Opinion: Gaza Solidarity or Just Plain Stupidity?

Opinion: Gaza Solidarity or Just Plain Stupidity?


4 Oct 2025 • 12:30 PM MYT


Fa Abdul
FA ABDUL is a former columnist of Malaysiakini & Free Malaysia Today (FMT)

Image credit: Astro Awani


Recently, a group of Malaysians under the banner of Sumud Nusantara decided it was a good idea to hop on a flotilla headed straight for Gaza - one of the most militarised blockades in the world, guarded by Israel, a state that has shown time and again it has no patience for “symbolic missions.”


Now let’s be clear: these are not trained commandos or hardened journalists. These are ordinary Malaysians - activists, artists, NGO reps, even celebrities - people with huge hearts, but hardly the kind of folks you send to stare down a navy. And yet, off they went, recording pre-prepared “in case we get detained” videos as though this was a TikTok challenge instead of a war zone.


And now? They get caught, they get detained, and suddenly Putrajaya has to scramble for diplomatic solutions. As if our government doesn’t already have a full plate, now we’re expected to negotiate with Israel because some Malaysians thought it would be cute to play frontline hero.


Here’s the part that really gets me: What did they actually hope to achieve in Gaza? Aid delivery? Please. No ragtag flotilla is about to out-logistics the UN or Red Cross, both of which are already struggling. Raising awareness? Sorry, but Gaza doesn’t need more “awareness.” It’s livestreamed to our phones 24/7 - the whole world is already watching.


Then along comes the MADANI Government spokesperson, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, saying this was a “peaceful initiative” to deliver a message of solidarity. Really? Like, seriously?


If the plan was just to send a message, I’ve got bad news: we invented email, social media, and global campaigns for exactly that. Solidarity today doesn’t require a boat and a detention cell - it requires strategy, diplomacy, and actual aid routes. What did we think a shaky hostage-style video was going to achieve? “Hi Gaza, we came, we filmed, we got detained - love from Malaysia”?


But wait, it gets better. Fahmi also mentioned that the aim wasn’t just “solidarity” - it was to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Really? Break a blockade guarded by a navy, in the middle of a war zone, with a flotilla of volunteers and influencers? That’s not strategy - that’s a hashtag with suicidal logistics. The Mavi Marmara incident back in 2010 already proved exactly how these things end: naval commandos storm your ship, people get hurt, and governments spend months cleaning up the mess.


So, if your plan for opening a humanitarian corridor is “bring a boat and hope the navy’s in a mood to be sympathetic,” maybe it’s time for a new career in fantasy filmmaking - because please lah, we all knew it ain't gonna happen. These stunts don’t “deliver messages,” they just deliver more paperwork to Putrajaya and another headline our diplomats now have to fix.


Did we really need Malaysians turning themselves into accidental war-tourism vloggers to prove a point? The answer is a big fat NO. This isn’t Eat, Pray, Love - it’s Record, Upload, Get Detained.


At best, this was a stunt. At worst, it’s reckless self-promotion wrapped in the language of humanitarianism. Yes, the cause is noble. Yes, standing with Palestinians matters. But solidarity doesn’t mean shipping untrained civilians into danger so they can later beg the government to save them.


If we truly want to help, there are smarter ways: lobbying international bodies, rebuilding efforts when the guns fall silent. Symbolism is powerful, but not when it costs us resources, credibility, and time that could’ve been spent on actual impact.


Let’s call it what it is: sending a bunch of Malaysians into a war zone, knowing they’d be detained, was not heroic. It was stupid.