October 7, 2025 ❧ Global Sumud Flotilla intercepted, ICE raids in Chicago, and Gen Z protests around the world

Plus: Trump asks Netanyahu “Why are you always so f--king negative?”

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HERE & ABROAD

❧ DEEP DIVE: Israel Intercepts the Gaza Sumud Flotilla ❧

Over the course of the past week, Israel boarded, took control, and detained the passengers of each of the 42 boats that comprised the Global Sumud Flotilla. The flotilla, carrying 479 volunteers from 40 countries, was attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to a population that has lost at least 67,160 to an Israel-enacted genocide and famine. According to the BBC, the flotilla members said that Israel has mistreated them while in detention, including beating them, blindfolding them, insulting them, and keeping them in inhumane conditions. 40 of the detained flotilla members are on hunger strike. 

Israel is now in the process of deporting the flotilla members they rounded up at sea. Yesterday, a group of 170 was sent to Athens, climate activist Greta Thunberg among them. Shortly after landing, Thunberg said to reporters at the airport: “[The Global Sumud Flotilla] was a story of global, international solidarity, of people stepping up when our governments failed to do so, of people saying that: 'My so-called leaders - who were supposed to represent me, who continue to fuel a genocide, death and destruction - they do not represent me. This is a last resort. That this mission has to exist is a shame.'” Read Current Affairs interviews with two of the flotilla members, Novara Media journalist Kieran Andrieu and Tommy Marcus, better known as “Quentin Quarantino.”

Art by Chris Buzelli from Current Affairs Magazine Vol.  7, Issue 4

While many reports say the mission failed, since the flotilla was unable to breach the Israeli blockade, one small boat, the Mikeno, might have out-maneuvered the barrier of Israeli ships, Current Affairs Editor-in-Chief Nathan J. Robinson writes. “If the Mikeno did make it close to Gaza (its last tracked position was less than 10 miles off the coast), it is a striking and inspiring demonstration of an obvious fact: the Israeli blockade can be defeated, with a sufficient number of ships. Israel’s power is not infinite, and so the only thing required to defeat it is numbers.” Yes, numbers of naval ships, and more practically: numbers of world leaders united in lending support—be it militaristic, economic, diplomatic—to Gaza, numbers of elected American officials condemning Israel’s genocide of Gaza, number of letters written by citizens of any country to their elected officials asking them to please, do something. It is trite but true: there is hope in numbers.

❧ In Other News ❧

❧ YOUTH PROTESTS IN MADAGASCAR, PERU AND MOROCCO. First, Nepal, Kenya and Indonesia. Now, Madagascar, Peru, and Morocco. These three countries are the latest in an international surge of mass protests, organized by Gen Z and led on platforms like Instagram, Discord, and TikTok. In Morocco, protesters say that not everyone has seen the benefits of the country’s growing economy as the government has chosen to focus its resources on building infrastructure for the 2030 World Cup. Reuters reports that the protesters’ “main demands have been better healthcare and education, often drawing an explicit comparison to the rapid pace of tournament preparations. One refrain— ‘We do not want the World Cup. Health first…’” In Peru, the protests are against unwanted pension reforms and government corruption. In Madagascar, protesters began by demonstrating against a lack of water and power and are now calling for the country’s president, Andry Rajoelina, to step down. “After what happened in Nepal, youth really believe that their voices can be really powerful… and that we can actually change things,” an anonymous protester in Madagascar told The Guardian. “We don’t have to accept the status quo and we can define our future. We do not have to be sacrificed by this mediocre government.”

Art by Aidan Y-M from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 7, Issue 4

❧ ICE RAIDS APARTMENT BUILDING IN CHICAGO. Since the Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Midway Blitz on Sept. 8, roughly 800 undocumented immigrants have been arrested in Chicago. ICE’s activities in the city, as well as protests against them, have been intense, but underreported, managing to escape the scrutiny that comes with a frontpage placement as other (also important) stories dominate national headlines. Case in point: a week ago, on September 30, ICE conducted a horrific raid at 7500 S. South Shore Drive, an apartment building on Chicago’s South Shore. The Chicago Sun Times writes: “Armed federal agents in military fatigues busted down their doors overnight, pulling men, women and children from their apartments, some of them naked, residents and witnesses said. Agents approached or entered nearly every apartment in the five-story building, and U.S. citizens were among those detained for hours.” People were zip-tied, including children, whom Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said were held away from their parents in dark vans. Agents ultimately arrested 37 people.  Darrell Ballard, a resident of a neighboring building, told CNN, “I’ve been on military bases for a good portion of my life, and the activity I saw – it was an invasion.” None of this terror stopped Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from tweeting a video of the raid, edited as if it were a clip from “Zero Dark Thirty.” Next, Trump is trying to send in the national guard.

CURRENT-EST AFFAIRS

What’s new in the magazine this week?

Hasan Piker on Streaming, Zohran Mamdani, and the Future of Socialism

At the beginning of his conversation with progressive twitch streamer Hasan Piker, Nathan J. Robinson lists some of the “monikers” the media has given Piker: “A Progressive Mind in a MAGA Body,” says The New York Times. “A himbo gateway drug to the left” says NPR. While Hasan Piker is confirmed to be handsome (fact checked by the News Briefing, personally), what stands out most in this interview is Piker’s clarity and hope. 

“I guess a part of the reason why I always do feel hopeful is that I have more faith in my neighbors and in the people that I know, like regular people that are simply working and not super tuned into what’s going on, than others do,” Piker told Current Affairs. “And that hope is revitalized every time I attend a protest or a rally and see the expression of solidarity for people thousands of miles away and for our neighbors from very different walks of life and very different backgrounds.”

❧ In More News ❧

❧ AN UPDATE ON PORTLAND. Last week, this News Briefing spoke with journalist Laura Jedeed, who extensively covered the 2020 protests in Portland, about Trump’s deployment of the national guard to the city. The president is attempting to send troops under very dubious pretenses — he claims anti- ICE protests are out of control, while they have largely been small and peaceful. Really, Jedeed said, Trump might just have a bone to pick with the city. The Oregon government successfully sued to temporarily stop Trump’s use of their national guard, and Trump has responded by attempting to call up national guard members from California and sending those guys to Portland instead.

Art from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 7, Issue 4

❧ TRUMP TELLS NETANYAHU TO BE MORE OPTIMISTIC. “I don’t know why you’re always so fucking negative,” President Donald Trump told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu over the phone on Sunday, according to Axios. “This is a win. Take it.” The pair was discussing Trump’s 20 point plan to end the Israeli assault on Gaza. Hamas accepted parts of the plan, saying they are willing to release their 48 Israeli hostages if Israel completely withdraws its military from Gaza. As for the rest of the deal’s stipulations, Hamas said those will have to be discussed. Axios reported that Netanyahu saw this as Hamas rejecting Trump’s plan, while Trump, who has been gunning for the Nobel Peace Prize, saw this response as a positive, an opportunity to work his famous (and famously embellished) dealmaking.

❧ CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN. In addition to the release of hostages and a ceasefire, Trump’s plans calls for, among other things, the installation of a “temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” that is overseen by an “international transitional body, the ‘Board of Peace,’ which will be headed and chaired by President Donald J. Trump, with other members and heads of State to be announced, including Former [British] Prime Minister Tony Blair.” Jeremy Scahill, in Drop Site News, said of the plan that “Trump’s overarching message was that Palestinians must surrender their fight for liberation and submit to subjugation.” Indirect ceasefire negotiations began on Monday in Egypt.

Art by Nick Sirotich from Current Affairs Magazine Vol. 7, Issue 5

❧ Today is October 7. It marks the second anniversary of the attacks on Israel that claimed hundreds of innocent Israeli lives, and that have since been used to justify the killing of tens of thousands more in Gaza. To account for what has been lost in these past two years is impossible. As Palestinian American writer Sarah Aziza writes:

“Rather, we—those outside of Palestine, watching events through a screen—ought to think of ourselves in relation to the legacy of the shaheed. Our work as witnesses is to be marked; we should not leave it unscathed. We must make an effort to stay with what we see, allowing ourselves to be cut. This wound is essential. Into this wound, imagination may pour—not to invade the other’s subjectivity, but to awaken awe at the depth, privacy, and singularity of each life. There, we might glimpse, if sidelong, how much of Gaza’s suffering we will never know.” 

-  “The Work of the Witness,” published in Jewish Currents, January 2024

ANIMAL FACT OF THE WEEK

Jane Goodall thought Bigfoot was real!

The primatologist Jane Goodall died on October 1. She was famous for blurring the line between man and monkey, discovering that chimpanzees not only use tools like humans, but kiss, hug, and bond with each other like we do. Goodall was a visionary, so it’s worth hearing her out when she confidently believes in something, even if that something is Bigfoot. In 2002, Goodall told a listener who called into the radio show “Science Friday” that she’s “sure” that a large primate, a la Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or Yeti, exists. “I've talked to so many Native Americans who have all described the same sounds, and two who have seen them.” You can listen to the clip here.

Image: Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Writing and research by Emily Carmichael. Editing and additional material by Alex Skopic and Nathan J. Robinson. Header graphic by Nathan J. Robinson. This news briefing is a product of Current Affairs Magazine. Subscribe to our gorgeous and informative print edition here, and our delightful podcast here.

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