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Greta Thunberg and fellow activists faced an unusual ordeal when their flotilla, journeying from Greece to deliver aid to Gaza, was subjected to continuous ABBA music broadcasted from their compromised radio.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) denounced the “psychological” tactics used against them, as their communications were “jammed” during their nighttime voyage on Thursday.
The group also said it spotted “at least 13 explosions” around the flotilla of 10 vessels, which set sail from Spain on Sept. 1.
Activist Yasemin Acar shared footage of the incident, which revealed that the radio signals on the ships were hacked to play ABBA songs—an intentional mockery directed at Thunberg, who shares her Swedish roots with the iconic band.
“We are witnessing these psychological operations first-hand, right now, but we will not be intimidated,” the GSF said in a statement.
Thunberg slammed the alleged drone strikes as a “scare tactic” aimed at intimidating the activists, who are aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza using civilian boats operated by citizens from 44 nations.
“The most important thing isn’t that we were hit by drones,” Thunberg said. “Drones are something that Palestinians experience 24-7.”
Acar likened the assault to “a battlefield,” adding that the ships could not even reach out to the Coast Guard because of the jamming.
“It was horrific that this can happen in international waters, close to Greece. I mean, in Europe,” she told NBC News.
“There were bombs after bombs … and no one came to help,” she added.
Greece’s Coast Guard confirmed that it did not receive any reports of distress calls from the flotilla.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the assault on the GSF, with Italian and Spanish navy ships deployed to offer assistance to the GSF.
Italy’s Foreign Ministry added that its computer systems were hit by a “mail bombing” campaign during the attack on the flotilla aimed at overwhelming its systems with thousands of fake emails.
The ministry noted that there were 58 of their nationals taking part in the flotilla, including some lawmakers.
The GSF has claimed throughout the month that its boats have been targeted to hinder its mission to deliver aid to Gaza, including two separate attacks off the coast of Tunisia. Tunisian officials at the time said the attacks had “no basis in truth.”
Israel’s foreign ministry has accused the flotilla of being “organized by Hamas” and serving the terrorist group’s goals, allegations that the activists vehemently denied.
With Post wires