A Gaza flotilla participant and well-known New York City anti-Israel activist said on Sunday that the primary objective of the blockade run on Gaza last week was not to deliver humanitarian aid, but to confront the Israel Defense Force (IDF) and draw attention to the Palestinian cause.
In a Palestinian Youth Movement NYC Instagram video, Adalah co-vessel organizer Rosa Martinez said that the goals of the April and May flotillas had been misrepresented in the media as "some sort of humanitarian aid mission."
"I think that's kind of flattening what it is that we're doing. Yes, there is aid. The aid that we have isn't sufficient to the structural issues in a post 'ceasefire' Gaza," said Martinez, who is also known by the forename Rudy, said upon his return to the United States. "For me, as someone who, I think at this juncture in history, is very wedded to direct action, I feel like directly confronting the Israeli occupation forces [IDF] at sea as we try to break this 20-year genocidal siege... is a historic responsibility."
Martinez continued that for him the priorities of the activist mission were "engaging with the IOF directly, putting the spotlight back on Gaza, 'cause it has fallen off the headlines."
The activist also argued that the effort opened his movement to expanded tactics.
Martinez, who was arrested on May 18 when his vessel was interdicted by Israeli naval forces along with 54 other Global Sumud Flotilla ships, said that his four-day detainment was a "waking nightmare," but argued that it was a fraction of what Palestinians endured.
Flotilla activist faces criminal charges for protest activity
The activist is no stranger to arrest for his activism, having participated in the City University of New York protest encampments, which the New York Post reported in 2024 caused $3 million dollars of damage.
Martinez is one of the so-called CUNY 8, who faced a series of charges including burglary in the third degree, criminal trespass in the third degree, criminal mischief in the fourth degree, and possession of burglar's tools.
"The Palestinian resistance wanted to put more pressure on the Zionist entity and its American ally. Every public and private college in the US has money in Israel," Martinez said in an interview last February with Al Fida'i. "I have zero regrets. I would do everything the same, with the same people."
Gaza activist calls October 7 'one of the greatest days of my life'
Martinez is also well known for his confrontation with pro-Israel influencer Rachel Herman in December 2023, in which he described the October 7 Massacre as "one of the greatest days of my life."
"One of the greatest days in the history of decolonization," Martinez said while wearing a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine pin.