August 28, 2025, 4:30pm
Naoise Dolan, one of Ireland’s most acclaimed young novelists, has announced that she will be boarding the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the siege on Gaza.
Dublin writer and activist Dolan—the author of Exciting Times (2020) and The Happy Couple (2023)—has been among the loudest pro-Palestinian voices in the Irish cultural community since Israel began its assault on Gaza almost two years ago. In newspaper columns, on social media, and in public speeches, Dolan has condemned the inaction and complicity of Western governments, including her own, and has now decided to take her advocacy a step further by joining the largest coordinated civilian flotilla in history as it attempts “to open up a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”
In a statement, recorded in Irish and posted to the author’s Instagram page earlier today, Dolan explained her decision:
I’m Naoise Dolan. I’m a writer from Dublin and I’m about to be on a boat on the Sumud mission. We’re sailing to Gaza to bring provisions to the people Israel is committing genocide against. The Flotilla coalition is a massive effort to break the siege on Gaza, and people from 44 countries are taking part. Why am doing it? Because our own government is complicit in the genocide. They refuse to stop aiding and abetting Israel because they are cowards. I’m scared, of course, but Palestinians face far worse dangers every single day of the genocide and they never had the choice that I do, so my solidarity is with them. I don’t want you to be sad or worried about me. I want you to be angry. The other participants and I are doing this because our government isn’t brave enough to sign legislation. I’m not brave, they’re just spineless.
Palestinians are being murdered, and we lose our own humanity if we don’t stand with them.
Free Palestine.
The dozens of small vessels participating in the Global Simud Flotilla—the steering committee for which includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Greek historian Kleoniki Alexopoulou, Brazilian socioenvironmentalist Thiago Ávila, and Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek—will set sail from Barcelona on August 31, and from Tunis & Sicily on September 4.
Thunberg and Ávila were among the 12 activists kidnapped and detained when the aid boat Madleen was intercepted by Israeli forces on its way to break the blockade on Gaza in June 2025.
Since 2010, all flotillas attempting to break the Gaza blockade have been intercepted or attacked by Israel in international waters. In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, the flagship of a flotilla crewed by a 600-strong alliance of pro-Palestinian activists, aid workers, politicians, and doctors. The assault killed 10 activists and injured dozens.