Israeli forces intercepted another flotilla attempting to break the country's naval blockade and reach Gaza, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, calling the effort a "futile attempt" that "ended in nothing." The ministry also said that the vessels and passengers were transferred to an Israeli port and were safe and in good health. Passengers are expected to be deported promptly, according to the ministry.

The nine-boat fleet was carrying 145 activists participating in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition & Thousand Madleens to Gaza, The Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Flotilla organizers said in a statement that the fleet was carrying more than $110,000 worth of aid, including medicine, respiratory equipment and nutritional supplies meant for Gaza's hospitals.

ISRAEL CLAIMS NO AID WAS FOUND ABOARD GAZA-BOUND FLOTILLA

David Heap, Canadian Boat to Gaza and Freedom Flotilla Coalition Steering Committee, asserted that "Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard these ships."

"Our volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade. Their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately," Heap added.

ISRAEL CLAIMS GRETA THUNBERG'S FLOTILLA SEEKING TO BREAK GAZA BLOCKADE HAS HAMAS TIES, CITES DOCUMENTS

This seizure comes just days after Israeli forces intercepted another aid flotilla and arrested the activists on board, including Greta Thunberg, an outspoken critic of Israel. Thunberg was also arrested while participating in a flotilla in June.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted on Oct. 2, became the subject of controversy when Israel said the fleet did not have any aid. Flotilla organizers insist that the claim was "not just verifiably false; it is obscene," saying that the boats were "meticulously documented, loaded with medical supplies, food and other life-saving foods for people in Gaza."

Thunberg was also aboard another Gaza-bound flotilla that was intercepted in June. The climate activist said she had been "kidnapped" by Israel, a comment that drew scrutiny from those who pointed out the plight of the hostages who have been held in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023. 

The activist was later deported from Israel and allegedly told attorneys she could do "more good outside of Israel," and that refusing to leave would "harm our cause," The Times of Israel reported, citing a spokesperson for Adalah, a legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel. Adalah now represents GSF, a more recent attempt to reach Gaza.

In June, when asked about Thunberg’s claim that she had been "kidnapped" by Israel, President Donald Trump said, "I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg." The president called the climate activist a "strange person" and told reporters that she needed "anger management" courses.

In a catastrophic miscalculation that exposes his continued attachment to failure, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 255 on Oct. 1. It was a bipartisan measure designed to expand access to recovery housing for homeless individuals struggling with substance use disorders.

His veto comes at a time when California’s homeless can least afford more failure.

AB 255, authored by Assembly member Matt Haney, would have allowed up to 10% of state homelessness funds to support abstinence-based recovery housing. These programs integrate shelter with sobriety requirements, accountability and supportive services that help people reclaim stability. Newsom dismissed the bill as "unnecessary," insisting that current guidelines already permit sober housing and warning against "duplicative" categories.

His reasoning rings hollow.

WHY PROGRESSIVES FAIL HOMELESS AMERICANS AND ATTACK EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVES

California mimicked the federal government’s 2013 "Housing First" mandate – and its promise to end homelessness in a decade.

In 2016, California became the only state to enshrine Housing First statewide, meaning that all state-funded homeless programs conform to the approach of providing life-long housing subsidies without conditions such as sobriety, treatment or work—ever.

Despite a 300% increase in federal spending since 2013 – and an additional 300% increase in state spending – homelessness has exploded. It’s up 35% nationally and 40% in California.

These statistics aren’t abstract figures; they are lives unraveling under a governor who refuses to look in the mirror and admit that California’s rigid mandate has failed.

LEFTIST LAWMAKERS WANT TO MAKE HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS A NATIONWIDE CRISIS

At the heart of the failure is a refusal to recognize who we are serving. Roughly 80% of the homeless suffer from the diseases of mental illness and/or addiction. Many also struggle with anosognosia – a brain-based condition that results in a deficit of self-awareness, meaning they don’t realize how sick they are.

And that’s what makes Housing First’s requirement of voluntary service engagement tragically unworkable. A 14-year Boston study makes this clear: Nearly half of the housed individuals died within five years, and only 36% remained housed after year five.

Recovery housing – the kind AB 255 sought to expand – offers something fundamentally different: community, accountability and hope.

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Those trying to get sober stand the best chance of doing so when housed alongside others striving for the same goal. Isolation in permanent housing without sobriety requirements flies in the face of what frontline providers know works. By surrounding people with peers who are also pursuing recovery, and by building environments where sobriety is non-negotiable, recovery housing gives people a real path forward – toward stability, employment and independence.

None of the men, women or children living in tents or under bridges aspired to this life. Many arrived here through trauma, addiction, mental illness and/or generational poverty.

By vetoing AB 255 for the second year in a row, Newsom chose ideology over compassion, oppression over prosperity. Instead of offering pathways to dignity and restoration, he consigns those too sick to choose for themselves to their fate; they’re left to continue to come apart on the streets or languish in low-barrier, chaos-ridden shelters while they wait for permanent housing that rarely comes.

California is home to approximately 30% of the nation’s homeless population and nearly half of its unsheltered homelessness. Meeting this crisis requires courage to innovate, belief in recovery and respect for human potential. AB 255 was a balanced, modest step that could have complemented Housing First while giving desperate people the chance to heal.

Disguised as administrative prudence, Newsom’s veto of AB 255 was, in reality, a profound moral failure. Shame on him for standing in the way of recovery, restoration and hope.

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