."
"We are all women, and all healthcare providers. We are lawful, peaceful and humanitarian."
"My mothers farewell words to me: "Your ancestors are sea-bearing people. You have nothing to be afraid of. The ocean knows you and will protect you. Whatever happens, you will be guided."
"Free Palestine."
Read Mskwaasin Agnew's Open Letter on the Siege on Gaza
The two Indigenous women will join Swedish rights defender Greta Thunberg, who was on the previous Freedom Flotilla, and has joined the current flotilla, the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Greta was among those imprisoned and deported by Israel in June after being captured at sea aboard the Madleen, when the flotilla neared Gaza with humanitarian aid in June.
Greta came to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, and Standing Rock in North Dakota, to support Lakota Water Protectors and the resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2019.
Now preparing to again bring aid to Gaza, Greta said, "I am terrified by how people continue with their normal lives despite seeing Israel's genocide over Gaza live from their phones, pretending that nothing is happening."
Lakota Women and Women of the North Leading Support for Palestine
Lakota women and Indigenous women in the north are leaders in the support for Palestine, speaking out against the starvation and genocide. The two countries -- the U.S. and Canada -- that have supplied weapons, intelligence operations and military air support for this genocide.
Two of those companies are weapons and surveillance companies operating in Indian country. Raytheon Dine' Missiles is located on the Navajo Nation's commercial farm, Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, east of Shiprock on tribal land in New Mexico.
In Dec. of 2023, Navajo President Buu Nygren was asked to support a ceasefire in Palestine, and shut down the Raytheon Dine' Facility on the Navajo Nation. However, Nygren and the Navajo Nation Council have remained silent about producing missiles for Raytheon, a top profiteer from genocide.
See the article by reporter Marley Shebala, Dine'/Zuni Pueblo, at Navajo Times https://navajotimes.com/reznews/84801/ 
Elbit Systems of Israel constructed the integrated fixed towers, spy towers, on the Tohono O'odham Nation, which violated burial and ceremonial sites during construction on the Arizona border.
The spy towers provide live video surveillance of traditional O'odham communities and are now used by the U.S. Border Patrol to stalk O'odham in their homeland. U.S. Border Patrol agents in the crime-infested U.S. Border Patrol have been arrested for murder, drug running, kidnapping, spotting for the cartels, and serial rape on the Arizona border.
Photo: Elbit Systems, Israel's top weapons producer, subcontracted a Montana tribe to construct spy towers, integrated fixed towers, on the western part of the Tohono O'odham Nation. The towers, opposed by traditional O'odham, dug into burial, and ceremonial places. The subcontractor, S&K Technologies, is owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana.
Elbit Systems is Israel's leading defense contractor and is based in Israel. Elbit produces weaponized drones, surveillance and border wall construction in Palestine.
In Arizona, universities play a key role in the genocide. Raytheon Missiles, now called RTX, is located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson. The University said it partners with Raytheon.
Nearby, Arizona State University, located in Tempe in the Phoenix Valley, receives millions of dollars in defense contracts, including those for the development of robotic weapons and artificial intelligence -- while targeting and silencing students who support Palestine. Both universities have large numbers of Native American students, and receive millions of dollars in grants for Native students, and for research about Native Americans.
Both Arizona universities led a nationwide college support network for Israel when the genocide began two years ago. Both universities unleashed law enforcement to attack students supporting Palestine and shut down their protests and camps.
At the United Nations, the Global Indigenous Youth Council testified before the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2024 on the genocide. "We are witnessing the genocide and displacement of Palestinian people. We demand the right of return to their ancestral homeland."
Anpo Jensen, Kiyuksa Tiospaye, Oglala Lakota of Pine Ridge, South Dakota, delivered the Global Indigenous Youth Council statement at the U.N. session in New York in April of 2024. The U.N. Permanent Forum did not include it in its final report in 2024.
The flotilla boats include legal support.
"The Independent Legal Support Boat is accompanying the Global Sumud Flotilla. Its role is to monitor the mission, document the applicable international legal framework, and preserve evidence for potential future proceedings," the flotilla said.
Read more:
Inuk Woman Joins Flotilla to Gaza 'No face should face injustice alone'
No comments:
Post a Comment