From the 10th century until the 13th century AD, almost nine waves of European armies left from their continental homeland on a conquest to try and take back the Holy Land from various Muslim rulers. Feudal lords often sent their serfs to fight on their behalf, promising them religious sanctity, wealth, and adventure. But, historically these conquests have become more known for their bloodshed. Other than the fighting between the Roman Christian armies and the Muslim armies, there was also in-fighting between the Catholic armies and the Eastern Orthodox Christians that the Europeans encountered along the way. In Jewish history, however, the Crusades have been inscribed as a genocide for the Jewish people. On their way to the Holy Land, European armies burned down Jewish villages, raped women, and destroyed entire populations. One of the well-known generals from the First Crusade said that he would not set out on the conquest until he had avenged the death of Jesus Christ, “he could not tolerate that even one man calling himself a Jew should continue to live”.

Now Europe has been known many times over to interfere where it should not interfere. Until post-World War Two, European countries colonized much of the globe, in the name of the “White Man’s Burden” and exploiting natural resources for economic gain. Even at home, there hasn’t been much peace. After the incredible philosophical innovation of the Enlightenment period, Europe was still home to the Napoleon conquests, the Franco-Prussian War, World War One, World War Two and the Holocaust, as well as much of the persecution that sent migrants to the Americas. Maybe it is the residual pride that is left over from being the “original founders” of Enlightenment ideals, or maybe it is the guilt of having been the source of so much exploitation that Europeans are now driven to “make amends”, regardless it appears some Europeans are still motivated to set out on ideological conquests for the good of moral and/or cultural imperialism.

That was reflected in the Freedom Flotilla III that set sail for Gaza a few weeks ago and whose main vessel, the Marianne, was intercepted today by the Israeli Navy about 100 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. The Freedom Flotilla III, or “Ship to Gaza” as the organization is also known, is sponsored by the following organizations amongst others: Swedish Ship to Gaza, Greek Ship to Gaza, Irish Ship to Gaza, un Bateau Francais de Gaza, Canadian boat to Gaza, Rumbo a Gaza (Spanish), European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, and IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation (Turkish). IHH is the organization responsible for the violent activists who were aboard the first Freedom Flotilla carrying knives, crowbars, and BB guns (Palmer, p. 30). Another organization that supported the Marianne was the Free Gaza Movement whose co-founder, Greta Berlin, tweeted in the past that Zionists ran the concentration camps and that the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo was an “Israeli attack”. Also on the boat is Martin Lejeune, a Berlin-based journalist who trivialized Hamas’ execution of 18 “collaborators” during the 2014 Gaza Conflict.

Colonizers? Look through the list of organizations provided above. Click on the sources and read through them yourselves. There is little representation at all of any Palestinian organizations. I am not implying that the Palestinians do not want any aid, and yes, they need it. But, this Flotilla was not something specifically called for by Palestinian civil society. So, if nobody invited them, then what do they want?

Member of Knesset Basel Ghattas, a member of the Balad Party, is also on the flotilla. He said “The civilian flotilla is peaceful, and aims to focus public attention to the plight of 1.8 million Palestinian living in prison-like conditions as a result of the blockade” and its purpose is to “try to force international pressure on Israel to change its policies”. These people may have good intentions, they may want to do what they can to fix the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, I’m not sure but I’ll assume so. However, what these Crusaders are also doing is attempting to wash clean the blood-soaked hands of Hamas. This is simply something that cannot be white-washed– Hamas’ indiscriminate firing of rockets towards Israeli cities, its executions of “collaborators”, the expulsion of other Palestinian political parties from Gaza, its weapons stashes in UN schools, and its use of donated building materials and forced labor to construct networks of tunnels leading into Israel–to ignore these is either blissful or criminal or both.

I know readers of this have heard all of these criticisms of Hamas before used as an explanation for the Gaza blockade. But, why was the Egyptian and Israeli-enforced blockade put into place in 2007? Rockets had been fired from Gaza towards Israel since 2002, but the blockade was one of international agreement after Hamas came to power and refused to recognize Israel.

Besides, how much humanitarian aid can be on the Marianne? Certainly not enough to end the crisis in Gaza. But, do you want to hear something crazy? $5.4 billion was raised from other nations to rebuild Gaza following last summer’s war. This amount exceeded the $4 billion that PA President Mahmoud Abbas had predicted would be necessary to rebuild Gaza. But as of February, only 5% (!!!!!) of the pledged money had been received. A UN spokesperson could not find an explanation for the lack of funding coming in, but the Norwegian Foreign Minister linked it to the drop in oil prices and lower revenues. So, is it the Egyptian-Israeli blockade that the Crusaders should be lashing out at? Or is it their own governments they should be reprimanding for not following through on their aid pledges to Gaza? Even better, why not blame Hamas and their past policies of attacking Israel with little regard for the cost inflicted on their own population?

A few things must be noted. During the Crusades, many Christian clergymen in villages along the way to the Holy Land recognized the atrocities being committed by the Crusaders’ armies. There are historical accounts of Christian clergy going to great lengths to save their Jewish neighbors’ lives, finding hiding places for them and trying to plead with their more-radicalized coreligionists. For some, it cost them their lives. Also, while no apology has been issued specifically towards the Jewish people, Pope John Paul II apologized for many of the horrific events that took place during the Crusades.

Additionally, the governments of many European nations, where this Crusader Flotilla’s support originates from, have publicly declared their opposition to the Freedom Flotilla. This includes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. Also, a report on the 2014 Gaza Conflict (separate from the UN Human Rights Council’s report) was issued by a committee of military and civic leaders from the US, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Australia, and Colombia. What did they decide? That nobody on the committee was “aware of any army that takes such extensive measures as did the IDF last summer to protect the lives of the civilian population”. I guess that not every European is a crusading colonist.

We may feel urged to ask ourselves then, for what reason is this flotilla sailing? Is it some condescending sense of morality that they have? Is it anti-Semitism? I’m not sure. All I do know is that this Crusade will not reach the Holy Land. Hopefully Gaza will soon be rebuilt, hopefully Israeli civilians’ safety will soon be certain, but some must forget the political stunts and the boats if they want to make a tangible impact in the conversation.