On April 1, Thomas Becker, a human rights lawyer and senior clinical supervisor of the University Network for Human Rights spoke on his experiences on the Gaza Flotilla in the Masonic building. He was introduced by Professor Stephen Zunes as students continually filed into the already crowded room; the event was so full that chairs were eventually borrowed from the neighboring classrooms.
Becker emphasizes his particular relationship with USF as both an alumni of the University while simultaneously having been engaged with Professor Zunes last year in negotiations for his release from Ktz’iot prison in Israel.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is an international solidarity movement composed of campaigns and initiatives working to end the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Becker describes his experience receiving the call to join the flotilla as such: “Screw it! I’m gonna jump on a boat and go to Gaza.” In later discussion, Becker would discuss his hesitations in participating in the flotilla. Hesitations persisted in his recognition as to the significance his whiteness would have in possibly obstructing the Palestinian voice. He would eventually join the second round of the flotilla writing dispatches for Latin-American news sources while simultaneously authoring a report to the United Nations on torture in Israeli prisons.
Joined with other journalists and aid workers, their team set out on a boat described as “duct-taped together,” with the understanding that as they departed, the likelihood of interception by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) was high. Their boat, “The Conscience,” arrived in Gaza around Oct. 7 2025. On Oct. 8 around 3-4 AM, the IDF intercepted their voyage.
As the IDF raided the boat, flotilla members threw their devices off the ship to preserve their work as well as their contacts. Becker recounts that a Turkish chef on the flotilla would destroy his device, which would later catch fire underneath Becker. As the IDF continued to raid the boat, Becker recounts the violence perpetrated by the soldiers, with the IDF soldiers carrying cameras on their vests which they would habitually turn on and off to document the performance of kindness provided by the soldiers to then disable the cameras as they continued to inflict violence.
Becker and his team were jailed in Ktz’iot Prison, the team operated under a framework of nonviolence for the duration of their incarceration. In recounting the event, Becker emphasized: “Anything they did do to us was a fraction of what they’re doing to Palestinians.” In Ktz’iot, they separated the members of the flotilla, with Becker describing the inordinate violence inflicted specifically upon the non-white members of the flotilla. In recounting his experience, Becker describes: “At every stage, they abused us.” Violence in Ktz’iot took many forms, with the IDF being described as having entered the cells every hour to intimidate the flotilla members with guns constantly being aimed at them.
On the third day of their incarceration, the flotilla members were made to enter transportation cars with no acknowledgement of their destination, to eventually be released at an airport near the South of Egypt; Türkiye had chartered a flight for their return.
In the Q&A section of the talk, students were eager to inquire on the varying dimensions of Becker’s experiences.
One student asked: “We’re watching this genocide on our screens, with people experiencing a massive desensitization of their suffering; how do you handle this mass indifference?” In response, Becker described the constant struggle we inevitably face, saying it is inevitable for individuals to feel burnt out though it is through the work of discovering commonalities with others that we start to rediscover our drive.
Another student asked “What do we do when our safety nets fail? Is there any world where we can come back from it?” In response, Becker highlighted the natural uncertainty of these continued failures while also acknowledging the hope he has for systems such as that of the International Court of Justice, in which a new framework which better serves all nations is possible. Additionally, Becker emphasized that despite the disillusionment radiating from these systemic failures, he finds hope in the real work of students and activists continually mobilizing for causes such as the liberation of Palestine.
Becker aptly describes; “These institutions don’t give me hope, you do.”
