What to do with the terrorist trawlers

With President Trump bringing comprehensive peace to the Middle East starting with freedom from Hamas hands of Israeli hostages, only a few minor details still need to be worked out – like what to do with all the terrorist trawlers. These are the “flotilla” boats left behind by anarchists, antisemites, and other fanatic pro-Hamas activists who have tried to bust Israel’s necessary naval blockade of Gaza.

Remember the “Mavi Marmara”? The ship was the lead boat of the 2010 Turkish attempt to (supposedly) highlight humanitarian needs in Gaza. In reality, the so-called “freedom flotilla for Gaza,” led by the terrorist-supporting Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), was nothing more than a violent attack on Israel, meant to bolster Hamas.

Since then, Israel has been assaulted by similar “flotillas” packed with many bad actors and very little humanitarian aid – in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2018, and this year too. The latest attempt to sail into Gaza in support of Hamas involved over 50 ships, all intercepted by Israel last week. The rag-tag collection of terrorist-supporting trawlers came from Algeria, Greece, Italy, Libya, Spain, and Tunisia, with participants from 16 noted “peace-loving” countries like Ireland, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, and Venezuela.

Deporting the malicious anti-Israel activists was easy, although an argument could have been made for locking them all up on criminal offenses and throwing away the key.

More difficult is the question of what to do all the “humanitarian attack boats.” Israel does not need these bothersome rink-a-dink ships crowding its ports, and there is absolutely no reason to give the boats back to their evil operators and owners.

So, after getting our hostages home, before major IDF withdrawals from Gaza, and before conjuring-up broader peace deals, it is time for a little payback against the nasty actors out there. Here are ten punishing and purposeful things Israel could usefully do with the terrorist trawlers.

1. Load the ships with humanitarian supplies (and perhaps a few weapons too) for the persecuted Armenians and downtrodden Kurds and set sail for the shores of their oppressor – Turkey. In the ports of Mersin, Marmaris, and Antalya we can unload all the wheelchairs, Band-Aids, chocolate bars, baby toys, bullets, slingshots, electric steel-cutting saws, knives, and other goods donated by peace-loving Israelis. While we’re at it, in each city Israel could set up an expansive traveling museum exhibit on the Armenian genocide and the inalienable rights of the Kurdish people to independent statehood.

2. Rename the boats for Israeli hostages held for two years in barbaric captivity by Hamas in Gaza, then load the boats with several hundred Hamas terrorists held in Israeli prisons. (Even after the coming releases, there will remain plenty more Palestinian mass murderers in Israeli prisons, including the Nazi-like Nukhba raiders of October 7.) Anchor the boats off the coasts of Qatar and Turkey under heavy guard, with no food and no visits from the Red Cross. Tell the dictators of Doha and Ankara that they can have their terrorist buddies and the boats too, if all political and financial aid to Hamas ends. Wait them out.

3. Rebrand the ships as “Karine A,” “Karine B,” and so on, then launch an Israeli flotilla for peace. Sail our armada into the ports of Doha, Imam Khomeini, Istanbul, and Jeddah broadcasting messages of reconciliation and democracy. The Israeli “Voice of Peace” radio station will broadcast from the ships into every home in the Mediterranean and Arabian seas. News broadcasts will spotlight Israel’s academic, cultural, and high-tech successes, and its global medical/humanitarian efforts; alongside reports on racism, discrimination, slavery, terrorism, and antisemitism in the Arab and Moslem worlds.

4. Christen the ships as “Donald J. Trump I,” “Donald J. Trump II,” and so on, and refit them as escape vessels that will sail refugees from Gaza to new lives elsewhere in the world – far away from the ruinous military kill zone of Gaza wrought by Hamas, a strip of land pockmarked by over 750 kilometers of attack tunnels and weapons manufacturing bunkers dug underneath almost every school, hospital, and home.

5. When done giving safe passage from Gaza to all those European countries who so love the peaceful Palestinians of Rafiah, Khan Younis, and Dir-al-Balach (– evidence repeat UN resolutions endorsed by Europeans swearing faithfulness to Palestinian freedoms), the boats can be retrofitted as tax free casinos for Trump’s grand “Riviera” plan. They can be anchored off the rebuilt golden resort city of Gaza. European lords and princesses, and Qatari emirs along with their American business partners, will enjoy preferential access and VIP gambling privileges.

6. Rename several ships as “Exodus I,” “Exodus II,” and so on, and set sail for the Iranian ports of Bandar-Abbas and Bushehr to force the release of Iran’s remaining Jews. With a sufficient media pool, a high-profile inter-faith delegation, and a smattering of Nobel laureates aboard, we should be able to embarrass the clerics of Tehran into ending their blockade against Jewish emigration. While visiting Bushehr, we could also take a tour of the nuclear reactor, to see up-close, first-hand, how Iran is producing peaceful medical isotopes there.

7. Rename the ships for 50 Israeli towns and farming communities ravaged by Hamas invasion and missiles, then sail the ships for the Arabian (formerly “Persian”) Gulf and block Kharg Island, which handles over 90% of Iran’s crude oil exports. Consider this Israel’s contribution to the “snapback” of international sanctions against Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which mandates no international oil trade with Iran. China will suffer from this the most, deservedly so.

10. Retrofit the ships as passenger ferries for Ultra-Orthodox (haredi) Israelis who prefer to emigrate rather than serve in the IDF or do national service. First to sail can be the radical former chief Sephardic rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who keeps threatening to demonstratively decamp for the Diaspora in order to avoid participation in what he callsshemad,“spiritual annihilation.” (This is how he views any sharing by haredi Jews, G-d forbid, in the Israeli national burden of military service.) I will help Yitzhak Yosef pack his bags and walk the gangway up the deck.
11. Sell the ships on the international market to cover the health expenses of wounded Israeli soldiers and of Israeli families destroyed by Hamas’ October 7 attack. Leftover funds can help rebuild southern and northern Israeli towns devastated by Hamas and Hezbollah. Alternatively, Israel could cut the boats up into pieces and sell chunks as souvenirs on E-Bay, to fund psychological rehabilitation and provide income support for the very many Israeli war widows and orphans.
12. Sink the ships just outside the territorial waters of Britain, Canada, France, Ireland, and Spain to protest their hubris, hypocrisy, and hostility to Israel. Just blow the boats up in their faces.

Published in The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom, 10.10.2025.