Watch: Zarah Sultana asked about her new party’s name and values
Zarah Sultana has said her new left-wing political party founded with Jeremy Corbyn is aiming at “running” the government despite high-profile splits emerging in the movement.
The Coventry South MP left the Labour Party in July to form a new group, operating under the temporary name Your Party, which she said was a “40-year project” and not a protest.
Her comments follow a difficult start for the party – which has attracted hundreds of thousands of sign-ups – but has been dominated by rows over leadership, finances and even its name.
Speaking to BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, the MP said she wanted to “change people’s lives for the better”, which requires “winning state power”.
The new movement will be “socialist, democratic and member-led”, Sultana told the BBC.
And if elected, it would focus on “nationalising, building council homes, providing people with good secure jobs”.
She added: “I’m in politics because of a desire to change people’s lives for the better, and that means winning state power, that means actually running government.
“We’re building a party of the left that can win power and deliver justice.”
She added: “This is a 10, 20, 30-year project.”
In the four months since the fledgling party was announced it has been beset by disagreements and threats of legal challenges between the founding members.
Sultana’s interview came after three officials quit the board of MoU Operations Ltd (MoU) – set up to overseeing Your Party’s finances and membership – saying they were leaving her as the sole director.
The resignations follow reports the party is still trying to recover around £800,000 in donations and data held by MoU.
The problems stem from a schism in the party caused when Sultana launched a membership portal through its official email account, taking payment and data from an alleged 20,000 people.
Corbyn branded the emails “unauthorised” and urged supporters to cancel direct debits.
The membership portal was later replaced, but not before the dispute escalated into legal threats and accusations of a “sexist boys’ club”.
The pair have since reconciled.
Sultana has pushed for the party to be called The Left Party, while Corbyn hinted the name Your Party could stay.
Members will vote on the official name at a founding conference in Liverpool next month.
Sultana said she hopes to co-lead the new party with Corbyn, but will “throw her hat in the ring” if members opt for a single leader when the party constitution is agreed at conference.
During the interview, Sultana accused Reform UK leader Nigel Farage of having “all the features of a fascist politician”.
“I have legitimate concerns about what a Nigel Farage government would do to trade unionists, to working class communities, to minority communities, to LGBT people,” she said.
“When someone attacks trade union rights, when they are not supportive of minority communities, when they try to get us out of the European Convention on Human Rights so they can get away with anything, that is a descent into fascism,” she said.
A surge in support that has seen Reform UK opening up a 10-point lead in national polls reflects a wider crisis in politics, driven by voters left “angry” by years of austerity, she said.
Reform UK have been contacted for a response.
In order to “stop Reform,” Sultana said her new party will work with a resurgent Green Party.
Asked whether she would join the Greens, Sultana said she liked new leader Zack Polanski “but we are a different party”.
“There will be those alliances and those electoral pacts in the future,” she added.
Asked if her movement would split the left and take votes away form the traditional centre left voting base of Labour, Sultana said Labour “probably should have worried about that before it enabled genocide and passed through austerity”.
“The Labour party actually was quite content because it thought the left had nowhere else to go – and now the left has choices.”
You can listen to the interview with Zarah Sultana on the latest episode of Political Thinking with Nick Robinson on Saturday at 17:30 on BBC Radio 4 or on BBC Sounds.
Goals grab the headlines, so given Ethan’s position is a midfielder he is unlikely to outshine his brother in that department.
But the youngster is seen as an exciting talent in his own right.
His mentality was praised as he broke through from the PSG youth system, appearing to cope well with the weight of expectation that came with being an Mbappe.
Laurent Glaize, a former head of youth recruitment at Caen, spent three years tracking a young Kylian and became close to the Mbappe family during that time.
Speaking about Ethan in 2022, he told TNT Sports: “He is a balanced, well-educated kid who is respectful even if he is obviously in the shadow of his brother, which is not easy for him.
“But I find him calm and with a real personality. I find that he manages this pressure rather well. He does not mistake where he is in the game, even if he is already being asked for autographs more for his name, than for what he has done, because he is still very young.”
Praised for his football intelligence, calmness on the ball and passing ability, Ethan impressed the coaches at PSG and was given his league debut at just 16, coming on as a late substitute in a 3-1 win against Metz, with Kylian having scored two of the goals.
“Ethan is a very interesting player who can play in several positions,” PSG boss Luis Enrique said after that game.
“I am sure he will play again. He has a prestigious surname, which is difficult to live up to.”
In total, he made five appearances for PSG before leaving at the end of his contract last summer, although there was some controversy around his departure.
Kylian has previously implied, external that Ethan not getting a new contract at PSG was linked to his decision to leave and join Real Madrid, and was willing to instead stay at the French giants if it meant his brother got a new deal there also.
“It’s the thing that affected me the most,” Kylian said.
“He [Ethan], didn’t ask for anything. His Real Madrid was PSG. What Real meant to me, his childhood dream, was PSG.
“At one point, I even told him: ‘If you want me to, I’ll extend [my contract] and you can stay, we’ll stay here.’ I would have given up my dream of Madrid and stayed for him.
“Ethan told me… ‘I don’t want to stay here. What they did to you, what they did to me, it’s not normal.’ If he had told me, ‘Kylian, it’s what I want’, I would have given up my dream of Madrid and stayed for him.”
Another member of England’s pack, Hannah Botterman, nearly took a very different path before professional rugby arrived.
“I was a painter and decorator, proper van life,” she told the Barely Rugby podcast. “I was an apprentice for one of my mum’s friends. I was working from 7am until 4pm, then I’d do a night shift at the Harvester.
“The plan with the painting and decorating was that I would take the business on while the woman I worked for would have a baby. But then I got a contract from England and sacked it off, just as I was good enough to do it myself.”
Even the young, modern stars of women’s rugby felt the pinch of a working life when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Several players were made redundant during covid – while the RFU kept the XVs squad on furlough, those on sevens contracts were not.
Meg Jones’ speed, strength, industry and ability to be in the right place at the right time have made her arguably the best player at this World Cup.
But during Covid lockdown, she was contemplating a future working for Amazon.
“Toilet breaks are not really a thing. You’re in at 5am and then you probably leave about 4pm without having to wee,” said Jones, who by then had already been to a Rugby World Cup final. She had started the 2017 defeat by New Zealand at outside centre.
“It was scary. I’d never had another job in my life and suddenly my livelihood had gone. I just thought I was going to be an Amazon delivery driver for the rest of my life.”
On Saturday, Jones and co delivered a first World Cup title on home soil for England.
They all know just how hard they had to work for that achievement, on and off the field.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has shared new insights with TWZ into its proposal to replace the U.S. Navy’s T-45 Goshawk jet trainers. The company announced yesterday that it was putting forward its twin-engine Freedom jet, the only clean-sheet design currently known to be in the running, to meet the Navy’s future Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) needs.
Our Jamie Hunter had a chance to talk in depth about the Freedom jet with Ray “Fitz” Fitzgerald, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Technology at SNC, and Derek Hess, Vice President of Strategy at SNC, at the Tailhook Association’s main annual symposium, which kicked off yesterday.
A mock-up of the Freedom jet on display at the Tailhook Association’s main annual symposium. Jamie Hunter
As part of its rollout yesterday, SNC had already highlighted the Freedom jet’s 16,000-hour airframe life and ability to perform 35,000 touch-and-goes and/or Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) landings in that time, which we will come back to later on. The company also says Freedom has a 40-percent lower lifecycle cost than the existing T-45, as well as the ability to fly 30- to 40-percent longer sorties. In terms of performance, SNC says the jet is “representative” of 4th and 5th generation types, being able to pull down to -3 and up to +8 Gs, and reach an angle of attack up to 27 degrees.
“The advantages that we’re bringing to the table is that it’s a clean sheet design, which means that we are tailoring this exactly to the Navy’s needs. So, we talk about, train like you fight, zero compromises,” Fitzgerald said. “Every aircraft in the world has its compromises, but the Navy is special.”
“So, the three things that we’re trying to get across as a value proposition for the Navy, number one is over the entire life cycle of the of the aircraft, the entire life of the aircraft, is a significant cost savings,” he explained. “This plane was designed around two engines. These two engines have 20 million hours of flight time on them, well sustained out there in the world.”
The Freedom jet is designed around a pair of Williams FJ44-4M turbofan engines. FJ44 variants are in widespread use globally, especially on business jets, such as members of the popular Cessna Citation family. Having two engines also offers an additional margin of safety over single-engine types. The Navy’s existing T-45 jet trainer is notably a single-engine aircraft.
The “number two value proposition is that we are the only competitor right now, and this is very important, that can do field carrier landing practice, FCLP-to-touchdown,” he added. “Very important for the Navy. You have to train like you fight. And every time you land on an aircraft carrier, you’re flying it into the deck. You’re not flaring or pulling throttles back. FCLP-to-touchdown is critical.”
FCLP landings, which are part of the Navy’s current curriculum for training naval aviators, are conducted at bases on land, but are structured to mimic as closely as possible the experience of touching down on a real carrier. In March, the Navy publicly released new requirements for the UJTS effort, which axed the need for its future jet trainers to be capable of performing FCLP training. Years ago now, the service had already announced that it was eliminating the requirement for the jets to be able to actually land on or take off from carriers, as T-45s do now. If the Navy does not reverse course, these controversial changes are set to fundamentally alter how the service trains new naval aviators. They may not see a carrier until they reach the Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) in charge of the aircraft type they have been assigned to fly.
SNC’s Fitzgerald also took the time to point out here that the 16,000-hour airframe life SNC says the Freedom jet will offer is double the Navy’s current stated requirements for UJTS.
“The third point in the value [proposition] is the fact that when we designed this, and [if] we are selected by the Navy, we are handing the Navy the entire digital package for this aircraft,” he continued. “We want to have the ability to compete in the future for future changes, but the Navy will have the data. They can do upgrades, modifications, whatever. They’re going to own it [the data rights] on onset.”
Fitzgerald claimed that this is the first time in the history of U.S. defense contracting where an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has offered this level of data rights, and described it as an “absolute game-changer.”
A rendering of a pair of Freedom jets in flight. SNC
The core elements of SNC’s proposal are reflected in the basic design of the Freedom jet.
“I think it is a natural tendency to go, ‘how do you replace the T-45?’ That’s not the question we had ourselves,” Hess, the Vice President of Strategy at SNC, said. “We pride ourselves on delivering, solving tough problems for our customers, in this case, the U.S. Navy. So what we designed this aircraft around is better quality training for UJTS at a lower lifecycle cost than they’re currently paying.”
“The landing gear is a dead giveaway that this was always envisioned for the naval training mission,” he continued. For “FCLPs, using this trailing link landing gear is a huge design cycle.”
A trailing link or trailing arm landing gear is specifically designed to help smooth the impact of landing and/or operating from rougher fields.
A look at the underside of the Freedom jet mockup from the rear. Jamie HunterA close-up look at one of the main landing gear units on the Freedom jet mock-up. Jamie Hunter
One of “the other things that we did was put a cockpit in this that is a thoroughly modern cockpit that can display things like an F-35 or an F-18,” Hess continued. “And then we gave it an eight G capable platform and a 27 degree high AOA [angle of attack] maneuvering capability. And we did that because we just avoided the supersonic and transonic region.”
“If you try and do something that gets up into that transonic region, you compromise on what your wing is, and therefore you can’t get the performance,” he explained. “And so that’s why you need a giant engine that pushes you through the drag rise of what a normal, typical fighter wing is. This is a much higher aspect wing, and we get the G onset rate, the sustained turn rates, and maneuvers that you need to train young men and women to become naval fighter pilots.”
“So all of the modeling that we have done in the MBSE [model-based systems engineering] and fluid dynamics world has been borne out by our wind tunnel testing and all those kinds of things. And we’re always a degree or two conservative,” Hess also said. “For example, this is a 32-degree angle of attack capability that we tame down to 27 degrees to make sure that it has level one handling qualities. The other thing is, this aircraft, this wing, builds all the lift through conventional means. Where you have other aircraft that have large chines on them, and that is what you need when you get into the transonic region, because your wing can’t produce that lift, so you do vortex lift over those large chines, and that’s, frankly, where you end up with problems in handling qualities, is because you can’t control the shedding of the vortices and things of that nature.”
“And it becomes a watershed there, right? So when you start with the chines, that the drag coefficient on that becomes huge, which means you need a bigger motor to dig that out, which means higher fuel – you know, just boom, boom, boom. It just bespoke,” Fitzgerald also interjected. “We started with the motor, went with the wing, went with the training capability up front, and really thought this through.”
Hess and Fitzgerald were responding here to a specific question about the use of digital modeling in the Freedom’s design. While digital engineering has proven to be useful across the aerospace industry, there has been growing skepticism about the full extent of the benefits it offers in recent years. Boeing’s T-7A Redhawk jet trainer for the U.S. Air Force had been a notable poster child for digital engineering and design tools, but developmental troubles with that aircraft have added to a growing view that the technologies are not as revolutionary as many had hoped. A navalized version of the T-7 is also a contender to replace the Navy’s T-45s.
“I really think it is important to say you don’t need a fighter to learn how to fly a fighter,” Hess added. “You need something that gives you all the tools to practice everything you want to and then move the graduates who are more prepared to get into those gray jets after graduating in this airplane.”
“You can complete a lot more training in this jet at a much lower cost per hour,” Fitzgerald, the SNC Senior Vice President of Strategy and Technology, further noted. “And then as you step into the fleet, you’re not having to burn the very exquisite, expensive aircraft to do very mundane training tasks.”
It is important to reiterate here that SNC’s proposal, overall, stands in contrast with the Navy’s currently stated requirements, especially when it comes to the matter of FCLP capability. The requirements changes, which have notably come on the back of Navy investments in virtualized training and automated carrier landing capabilities like Magic Carpet, have significantly opened the field offerings based on existing land-based jet trainer designs. In addition to Boeing’s navalized T-7, Lockheed Martin and Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) have been offering the TF-50N, while Textron and Leonardo are pitching what is now branded as the Beechcraft M-346N. Both of those aircraft are based on in-production designs with significant global user bases already.
A rendering of the TF-50N. Lockheed MartinA rendering of the Beechcraft M-346N. Textron/Beechcraft
“You want … your – I call it your lizard brain – to be trained to do the things you are going to do when things go south on you, because the way a [former Air Force pilot] like me lands an airplane is 180 degrees different than a carrier guy,” Hess said in talking about why SNC has made FCLP capability a focus of its proposal. “I touch down, go to idle. He touches down, slams down, goes to MIL [maximum non-afterburner thrust], and is ready to take off again.”
“This is why FCLPs are so important,” Fitzgerlad, a former naval aviator himself, added. “On that dark, stormy night, and everything’s just going bad, you rely on muscle memory, right? So when you think about muscle memory, as a carrier aviator, you’re on speed, so you’re on the right AOA, so the hook and the gear are the right AOA to trap, and everything hits at the same time. If I’m at a slow AOA, it means my nose is up, which means the hook grabs first and slams you down. You can break a jet like that. If I’m at a fast AOA, the nose is lower, hook is up, you skip across, and you go flying again, which is not good either.”
“So every single time we’re doing an FCLP, as soon as you fly into the deck, you crash into that deck, he [the Air Force pilot] goes idle, and [says] ‘I want a nice flare, soft thing.’ We [naval aviators] fly it into the deck, and as soon as we touch it, it’s full power, 180 out,” he continued. “So that muscle memory, I mean, it’s what will save lives.”
SNC’s Hess also argued that if the Navy’s future jet trainers do not allow for FCLP landings, it will put additional more onus on FRSs and operational units to do that training. That, in turn, could take time away from other priorities and increase wear and tear on the Navy’s fighter fleets.
In addition, while SNC is a firmly established name when it comes to the special mission aircraft conversion and modification business, especially for U.S. government customers, Freedom is its only foray to date into actually building an aircraft from scratch. The jet first emerged from a partnership with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI, and also abbreviated TUSAS in Turkish), but SNC has been working on it independently for some years now.
A Freedom jet mock-up built for SNC by a company called ADM Works, which was first shown publicly in 2017. ADM Works
“The Navy hasn’t really put out hard requirements yet. We’re expecting a draft RFP [request for proposals] soon, this fall, with a hard RFP by winter. That’s the latest we’ve heard from the Navy,” Fitzgerald said. “I think they’re still trying to figure out what their hard requirements are, which is why we’re here, trying to say, ‘Hey, make sure the aperture is open enough so that we can compete,’ because that’s what we want to do. That’s all we’re asking for is a shot at the table.”
Altogether, the Navy’s forthcoming UJTS competition is shaping up to be hotly contested, as well as an important watershed moment for how the service trains new naval aviators going forward.
It has been a scarcely believable dozen years since Hull burst on to the professional scene in 2013 with five sucessive runners-up finishes on the Ladies European Tour (LET).
She has gone on to record a combined six victories on the LPGA Tour and LET and become a key member of the past six European Solheim Cup teams, but three runner-up finishes remain the best Hull has achieved in the sport’s biggest championships.
“Second to me is first loser,” said England’s top ranked player.
“But I’m in a great position because if you’re not asking [about my chances], I’m not doing something right.”
Hull has been a little boom or bust in the majors over recent years. In her past 24 starts, she has missed the cut on eight occassions but finished top-25 in 15, including runner-up in this championship when it was held at Surrey course Walton Heath in 2023.
Unlike the men’s Open Championship, which is always held at a coastal links course, the women’s equivalent is also played at inland courses.
And while Hull said she “prefers parkland” tracks, she has positive experiences from Porthcawl to draw upon.
“I won here when I was 14, so I have fond memories,” she said, referring to playing in the inaugural Junior Vagliano trophy in 2011 – a Solheim Cup-style amateur contest which pits Great Britain and Ireland agaist Continental Europe.
“Links is going to be a challenge and I hope the wind is up because I like finding links hard.”
Three times she has finished in the spot behind the winner in her previous 59 major appearances. There have been six other top-10s.
“I don’t really look at stuff like that,” she said.
“I have no interest. As I am in life, once I’m done I’m off to the next thing.”
And when pushed on what she needs to do to take her game to the next level, Hull simply said: “I need to not put too much pressure on my golf, not be too golf obsessed.
“Like when I was younger, I was never that obsessed.”
Perhaps a windy Porthcawl will help invoke memories of those more innocent days at blustery Turnberry.
Along with two major champions, a former world number one and several Ryder Cup heroes, a popular YouTuber will be among the players looking to secure a spot at the 153rd Open in Tuesday’s final qualifying events.
Influencer Peter Finch, who has a huge social media following, will be one of the most intriguing storylines at Dundonald Links.
The 38-year-old is one of 288 players featuring in events in Scotland, Burnham & Berrow, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire, aiming to earn one of the 20 spots still available for the final men’s major of the year at Royal Portrush from 17-20 July.
“I’m feeling a little bit nervous but also quite excited in some respects,” said Finch, who is known for his course vlogs, golfing challenges and match-ups with professionals on his social channels.
“Dundonald is a course I know well and I really love it in this part of the world. I’m playing with two European Tour pros, so you are going see something good,” he added.
Described as content creator, golfer and dream chaser on the official Open X account,, external the man from Lancashire is well aware that he is a rank outsider to advance ahead of players who have all won on the DP World Tour.
Finch has never played at that level and likely never will.
And the scale of his task is underlined by the fact that he tees off in the 36-hole event at 07:50 BST at the same time as Lee Westwood.
Now 52, Westwood deposed Tiger Woods at the top of the world rankings in 2010 and has half a dozen second- and third-placed finishes in golf’s four major championships.
The Englishman, who last played at the Open in 2022, was a shot away from a place in a play-off in 2009 and finished in a tie for fourth at Portrush in 2019.
LIV golfer, Adrian Meronk a four-time winner on the DWP Tour before his defection to the Saudi-backed series will also be a serious contender to claim one of the five places on offer at the links course in Ayrshire.
While Johannes Veerman and Angel Hidalgo, have also triumphed on main professional tour in Europe, while Welshman Jamie Donaldson appeared for the continent in the 2014 Ryder Cup.
Scotland’s Marc Warren, who has played the Open five times, most recently at Royal Liverpool in 2023 is in Finch’s group along with Jack Senior.
The most pressing need the Lakers have is finding a rim-running, shot-blocking young center to put alongside Luka Doncic for the present and future.
But the Lakers don’t have a first-round pick to use in Wednesday night’s NBA draft, and when they do make their choice in the second round at No. 55 on Thursday night in the two-day event, that’s probably not where they are going to find that sort of talent.
So, the Lakers will look for the proverbial “best player available” and look to develop him and most likely have him play for the South Bay Lakers, their G League team.
The big news for the Lakers will be the contract status of Doncic, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Dorian Finney-Smith.
The Clippers, on the other hand, have the last pick in the first round of the draft, at No. 30. They also have the 51st overall pick in the second round.
And they too will be looking for the best player available with those selections.
With the unlikelihood of the draft providing them a rotation player, the Lakers will continue to build their team in other ways, from free agency to trades.
James, 40, has a player option for next season at $52.6 million and he has to let the Lakers know of his decision by June 29. He can opt-in to his deal with an extension or opt-out and sign a new contract.
James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists and shot 51.3% from the field per game last season, and he was named to the All-NBA second team.
Doncic can sign an extension with the Lakers starting on Aug. 2. He will earn $45.9 million next season and $48.9 million for the 2026-27 season if he exercises his option.
He can sign a four-year extension for $229 million, with the $51-million first-year of that deal replacing his player option from 2026-27. Or Doncic could sign a three-year extension for $165 million, and that would include a player option for the third season.
Reaves is eligible to sign an extension off his $13.9-million salary for next season starting July 6. Reaves can sign a four-year deal for $89.2 million.
Finney-Smith has a player option that will pay him $15.3 million, and he too is looking for an extension.
Lawrence Frank, the president of basketball operations for the Clippers, talked in May about the team’s needs in the draft.
Frank said the Clippers could use some frontcourt help, a playmaker and some shooting.
Several NBA mock drafts have the Clippers taking Noah Penda at No. 30. He’s a 6-foot-8 forward from France. Penda, 20, played last season at Le Mans, where he averaged 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds.
“In the draft, typically you’re always going for the best available, especially if it’s a younger player,” Frank told the media in May after the team had been eliminated from the first round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets. “Because by the time that player hits his prime, our team will be completely different. … So, you are drafting best available, but we have certain characteristics that we really prioritize.
“Positional size is important to us. Basketball IQ and processing is important to us. The ability to pass, dribble and shoot is important to us. And then the DNA, the makeup, the toughness, the competitiveness, examples of where they are really shown resiliency, grit. So, there’s a lot of things into it, but those typically are kind of in general of how we look at it.”
Clippers veterans James Harden, Nicolas Batum and Norman Powell also have contract decisions to make.
Harden has a player option for $36.3 million and he has to inform the Clippers of his decision by June 29. The consensus around the NBA is that Harden will opt out and seek a two-year extension from the Clippers.
Harden, 35, who averaged 22.8 points, 8.7 assists and 5.8 rebounds, made the All-Star team and was All-NBA third team.
Batum, a favorite of his teammates and Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, has a player option for next season that pays him $4.9 million and he has to let the team know by June 29 of his decision.
Powell, 32, has one more year on his deal that pays him $20.4 million next season. Powell, who averaged a career-high 21.8 points per game, also is likely looking for an extension.
The 12-person crew, which includes climate activist Greta Thunberg, expects to take seven days to reach Gaza.
International nonprofit organisation Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) says one of its vessels has left Sicily to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, after a previous attempt failed due to a drone attack on a different ship in the Mediterranean.
The 12-person crew, which includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Irish actor Liam Cunningham and Franco-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, set sail on the Madleen from the port of Catania on Sunday, carrying barrels of relief supplies that the group called “limited amounts, though symbolic”.
The voyage comes after another vessel operated by the group, the Conscience, was hit by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters in early May. While FFC said Israel was to blame for the incident, it has not responded to requests for comment.
“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” Thunberg told reporters at a news conference before the departure. The Swedish climate activist had been due to board the Conscience.
She added that “no matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocised”.
The activists expect to take seven days to reach their destination, if they are not stopped.
The FCC, launched in 2010, is a non-violent international movement supporting Palestinians, combining humanitarian aid with political protest against the blockade on Gaza.
It said the trip “is not charity. This is a non-violent, direct action to challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes”.
United Nations agencies and major aid groups say Israeli restrictions, the breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it extremely difficult to deliver aid to Gaza’s roughly two million inhabitants.
The situation in Gaza is at its worst since the war between Israel and Hamas began 19 months ago, the UN said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave.
Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing extremely limited UN-led operations to resume.
On Monday, a new avenue for aid distribution was also launched: the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the United States and Israel, but with the UN and international aid groups refusing to work with it, saying it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.
The FCC is the latest among a growing number of critics to accuse Israel of genocidal acts in its war in Gaza, allegations Israel vehemently denies.
“We are breaking the siege of Gaza by sea, but that’s part of a broader strategy of mobilisations that will also attempt to break the siege by land,” said activist Thiago Avila.
Avila also mentioned the upcoming Global March to Gaza – an international initiative also open to doctors, lawyers and members of the media – which is set to leave Egypt and reach the Rafah crossing in mid-June to stage a protest there, calling on Israel to stop the Gaza offensive and reopen the border.
