A Black American labor activist attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza was assaulted and taken into custody by Israeli authorities, according to the group that organized the aid mission. Christian “Chris” Smalls remains in custody, and his supporters have both accused Israeli forces of singling him out and condemned American institutions and news sources for not devoting more attention to his situation. By Thursday, he was released from custody, per The American Project.
Smalls was reportedly ‘physically assaulted’ by Israeli forces
On Saturday, Israeli forces boarded the Handala aid ship as it attempted to reach Gaza to deliver supplies on behalf of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a group that has spent the last 15 years attempting to circumvent Israeli blockades of the territory in order to deliver aid. Twenty-one people from the Handala were taken into custody, but Smalls — the only Black person on board — was singled out and treated violently, according to the coalition. In custody, “US human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said in a statement. “They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back.”
Smalls rose to prominence for his labor activism in the face of resistance from Amazon, which fired him in 2020 after he led a protest of workers complaining about inadequate safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Smalls went on to successfully organize the Amazon Labor Union and was named one of Time magazine’s Most Influential People of the Year in 2022. That same year, Smalls was invited to the White House for a roundtable discussion on labor and met with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.
Supporters say the arrest and racist mistreatment of Smalls are being ignored
Despite his prominence, Smalls’ supporters said that his plight was ignored by mainstream American media. Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American lawyer who was taken into custody from the Handala but released because she is an Israeli citizen, complained that the U.S. government, at the time of publishing, had not reached out to the Americans who were aboard the ship, even as other governments have made contact with their detained citizens, per The Guardian.
The American Project wrote on Thursday, “Neither the U.S. consulate nor the U.S. embassy officials met with Smalls, though they were notified of his release details in advance, nor did they visit him or other U.S. activists during their detention despite repeated requests, the organizations said.”
Professor Nathan Kalman-Lamb posted on Bluesky that it was “hard to believe” that the treatment of Smalls “was not a function of racism given it was not inflicted on other Handala detainees.” Even so, “the US media dgaf,” Kalman-Lamb wrote.
Author Camonghne Felix posted on X about Smalls that “because he’s Black, no Greta Thunberg, no celebrity, no darling of the liberal class, he might not make it out alive.”
Smalls and the other people taken into custody were trying to deliver food and supplies to Gaza. Residents of Gaza have been facing severe food shortages as Israel blocks aid from reaching the territory. The UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has stated that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out” and that the “latest data indicates that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.” With Gaza on the verge of mass starvation, the Israeli government has been heavily condemned for maintaining a blockade against Gaza, as it remains cut off from most aid despite the brutal conditions faced by its citizens.
