SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
sean o'brien
US Gaza Freedom Flotilla Members Say No Consular Support Given After Abduction by Israeli Forces
Flotilla members said labor organizer Chris Smalls—the last remaining American volunteer still in Israeli custody—was brutally assaulted by his captors.
Jul 30, 2025
The Trump administration failed to provide any consular support to American volunteers kidnapped last week by Israel Defense Forces troops in international waters while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to starving Gazans, freed U.S. detainees said Wednesday.
"No U.S. Embassy officials have visited us or inquired about our condition—despite our repeated appeals," detained professor Frank Romano, a citizen of both the U.S. and France, said before his transfer Wednesday to an unspecified Israeli airport for deportation.
Four other Handala volunteers who were aboard the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) vessel Handala—Vigdis Bjorvand (Norway), Santiago González Vallejo (Spain), Braedon Peluso (United States), and Sergio Toribio Sanchez (Spain)—were also taken to the airport for deportation on Wednesday. Two other Americans aboard the Handala, attorney Huwaida Arraf and 77-year-old Bob Suberi, were released earlier from Israeli custody along with some of the other 19 FFC volunteers who were seized.
One American, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) co-founder Chris Smalls, remains in Israeli detention at Givon Prison, along with Hatem Aouini of Tunisia.
According to the Israeli legal advocacy group Adalah: "They are being held in overcrowded, poorly ventilated cells, without ventilation or cooling, despite the extreme summer heat. They are being denied basic hygiene supplies, and their sleeping areas are infested with bedbugs. With no yard time, they remain confined in closed rooms all day, without fresh air or space to move."
FFC said Smalls—the only Black activist aboard the Handala—"was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals" after his capture, which occurred without resistance.
"They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back," the coalition said in a Tuesday Instagram post. "When his lawyer met with him, Christian was surrounded by six members of Israel's special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists."
Jacob Berger, an American actor aboard the Handala who arrived in New York on Tuesday, said in an Instagram video that Smalls "is in great spirits" and "appreciates all the support and love" he's received. "Remember, we have to keep all eyes on Gaza."
Still, advocates questioned why the mainstream media has given little coverage to Smalls, a public figure who met with former President Joe Biden at the White House after leading the drive to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in New York.
Chris Smalls met w/ Biden at WH, but not ONE major outlet covered the IDF detaining & beating Smalls w/ @freedomflotilla.bsky.social. Smalls was choked & beaten by 7 IDF soldiers. paydayreport.com/amazon-union...
[image or embed]
— Mike Elk (@mikeelk.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 2:48 AM
"Despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago," Payday Report senior labor reporter Mike Elk wrote Tuesday.
Elk called out Teamsters president Sean O'Brien, who "has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls, who founded the Amazon Labor Union, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters."
Pretty hard to believe that the particularly heinous and brutal treatment Christian Smalls was subjected to by Israeli authorities was not a function of racism given it was not inflicted on other Handala detainees.And the US media dgaf.
[image or embed]
— Nathan Kalman-Lamb (@nkalamb.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 4:53 AM
The executive board of ALU-IBT Local 1 said on social media Tuesday, "We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all detained activists aboard the flotilla, an end to targeted racist treatment, and we call on the broader labor movement to take a stance for Palestinian liberation."
"Gaza has been under a relentless and inhumane military assault for nearly two years," the board added. "This genocide has caused mass starvation, the forced displacement of millions, and the intentional deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. There is an immediate need for unrestricted food and medical aid to Gaza."
On Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said that the death toll from Israel's 662-day assault and siege on Gaza topped 60,000, although that figure is likely a vast undercount, according to multiple peer-reviewed studies.
Also on Tuesday, the United Nations-affiliated Integrated Phase Food Security Classification warned that the "worst-case scenario" has already taken hold in Gaza, where half a million people are enduring famine-like conditions, more than 20,000 children have been treated for malnutrition since April, and at least 147 people—including at least 88 children—have died of starvation, according to U.N. and local officials.
The Handala was the third FFC vessel to attempt to break Israel's decadeslong blockade and deliver aid to Gaza since Israel launched its war and siege on Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack.
In May, the Conscience was attacked twice in international waters off Malta, presumably by Israeli forces. No one was harmed in what FFC said was a drone strike on the ship. However, the activists were forced to abort their mission.
Last month, Israeli forces seized the U.K.-flagged Madleen and detained its crew members as they sought to deliver food, children's prosthetics, and other supplies to Gaza. FFC volunteers aboard the Madleen included Rima Hassan—a member of the European Parliament—and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Fifteen years ago, Israeli forces raided an FFC convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Israeli attackers killed nine FFC volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
FFC volunteers vowed to keep trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, despite the risks to their lives and liberty.
"Our countries are allowing Israel to deliberately starve Palestinians as part of this genocidal campaign that it has been carrying out. And we are horrified and not going to sit by and not do anything about it," Arraf told Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman during a Monday interview.
"We will not stop," Arraf added. "So we are actively working on another one. We want the whole world to see the extent to which Israel goes to prevent baby formula from getting into Gaza, and hopefully rise up in all ways possible. Until the siege is broken, the genocide ends, and Palestine is free, we will continue sailing."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Where's the Outrage Over Labor Leader Chris Smalls' Violent Arrest by the IDF?
Despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago.
Jul 29, 2025
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces boarded the Handala, a ship associated with the Flotilla Freedom Coalition, that was attempting to reach Gaza with supplies for starving Palestinians. The IDF detained 21 activists, who had their hands held up, in graphic images that were captured by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Among those on the ship was Chris Smalls, who gained fame when he led a successful union drive at Amazon in Staten Island in 2022. Former U.S. President Joe Biden even invited Smalls to meet with him at the White House to strategize on union organizing in 2022.
On Monday, details emerged that not only was Smalls detained, but he was physically beaten by the IDF. He was the only Black member of the Freedom Flotilla on the Handala.
"The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, U.S. human rights defender, Christian Smalls, was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals," wrote the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on Instagram. "They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back."
His international union leader, Teamsters union president Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls.
Still, despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago.
In 2022, The New York Times even ran a Style section profile on his fashion choices among more than a dozen pieces that they ran on his organizing efforts, but the paper has not said anything about the detention and beating of a high-profile labor activist at the hands of the IDF. Only three smaller left-leaning outlets, Zeteo, The Grio, and Jezebel, covered it.
"This totally makes sense," wrote University of New Brunswick Professor Nathan Kalman-Lamb on Bluesky. "A notable public figure in the U.S. (Amazon labor organizer Christian Smalls) is illegally arrested by Israel and subjected to severe physical violence while on a hunger strike… and not one U.S. media outlet of any type has decided that is news."
Some union leaders have already begun to speak out about his detention.
"As a union, we are demanding the immediate release of Chris Smalls and all captured activists," said the 29,000-member California Faculty Association in a statement late Monday. "We further call for an immediate end to the engineered famine and deliberate starving of the people in Gaza, labor complicity with genocide, and all U.S. military aid to Israel".
Other unions are expected to denounce the beating and detention of Smalls by the IDF.
However, his international union leader, Teamsters union president Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls, who founded the Amazon Labor Union, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters.
Instead, the Teamsters President Sean O'Brien took to social media to advertise his upcoming interview with fascist commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and his 3 million right-wing followers.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'What Oligarchy Looks Like': Trump Reportedly Picks Union-Busting Lawyer for Labor Post
Crystal Carey is a partner at Morgan Lewis, the "top choice of union-busting rat bastards everywhere," one labor journalist said, highlighting how "Amazon has taken full advantage of their evil talents."
Mar 18, 2025
Amid widespread frustrations with U.S. President Donald Trump's attacks on working people, including his pursuit of an economic agenda "of, by, and for billionaires," the Republican is reportedly considering yet another betrayal: installing a partner at "a go-to union-busting law firm" as the next general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.
That's according to David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect. Shortly after taking office in January, Trump fired NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo—and Democratic board member Gwynne Wilcox, who is fighting her ouster in court. Dayen exclusively reported Monday that Trump plans to replace Abruzzo with Crystal Carey from "the notorious anti-union law firm Morgan Lewis."
Carey is "a former NLRB attorney with experience on both the general counsel and board sides of the agency," according to her biography on the firm's website. Now, "she represents employers" across a wide range of industries for collective bargaining, labor law counseling, and NLRB investigations and litigation.
Since the 1950s, her firm has been "involved in some of the most prominent labor battles in America... from the 1981 air traffic controllers strike to efforts by McDonald's to resist the Fight for $15," Dayen explained. "One of Morgan Lewis' biggest current clients is Amazon, which used algorithmic management and surveillance tactics to prevent unionization at its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, in 2021. Amazon also has an active lawsuit that seeks to declare the NLRB unconstitutional."
While Dayen's multiple sources didn't know when a formal announcement would be made and the White House did not respond to a request for comment, the journalist—and many readers of his report—highlighted that "the selection would confirm that any talk of the second term of President Trump being in any way pro-labor was largely lip service or sheer fantasy."
The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO said on social media: "Union-busting is disgusting, especially when it's coming from the highest office. When unelected billionaires have the ear of an already corrupt president, workers and working families will continue to be on the chopping block. This is what oligarchy looks like, folks."
Labor journalist Kim Kelly sarcastically said, "More great stuff from the 'pro-worker' administration."
"To emphasize how much this sucks, Morgan Lewis is *the* top choice of union-busting rat bastards everywhere and Amazon has taken full advantage of their evil talents to harass and intimidate low-wage workers in the South out of organizing," she added.
Jimmy Williams, general president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, said Trump's reported selection of Carey "comes as a complete shock to No ONE."
Some critics took aim at International Brotherhood of Teamsters president Sean O'Brien, who has repeatedly faced backlash for cozying up to Trump's GOP since he spoke at the Republican National Convention last summer. He also came under fire for praising Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump's labor secretary pick, who was confirmed last week.
Dayen noted that "labor secretary is not a big policymaking job, at least not compared to the NLRB general counsel. The general counsel sets priorities for NLRB cases, which govern union elections and rights in the workplace. The Labor Department has important priorities as well, but the work to end the slide in union density in the United States really begins at the NLRB."
In response to Dayen's reporting, Emma Lydon, managing director of government relations at Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said: "Great work, Sean O'Brien. Cozying up to fascists and billionaires really worked out well for all of us."
Jonathan Cohn, political director for Progressive Mass, similarly quipped, "Congratulations to Sean O'Brien!"
The labor podcast Work Stoppage said: "Thanks Sean O'Brien for claiming Trump wants to help U.S. workers! He just gave the most powerful labor law post in the country to one of the lawyers fighting the Teamsters at Amazon."
"Allying with the right didn't work for Teamsters" under former Presidents Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan, the podcast's account added, "and it won't work now."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular