“That Sort of Stepping Up”: Gaza Flotilla Participant Juliet Lamont on Centring Palestinian Lives

Documentary filmmaker Juliet Lamont is one brave soul. After having risked it all sailing amongst the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the siege of Gaza in October 2025 and then being kidnapped off the high seas by the Israeli military and detained in the notorious Ktzi’ot prison, she’s just left New South Wales bound for Sicily to commence organising for the next flotilla mission bound for the Strip.

Lamont was one of six Australians who took part in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was the largest Freedom Flotilla Coalition mission since they began two decades ago. 

Post-release from Israeli detention, Lamont told the ABC from Jordan that the Australian government had been “absolutely shameful” in non-assistance of its citizens in being released from the foreign nation that had captured them.

The Australian mother is now on her way to join yet another largest ever FFC mission, with this coming one set to dwarf the last. Indeed, the Spring 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla will involve over 100 boats and 3,000 participants, with representatives from over 100 countries. And it will include special healthcare, protection, education, law and eco-reconstruction teams.

These missions are extremely dangerous. Those on board the flotillas are attempting to break the siege on Gaza that was initially established in 2007. Since October 2023, this long-term goods blockade has been heightened to the point that the entire population of the Gaza Strip has been starving, which has toppled over into famine.

But further, these courageous everyday people from across the planet are attempting to trigger awareness and then further action that will bring about the end to the 26-month-old wholesale killing spree in the Gaza Strip, and increasingly so, in the West Bank. And in doing this, their entire voyage is set upon reaching a site of mass desolation.

The Spring 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla is too sailing in a much-shifted global political climate than just three months back, which significantly involves the Trump-brokered 10 October 2025 ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as it has served to provide the impression that the mass extermination program has come to an end when nothing could be further from the truth.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke with documentary filmmaker Juliet Lamont as she was about to leave Australia bound for Italy in order to lead the Australian contingent that will take part in the next Gaza freedom flotilla, and she discussed the reasons why she is stepping up for a second time in order to centre the suffering of the Palestinians and assist in bringing it all to an end.

Juliet, you took part in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was the largest ever Freedom Flotilla Coalition mission. This flotilla had sought to break the decadeslong siege of Gaza to deliver aid to the Palestinians of the region.

This was the third flotilla to take place last year. It was notable for the dozens of boats involved and the hundreds of participants. 

You were amongst six Australians on the flotilla, who all arrived back in Australia with stories of the terrible treatment you’d endured whilst detained in Israel’s Ktzi’ot prison.

You are about to head to Sicily to join the next FFC mission, which is to set sail in the northern hemisphere spring.

So, can you tell us a little about your first experience, and why, given that fact that you did suffer at the hands of the IDF after you were kidnapped off the high seas, you going back for more?

The first thing that lies at the heart of every humanitarian that goes on that mission is they keep having to centre the reality of Palestinian lives – the lives in occupied Palestine under the Israeli Occupation Forces, which is murder, slaughter, starvation, apartheid and almost erasure.

Those on the flotilla are ordinary people acting on behalf of their governments who should be acting.

So, when you put it in the context of a white privileged settler on stolen land with the ongoing genocide of First Nations, I feel it’s just a drop in the ocean, the sacrifice that we have to make.

There is a risk. There might be fatalities. But it is also a moral duty. You have to have the moral courage to put your body on the line for the greater good.

All social change has required that sort of stepping up. It feels like a continuation of that social change and that always means that a small group of people will change laws, and that is how it has always been.

If you centre the reality of Palestinian suffering next to your own, you can stay steadfast.

It is not that is not terrifying. We have to fear that we might cop it a bit this time. The Israeli government, especially post-Bondi, will probably throw the book at the Australian contingent.

You look at how crazy things are with Trump and Venezuela, and the impunity with which Israel breaks every single international law, but they will feel pretty foolhardy when they realise how big this flotilla is.

It is three times bigger this time. So, I reckon they’re going to be butthurt, and who knows what the response will be.

But within the fear, it is the most meaningful, lifechanging experience that I have ever had, and I think I can speak on behalf of all the ordinary people from 46 countries that I met along the way, when saying it is the right thing to do.

You have the moral courage to do the right thing. That is a really inspiring thing.

To get boats ready in a harbour with people you have never met. You get to know them quickly. You are on a common mission.

But every single day, you get closer to an imminent naval blockade, which is the antithesis of that. It is not humanity. It is not love in action. It is pure evil and violence. So, it is a bittersweet experience, but it has to be done. It is complicated but not unmanageable.

I imagine participating in such a flotilla is much different to what you’d expect beforehand.

What would you say you learnt about the occupation of the Palestinians and the system that is in place to facilitate the progression of the Israeli settler colonial project by sailing amongst the Global Sumud Flotilla?

When we finally did get to see domestically what the hasbara propaganda unit of the Israeli Zionist colonial project is, it just shows that there has been decades of brainwashing since the establishment of Israel in 1947.

This sort of propaganda enables and bolsters the almost god-given right that they are able to dehumanise Palestinians to the point that they think that they don’t deserve equality of life, and they don’t deserve access to food, liberty and freedom.

Having met IOF soldiers that would be shy of 18, they really do believe they are acting in a righteous manner: they are the chosen people of that land, and the Indigenous Palestinians need to be erased because that is their homeland.

So, you realise the level of indoctrination and brainwashing that facilitates this incredible evil that they are able to enact on a daily basis.

That is frightening. I didn’t expect the level of cultural brainwashing that goes on with people living in Israel. I don’t mean all of them. There are antigenocide people there, but their media machine doesn’t let the west see that.

That is the most terrifying thing, looking into the eyes of some of those soldiers. They are tapped out and they truly believe Palestinians are lesser and they deserve to be slaughtered, starved and completely erased.

They are getting closer to enacting that mission and that is terrifying.

The mainstream media’s reporting on the Gaza genocide is known to have been problematic. However, since the Trump administration’s 10 October 2025 ceasefire was imposed, it’s been negligible to the point that there might be people questioning the need for another flotilla.

Can you clear up any confusion about why FFC is launching another mission?

Of course there is a need for a new mission, because there is no ceasefire. It is almost like the western world and media is complicit in the lies and the delusional narrative that there is a ceasefire. It is complete bullshit.

Over 400 Palestinians have been slaughtered since the ceasefire. In the West Bank, the settler colonialists are operating with even more violence, tearing up more olive groves, taking over more Palestinian properties.

The 37 charities that were able to work there are now all banned. Western media is finding it difficult to get in there and tell true stories. There is more internet blackout.

In the western world, it is almost like we don’t care that our leaders lie to us. We almost don’t want to keep our leaders held to account anymore. There is something quite scary about that.

It is like we have tapped out with real leadership. People just don’t seem to care.

For a white person in Australia, it is probably quite handy to think there is a ceasefire, because they don’t really have to engage with the fact that we haven’t dealt with the genocide on the stolen land that we all profit from.

It is just lazy and convenient propaganda to believe, because it lets us off the hook.

You’ve put out a statement about the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which appeared to have been established due to the Bondi Beach massacre, but as one of the perpetrators is being criminally trialled, it can only really be about antisemitism.

What do you think about the Australian government conceding to hold this official inquiry into antisemitism at this point in time?

We do know the Zionist lobby have a lot of power over Australian politics: there is a lot of money and influence. The conflation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism is a complete furphy.

Bondi was an absolute tragedy. But it was perpetrated by two individual maniacs. It is absolutely true that antisemitism has been on the rise for the last two years but so has Islamophobia. The Royal Commission should also look into that.

Three hundred thousand peaceful ordinary Australians crossed the Harbour Bridge. That was an incredible experience. It was completely peaceful. There was so much connection between Muslim people, Jewish people, religious leaders, celebrities and kids. It was a really beautiful day.

For Chris Minns to conflate that with racial incitement towards Jewish people is absolutely not true. There was no evidence of that.

So, hopefully, the Royal Commission is truthful enough to really look at what is happening, but my fear is that there will be a crackdown on protest laws and phrases like “From the river to the sea'” and “Globalise the intifada”, which are not racially inciting phrases or words.

The problem will be that we are frogmarched towards fascism, while the protection of Jewish lives, which absolutely has to be an issue, needs to be alongside the protection of Muslim brothers and sisters in our community too.

It feels like it might be skewed, politicised and weaponised and our democratic right for free speech and protest will be impinged upon, and that is a scary prospect.

It is starting to feel like we are not living in society that is a contemporary, progressive democracy anymore.

And lastly, Juliet, you’re going to be organising the Australian contingent as things get underway in Sicily. I believe you are leaving this country tomorrow.

I gather the coming FFC mission could do with some new participants, so what would you like to say to anyone out there who might be interested in joining the next flotilla to Gaza?

This flotilla will be three times bigger. So, we have 150 boats. We have two huge cargo boats, which will be taking 1,000 doctors, teachers, healthcare workers and a lot of aid.

We have the biggest chance ever in the 20 year history of the flotillas to break the siege. It is going to be very, very difficult to intercept, kidnap and imprison 3,000 people.

At worst, if all that it is is a symbolic gesture, the hope and support it brings the Palestinian people in knowing that there are 46 nationalities on the way and trying to bring baby food, prosthetic limbs and titanium plates to them, it is worth it, as it’s the morally right thing to do.

So, if anybody cares about humanity, the right to a safe and equal life and to live in peace, then they should come on a boat and join what will be one of the most significant acts of love in modern history.

If you are able-bodied and have a passport, join the mission, as it will be one of the most incredible experiences of your life.