https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-893508

Gaza Freedom Flotilla rocked by sexual misconduct allegations against senior member aboard ship

Allegations of sexual misconduct have rocked the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as a senior member faces accusations of inappropriate behavior aboard the ship, sparking an investigation.

The newest Gaza freedom flotilla has come under the spotlight – not because of its stated aim of “breaking the Israeli siege on Gaza” – but because a senior member was accused of sexual misconduct.

The scandal began shortly after the flotilla set sail from Barcelona on April 12, when the Palestinian group Heart of Falastin claimed that “a senior member of the flotilla, a member of the steering committee, the highest governing body of the organization, code named B.L. for their protection (not ours), engaged in sexual relations with multiple activists while on the boat heading toward Gaza. Not one person. Not two. Three different individuals.”

Heart of Falastin then said, “Have sex with whoever you want. But to do it on the boat, while heading to a nation undergoing genocide, with volunteers who are under your authority, in a space where activists are sleeping, eating, and working together, is a clear violation of power.”

An investigation by The Jerusalem Post revealed that the accused person was Brazilian activist Thiago Avila.
Avila, 39, gained recognition for participating in the June 2025 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, among others.

Other activists on the flotilla, such as Lisi Proenca (believed to be one of the three women), soon took to social media to defend Avila, whom they call a “good friend and comrade.”

Lefty love boat: Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla

However, the scandal did not die down in the way the Sumud Flotilla may have hoped, as the New York Post ran a piece on April 18 titled “Lefty love boat: Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla rocked by sexual misconduct allegations.”

This prompted the Global Sumud Flotilla to release a statement denying any misconduct by Avila. “GSF’s independent Ethics committee has investigated concerns raised regarding rumors alleging sexual misconduct by a Steering Committee member,” it posted on Instagram.

“On April 12, the SC member implicated by these rumors requested a formal investigation by the EC. Given the seriousness of the allegations, their impact on the mission, and the fact that the mission is actively underway at sea, the process was expedited.”

“The EC conducted interviews with the three women believed to be referenced in the post, as well as other relevant individuals. All three women denied that any sexual misconduct occurred. The EC considers this case closed.”

Some have noted that the existence of a designated ethics committee for the flotilla may suggest prior misconduct. The GSF statement also said, “the structural separation between the SC members and the EC exists precisely to ensure that accountability is never self-administered.”

Avila himself has not directly commented but has reposted the statement and a video of support from Proenca with the words “Thank you.” He also reposted a statement by Turkish GSF member Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu, in which she said the NY Post “can continue with their lies,” accusing it of having an “agenda.”

'Inspired' by Hezbollah and Nasrallah

This is not the first time Avila has come under fire. During the June 2025 flotilla, it came to light that he attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and also posted a photograph with plane hijacker Leila Khaled.

In a social media statement, he said he was “inspired” by Nasrallah and claimed he had met him when Avila was 19 years old. “Not many people can say that they defeated the greatest evil forces of their generation not only once, but many times, like Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Avila said.

Avila was also part of the 500-activist Global Sumud Flotilla in September 2025.

That flotilla gained media attention after climate activist Greta Thunberg was removed from the Global Sumud Flotilla’s Steering Committee.

The Italian paper Il Manifesto, which had a correspondent aboard one of the flotilla vessels, reported that “pressure is causing rifts within the organizing committee,” allegedly due to disagreements about external communication that focused too much on the flotilla’s internal affairs and not enough on the situation in Gaza.

The current flotilla has already been criticized for other reasons, one of which is that it held a massive kick-off festival on the day of the launch, replete with concerts, activities, stalls, and workshops.

The group Palestine Reveals said on Instagram that “mobilization should reflect the respect and seriousness this moment demands, instead we are seeing concerts, a large stage, music, and celebratory atmospheres.”

“Turning a political action into something that resembles a festival-like event risks creating a disconnect between lived reality on the ground and the way solidarity is expressed.”

The flotilla aims to raise $1 million to help Gazans, but commenters on Palestine Reveals’ post raised concerns about where this money will go.

Mar Redondo i Justel commented that she was part of the Catalan GSF delegation “that helped make this event possible,” and that she felt “compelled to say that we were never aligned with this strategy.”

“Nobody needed this infrastructure. Nobody asked for a large festival format – let alone the Liberation Lab held in the days prior, which consumed thousands of euros in donations for an influencer gathering whose impact is nearly impossible to evaluate,” she commented.

Redondo i Justel said that the Catalan delegation fought hard for weeks to organize morning conversations on collective action on Saturday and a political act on Sunday, which included a brief musical moment.

“What was imposed instead came from a small group of people deeply disconnected from how social movements actually work in Barcelona, driven by individual desire for recognition through a music festival.”

It is worth noting that none of the 40 vessels participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla in September, which Israel intercepted on Yom Kippur, was carrying any humanitarian aid.

Israeli Police spokesperson Dean Elsdunne went aboard at the time to show the empty interior of one of the flotilla’s largest vessels.

“It was never about bringing aid to Gaza. It was about the headlines and social media followings,” Elsdunne said in the video at the time.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-893508

https://nypost.com/2026/04/18/world-news/greta-thunbergs-freedom-flotilla-rocked-by-sexual-misconduct-allegations/

Lefty love boat: Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla rocked by sexual misconduct allegations

They’re going to need a bigger boat!

Greta Thunberg’s freedom flotilla, which set sail from Barcelona Sunday for another anti-Israel voyage to Gaza, has been rocked by scandal after one of its woke leaders was accused of “sexual misconduct” with at least three volunteers.

“A senior leader within the flotilla — a member of the steering committee, the highest governing body of the organization — engaged in sexual relations with multiple activists while on the boat heading to Gaza. Not one person. Not two. Three different individuals,” claimed Palestinian group Heart of Falastin in a social media post earlier this week.

“To do it on the boat, while heading to a nation undergoing genocide, with volunteers who are under your authority . . . is a clear violation of ethics and power.”

One Brazilian group named the alleged horndog as activist Thiago Avila, in an X post unearthed by media watchdog Honest Reporting and shared with The Post.

“On a ship carrying humanitarian aid, a Brazilian shows up with his d–k swinging and the only thing he manages to do is f–k and get arrested,” Anti Esquerda Esquerda Club, a group that describes itself as criticizing the left from the left, wrote on X Tuesday, pointing the finger at Avila — and referring to the Israeli Navy intercepting the flotilla and taking activists into custody.

Avila, 39, sailed to Gaza in June aboard the 12-person Madleen, where he was pictured in many chummy poses with fellow activist Thunberg — arms around each other’s shoulders and looking gleefully at one another — before they were eventually detained by Israeli forces and deported.

He joined the larger 500-activist Global Sumud Flotilla convoy in September, during which infighting among senior leadership led Thunberg to step down from the steering committee and off the main boat. The activist was then seen dragging her suitcase along a Tunisian dock to transfer to a different ship.

That tumultuous trip also saw her vessel’s radio hacked to pump songs from the Swedish pop group ABBA on full blast in a clear troll at Thunberg.

At the time, Thunberg’s decision to step down stemmed from frustration that leadership was spending too much time bickering about “internal affairs” and was not focusing enough on Gaza, according to Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, which had a correspondent on board.

Thunberg did not respond to questions from The Post about the alleged sexual misconduct, and whether it played a role in her own departure.

Avila, who left his wife and two-year-old daughter at home in Brazil to embark on what is now his fourth sailing trip since June — having gone twice to Gaza and once to Cuba — denied the accusations.

“These allegations are obviously not true,” he told The Post on WhatsApp Thursday while sailing off the coast of Spain.

“The ethics committee talked to all three people mentioned and they confirmed that this is just a smear campaign, that we are comrades and nothing ever happened,” he added, before embarking on a bizarre rant about the Epstein files.

One of the three women, also taking part in the current flotilla, took to Instagram to address the allegations in a video filmed on the Mediterranean Sea.

“That’s a lie,” said Brazilian activist Lisi Proenca, before chalking the whole thing up to cultural differences.

“For some people inside the organization, it is really weird how we Brazilians hug a lot. We are very touchy. We sleep close together and we share rooms.”

“Me and Thiago have been comrades and friends for almost a decade…Here in the flotilla it’s natural for us to share rooms, to be always together.”

The allegations have added fuel to critics’ fire that the flotilla is nothing more than performative activism, with socialists in it for a good time.

“At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are being starved . . . we would expect mobilization to reflect the respect and seriousness this moment deserves,” slammed the group Palestinian Reveals.

“Instead, we are seeing concerts, a large stage, music and celebratory atmosphere,” it added, referring to the flotilla kickoff party last weekend in Barcelona.

The flotilla aims to raise $3.5 million for the current trip, but its donor list is not public, and critics have said little to none of the money actually makes it to Gaza.

“As one resident living in the tents in Gaza said: ‘It would have been better to donate money to Gaza instead of throwing it into the sea without benefit,'” wrote Palestinian journalist Mohammed AbuSalama.

A spokesperson for the flotilla said an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Avila, which first came to light in November, found no evidence of wrongdoing.

“In the absence of any complainant, witnesses or evidence, there was no basis for the matter to proceed,” the Global Sumud Flotilla press team told The Post.

But the organization hinted this wasn’t the only misconduct allegation it dealt with, even revealing it hired an “ethics committee” made up of trained legal professionals after the 2025 trips to keep everyone in check.

“The ethics committee has conducted investigations of this nature unrelated to the current allegations, and disciplinary action has been taken where evidence has warranted it,” it added.

Avila meanwhile didn’t do much to dispel the image about the flotilla’s party-loving socialists in his Instagram stories this week.

“We’re here with 38 boats. Look over there!” he gloated to his 1.3 million followers on video, laughing. “Yesterday we saw dolphins, now there’s a whale right here, look! That’s beautiful,” he exclaimed, before sharing a snap of the sunset along with Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.