The Med has had enough of Israel and its shit

_{TetleysTLDR: The summary}

The Mediterranean is turning against Israel. Turkey has cut trade and shut its airspace to Israeli military-linked flights, blocking crucial supply lines. Dockworkers in Genoa, Italy, long known for militant solidarity, have already forced Saudi and Israeli arms ships to turn back, and now threaten to 'block Europe' if the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza is attacked. In Greece, dockers at Piraeus refused to unload steel bound for Israel, declaring they will not handle “murderous cargo". These aren’t symbolic gestures, they directly choke Israel’s war supply chains.

At the political level, recognition of Palestine is spreading. Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and Norway already moved in 2024, and this September France, Malta, and the UK are set to follow, with Canada outside Europe doing the same.  Even cautious centrists like Macron and Starmer are bowing to pressure.

Egypt remains complicit, keeping its ports open to Israeli trade and suppressing activists, though it occasionally withholds cooperation to save face, but even Egypt can't ignore the rising anger in its borders.  Still, the trend is clear: Israel is losing its grip on the Med.

For decades it used the sea as its moat. Now dockers, unions, and governments are saying: no more genocide on our watch. The Med has had enough of Israel and its shit.

_{TetleysTLDR: The article}

For decades Israel has treated the Mediterranean as its private thoroughfare, a sea it can use to funnel weapons and strangle Gaza with impunity.  The great irony of 2025 is that the very peoples whose ports, ships, and airspace Israel has relied on are finally telling it to fuck off.   One by one, the states and dockers of the Med are drawing a line: enough is enough.

This isn’t the whisper of boycott activists leafleting outside Tesco. It’s nation-states cutting trade, unions shutting ports, dockers refusing to touch Israeli cargo, and governments preparing to give formal recognition to Palestine. The Mediterranean basin, ancient crossroads of empire, traffic, trade and resistance, is becoming the flashpoint for Israel’s downfall.

_{Turkey Slams the Door}

The loudest crack came from Ankara. Turkey’s government, hardly known for principled politics, has in recent weeks gone further than anyone expected. Ports are now closed to Israeli vessels; Turkish ships are banned from Israeli harbours. That alone represents billions in lost trade. More importantly, Turkish airspace has been shut to Israeli state and military-linked flights, especially those ferrying weapons into Tel Aviv.

This isn’t just diplomatic fluff.  It is a material blockade.  Israeli officials are squealing, because for years Turkey was their backdoor to European and Asian markets.  Erdogan, far from a saint himself, has calculated that public fury over Gaza is too strong to ignore.  For once, the calculation has come down on the side of solidarity.  It has real bite: ships are diverted, military supply chains snarled, and Israel’s comfort zone shrinking. ^[1]

_{The Flotilla Returns}

Meanwhile the Global Sumud Flotilla, a sprawling civilian armada, has reignited memories of the 2010 Mavi Marmara.  More than 40 countries, activists like Greta Thunberg and Susan Sarandon, and dockers’ unions have backed it.  They want to smash Israel’s illegal blockade and deliver aid directly to Gaza. The flotilla’s launch from Barcelona at the end of August was delayed by storms, forcing vessels back to port, but the determination is undimmed.  Additional departures are staged from Tunisia, Sicily, and significantly, Genoa.  If Israel attacks, it won’t be a hidden act of piracy: it will be live-streamed, and the political fallout will ripple across every Mediterranean shore. ^[2]

_{Genoa Dockers Threaten to Block Europe}

Which brings us to Genoa.  The Italian port has long been a flashpoint of militant dockworker resistance.  The CALP collective and the union USB have a history of blocking Saudi and Israeli weapons shipments.  Just this summer, they forced the Bahri Yanbu and a COSCO freighter carrying war matériel to retreat with their cargo untouched.  Now they’ve escalated further.  Genoa’s dockers have warned in no uncertain terms: if the flotilla is touched, they will shut down Europe. That’s not just rhetoric. These are workers who’ve already proven they can turn back ships. Their solidarity networks stretch to Marseille, Piraeus, and beyond. When they say 'we will block Europe' it means ports from the Tyrrhenian to the Aegean could grind to a halt in days.  The power here is profound. Governments procrastinate and make empty gestures, but dockers hold the levers. They know that every container crane, every ship’s manifest, is a choke point for capitalism. And they are using that leverage not for a pay rise, but for Gaza. ^[3][4]

_{Greece Joins the Revolt}

If Genoa is the heart, Piraeus is the lungs.  Greece’s biggest port has become another front line.  Dockers there, organised through ENEDEP and allied unions, have refused outright to unload military steel bound for Israel. Their slogan: “Not a single inch of murderous cargo”.  In July, they mounted mass blockades, hundreds strong, to stop containers being shifted from the Ever Golden onto a COSCO vessel destined for Haifa.  The ship eventually sailed away, cargo still on board.  Five unions issued a joint pledge: they will have no part in transporting war matériel to fuel genocide.  This is not symbolic. It is the cutting of Israel’s supply arteries.  When dockers in Greece, Italy, and France are united, Israeli-bound cargo simply can’t move freely. For an economy hooked on global shipping, that is a stranglehold. ^[5][6][7]

_{France, Spain, Malta, Ireland: Recognition Wave}

The political tide is also shifting on land.  By September’s UN General Assembly, France, the UK, and Malta will join Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, Norway, and others in formally recognising the State of Palestine.  Canada, outside Europe but diplomatically significant, will do the same.  This recognition wave is not all of Europe, but it is enough to isolate Israel within the EU.   Even more damning, it’s happening under centrist and centre-right governments. Macron, Starmer, and the Maltese Labour Party are not radicals.  They are cautious technocrats.  For them to move means that public anger has reached a level impossible to ignore.  Starmer’s pledge is conditional, of course, he insists Israel stop annexation and agree to a ceasefire. But the fact remains: recognition is coming, and with it the legitimacy of Palestinian statehood, long denied by Western capitals, will be harder than ever to roll back. ^[8][9][10]

_{Egypt: the weak link}

Cairo still plays its grubby double game: ports open to Israel, Rafah opened and shut to suit the regime. Activists trying to march to Gaza are detained and deported. The generals fear solidarity spilling into Tahrir Square.Yet even Egypt cannot escape the tide. Occasionally it withholds cooperation, if only to save face. It manoeuvres, but the pressure is mounting. ^[11][12]

_{The Mediterranean Front}

Taken together, the map looks like this:

• Turkey: Trade cut, military flights banned.
• Italy (Genoa): Dockers threatening to shut Europe if flotilla attacked.
• Greece (Piraeus): Dockers refusing Israeli-bound steel.
• Spain & France: Recognition of Palestine imminent.
• Malta & Ireland: Already or soon recognising Palestine.
• Egypt: Complicit, but straining under popular anger.

This is not charity, not symbolism. It’s supply lines being choked, recognition spreading, and apartheid’s armour cracking. ^[13][14]

_{Why Dockers Matter}

The dockworker actions matter for more than symbolism.  Modern militaries cannot function without shipping.  Weapons, steel, and ammunition do not teleport.  They move in containers, on freighters, through ports.  When dockers say “we will not load war cargo” they are not just making a statement.  They are stopping the war machine in its tracks.  This is precisely why Genoa’s and Piraeus’s refusals terrify Israel.  If it becomes normal across the Mediterranean, Israeli supply lines will be throttled.  And once dockers demonstrate their power, who’s to say oil, tech, or consumer goods won’t be next?

_{The European Hypocrisy Cracks}

For years the EU has mouthed concern while supplying Israel with weapons and buying spyware from its firms. The hypocrisy has been grotesque.  Now, under pressure from workers, the cracks are visible.  Recognition of Palestine is not the end goal, but it is a crack in the edifice.  Once recognition spreads, sanctions and arms embargoes follow.

_{Israel’s Strategic Nightmare}

Israel faces its worst strategic nightmare: a hostile Mediterranean. Its lifeline to Europe is fraying.  Its blockade of Gaza, once uncontested, is now challenged by flotillas backed by governments, unions, and celebrities.  Its ability to ship goods through Turkey is gone.  Its access to European ports is narrowing.  Recognition of Palestine is accelerating.  The siege it has imposed on Gaza is being turned back on itself.  The fortress is becoming the prisoner.

_{Conclusion: Time to Call Israel What It Is}

Israel has long acted with impunity, treating the Mediterranean as its moat and the world as its armoury, but the tide is turning.  Dockers from Genoa to Piraeus are saying: we will not handle your weapons of genocide. Turkey is saying: you will not use our skies to ferry bombs. Governments from Dublin to Paris are saying: we will recognise Palestine.Egypt still dithers, but even it cannot ignore the rage brewing. The flotilla will sail again, and if Israel dares attack, the ports of Europe may slam shut.  The Mediterranean has had enough of Israel and its shit.  What we are seeing is not charity, not pity, but the stirrings of a blockade from below, workers, unions, and ordinary people saying: no more genocide on our watch.  Israel, the apartheid state, has for too long relied on the world’s indifference. The Med is telling it: those days are over.

_Footnotes

1. Reuters – Turkey says it bars Israeli ships from its ports, restricting airspace (29 Aug 2025)
2. Al Jazeera – Gaza humanitarian flotilla departs Barcelona to break Israeli siege (31 Aug 2025) | AP News – Storm forces flotilla back to Barcelona port (31 Aug 2025)
3. Palestine Chronicle – The challenge of Genoa’s dockworkers: If they touch the flotilla, we will block Europe (28 Aug 2025)
4. WSWS – Italian dockworkers block Saudi arms ship (9 Aug 2025)
5. Middle East Eye – Greek dock workers will refuse to unload ship carrying military-grade steel to Israel (8 Jul 2025)
6. Unicorn Riot – Greek dockworkers and solidarity activists block military cargo bound for Israel (21 Jul 2025)
7. MENA Solidarity Network – Greek dockworkers stand with Palestine: no participation in war crimes (10 Jul 2025)
8. AP News – Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state in September angers Israel and the US (24 Jul 2025)
9. The Guardian – UK still intends to recognise a Palestinian state, says David Lammy (31 Aug 2025)
10. Wikipedia – European Union reactions to the Gaza war (2024–25 updates)
11. AP News – Egypt blocks activists aiming to march to Gaza to draw attention to humanitarian crisis (1 Jun 2025)
12. Reuters – Egypt denies assisting Israel’s military operations amid reports about explosives (31 Oct 2024)
13. Palestine Chronicle – The challenge of Genoa’s dockworkers (op. cit.)
14. Middle East Eye – Greek dock workers will refuse to unload ship carrying military-grade steel to Israel (op. cit.)

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