‘What Else Can We Do?’

Humboldt resident sails on flotilla to Gaza for aid mission

Before being detained, Orleans resident Windfield “Wind” Beaver made clear in an interview with the Journal that he didn’t want his role in the Sumud Global Flotilla’s attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people to be framed as a “white savior” narrative.

“Our story is a support story, it’s a support role,” he said of the ragtag group of 41 boats carrying nearly 500 volunteers from dozens of nations that was intercepted by the Israeli navy in early October while trying to open a supply corridor through the nearly two-decade-long sea blockade of Gaza.

The real story, Beaver said, is the residents trapped in the narrow strip of land that the flotilla was ultimately unable to reach, people facing starvation, displacement and bombardment as the area around them is cast into ruin.

“We are standing in solidarity with them,” he said. “Like, for me, I want to live in a world that doesn’t treat people that way and they are included in that world I want to live in. So, I can’t stand by while they are just being slaughtered.”

Israel has tightened its stranglehold on supplies flowing into the area amid its current offensive in Gaza, launched in response to the violent Hamas-led attack on the nation on Oct. 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead and saw hundreds taken hostage, mainly civilians. More than 67,000 Palestinians have died in the ensuing war, according to Gaza health authorities, many of those women, children and the elderly.

A United Nations-backed report in August declared that famine is underway as a result of the conflict.

The hope, Beaver said, is to spur other people into action amid the failure of world leaders to act as a human-made humanitarian disaster unfolds before their eyes.

“If we can get there and deliver this aid that we have and hold a corridor, we could, with the support of the people of the world, we could facilitate a lot of resources getting to this besieged population,” he said. “But really, states need to act, people with more power and more capacity need to act and the United Nations is ready to act … . They have the resources, they have the food, they have the people trained. It’s all there but Israel has been allowed this immunity to just ignore international law. So we are just doing everything we can to just try to change that, and it’s an impossible task but we are trying anyway because what else can you do?”

 In the last video from Beaver’s boat Ohwayla, grainy black and white footage shows the 14 activists onboard wearing lifejackets while sitting in the cockpit with their arms raised at their shoulders, palms out, as the craft rolls gently in the waves. Offscreen a voice can be heard calling out, “Stop the engines. Stop the engines, now. Stop sailing.”

Like other members of the flotilla, including Swedish activist Greta Thundberg and Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, Beaver prerecorded an “SOS” message that was released on the flotilla’s website following their confirmed interception.

“If you are watching this video, I’ve been kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces and taken against my will,” Beaver says. “Tell my government to end its complicity with Israel and to bring me home, and to stop the genocide.”

His exact location was unclear as the Journal went to press on Tuesday but the Sumud Global Flotilla listed him as freed. While the Israeli government has defended the boardings as a matter of national defense, the action also spurred global protests and was met with condemnation by some world leaders.

In a social media post last week, North Coast Congressmember Jared Huffman described the effort as “a peaceful, humanitarian mission by civilians and volunteers,” noting one of his constituents was among them.

“It’s imperative the people involved in this aid effort are treated safely, lawfully, and released. Israel and the international community must prioritize humanitarian assistance to Gaza immediately,” he wrote.

In an email to the Journal on Monday, the representative said his office is “monitoring the situation very closely.”

“We have been in communication with the family, and have been engaging with the U.S. State Department to ensure the safe and lawful treatment as well as immediate release and return to the United States of Windfield Beaver and the rest of the aid volunteers on the flotilla,” Huffman said.

He also sent a letter, along with 24 of his California colleagues, to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling on him to “immediately do everything in your power to ensure the release of these U.S. citizens and to ensure their fair and safe treatment” and for “humanitarian aid to be sent to the people of Gaza.”

Over the course of a few weeks, Beaver spoke to the Journal from the deck of the Ohwayla, a 45-foot sailboat carrying medical supplies and baby formula, during his Mediterranean Sea crossing to Gaza, the rippling of the wind against the phone making him difficult to hear at times.

Born on the Salmon River in Siskiyou County and raised on a commune before settling in Orleans, Beaver said he’s been following “the struggle for self-determination and liberation of the Palestinian people for two decades or more.”

Most recently that included following other unsuccessful flotilla efforts this summer. So, when the Sumud Global Flotilla put out a call for volunteers, Beaver said he “signed up as fast as I could because I felt that I could be of use and that I could lend a hand in trying to put together this kind of crazy massive mission that just requires so much.” 

Before setting off from Barcelona to Gaza in September, Beaver said he went through “quite a vetting process,” noting there were also trainings in the mission’s commitment to nonviolence before being placed on the Ohwayla alongside eight American veterans and a “handful of other folks.” Speaking on Sept. 19, he described the experience so far as “great.”

“They’re awesome, they’re super keen and clear-eyed and know exactly what we are doing and why and are really amazingly helpful on the boat, just keeping everything together and people fed and everything tidy,” he said of the former service members, noting “it’s super small living quarters.”

Most of his time, he said, was filled with the mundane tasks of any sea journey: taking turns on a 24-hour watch, cooking, cleaning, repairing sails and keeping up with maintenance on the craft that has seen better days.

“A lot of it is just trying to keep this boat together,” Beaver says, noting the likelihood was Israel would end up with it in the end, and “we don’t want to bring them really fabulous boats. So we are doing our best to make do with what we’ve got.”

The 43 year old said he and the others knew they were most likely embarking on an “impossible task” and potentially sailing into danger, based on the Israeli government’s actions against the dozen or so flotillas that have tried to do the same since the 2007 blockade began after Hamas took control of Gaza.

“When you know why you are doing something, you find a way to do it,” he said. “There’s a quote somewhere of those who have a ‘why’ can tolerate or navigate any ‘how.’ It’s outside of a lot of our typical … day-to-day, but there’s good reason for what we are doing.”

As the largest flotilla to date, there was hope of having safety in numbers, including some high-profile activists like Thunberg and Mandela, as well as parliamentarians. He noted a support vessel from a non-government organization out of Italy was following them most of the way to Gaza and there was also a boat with international law attorneys sailing with them.

Still there was an underlying fear there, he said while still 10-days out, but “part of it is right now there is such a big task ahead of us that I don’t feel any of that fear.”

“I feel grounded and sure of my choices to be here and for now that’s enough,” he said. “I believe in this action. I believe in the people I’m calling comrades and it feels really possible. Like we’ve really done our best to look after ourselves.”

A week later, as they came closer to their destination, the proverbial tide shifted precipitously when the Ohwayla became the first of around 10 boats in the flotilla to be hit by incendiary devices dropped by drones, with some sustaining damage.

Beaver said he was sent to wake everyone up and tell them to get life vests on, noting, “we were super lucky it didn’t land in the cockpit or something and people would have been hurt.”

It was something that had been anticipated but it was still an assault and “a shock to a lot of people,” he said, adding, “it was almost a relief” that it happened without much damage.

Beaver said they then received intel that Israel was going to strike again in an attempt to sink vessels, so they retreated into Greek waters before heading out again. “There’s definitely some lingering fear and stress from that,” he said in the Sept. 29 call, noting, “it’s hard to judge what’s just a threat,” and “we have to take it seriously.”

Still 150 nautical miles from Gaza, Beaver said there was a plan in case of sinkings and the flotilla was still being shadowed by an Italian rescue boat, with its onboard hospital facilities, and other vessels while in international waters.

Boats from the last two flotillas have been seized, and those aboard imprisoned and given the option to self-deport but that requires an admission of wrongdoing, he said. Many choose to go through the deportation process in protest, he said.

Meanwhile, rumors were flying around about what Israel would ultimately do, whether the government would sink or confiscate the boats and whether other countries would retrieve their citizens if taken into custody. From the beginning, Beaver expressed skepticism about whether the United States government would be there to “stand up for us.”

“I want to be able to deliver this aid and do what we came to do,” he said. “It feels awful. Like a scary pit of your stomach fear that’s out in front of you. But what else can we do?”

With the Israeli navy closing in on the flotilla on the night of Oct. 2, Beaver spoke with the Journal one last time, saying he was “doing alright.” He said they had seen the ships approaching on radar and spread out the fleet in response.

“Right now there’s just a whole bunch of naval vessels … they are spotlighting boats and water cannoning people — they’ve boarded three of the bigger vessels, I think … but they haven’t done anything but spotlight our boat yet,” he said.

He described the situation unfolding as “a slow escalation.”

“It’s a surreal reality,” he said. “A week ago or so, outside of Greek waters, we got bombed and so that was more intense than this. This is interception, interdiction — we’re in international waters and they have no right to do what they are doing. Thus far, it hasn’t been with explosives.”

There was, he said, “really nothing else to do” but take it minute by minute.

Beaver said, “[the Israeli navy] made some threats and they jammed coms on the VHF and marine radio and even channel 16 (the international channel for distress calls), which I think is a crime,” on some of the vessels.

While the Ohwayla still had communications at the time, with Beaver saying it appeared the navy was using a “proximity jammer” that only had a certain radius, his vessel previously had their radio hacked to play ABBA and Bob Marley songs near Crete, which he said was “a funny choice for psychological warfare.”

“It didn’t make anyone nervous,” he said, but the jamming left them unable to communicate with other boats in the flotilla and the outside world.

“I think we’re doing well. It’s kind of hurry up and wait,” he said, adding no one knew what was going to happen next.

“We’re hoping we have the protection of international law and the eye of the world on us, and there’s enough political pressure to where we’re allowed to uphold the genocide convention and provide humanitarian aid to a besieged and starved population,” Beaver said. “That’s what we’re doing. We are a humanitarian mission. We are all committed to nonviolence, we’re all carrying humanitarian aid. We’re in international water. They have no right to stop us but they most likely will, as they have done most of the other flotillas, and we’ll see if the world cares or not.”

Kimberly Wear (she/her) is the assistant editor at the Journal. Reach her at 442-1400 or kim@northcoastjournal.com.

North Coast Journal Managing Editor Jennifer Fumiko Cahill contributed to this report.

This article appears in ‘What Else Can We Do?’.