With William Tell, Heidi and Greta Thunberg to Gaza

At 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, the fleet led by figurehead Greta Thunberg set sail to great fanfare: Around 20 boats carrying 300 activists set sail from Barcelona and set sail toward Gaza. Thousands of supporters gathered at the harbor to witness the moment and cheer. After a few hours, however, the boats had to turn back. A storm had endangered the smaller boats, the organizers said.

Other ships in the Gaza flotilla set sail from Italy and Greece. Five boats under the Swiss flag are also participating. "The Swiss fleet is proportionally one of the largest," Vanni Bianconi proudly told the Ticino trade union newspaper "Area" a few days ago. The writer and former head of culture at the Ticino Radio and Television (RSI) is the crew chief of one of the ships. According to him, over 600 Swiss have volunteered, and just over 40 are now actually on board.

Like many activists who have spoken out in advance, Bianconi also displays a certain sense of adventure: "I will be leading a diverse crew, probably under extreme conditions," he says. His team includes another former RSI journalist.

Traveling from safe and affluent Switzerland to a war zone to do something against the perceived injustice and bloodshed seems to be a widespread desire. Former SRF cultural director Regula Bochsler, who participated in a failed "March to Gaza" in Egypt a few weeks ago with 5,000 activists from around the world, described her motivation as follows : "I was so outraged by the silence of politicians and governments that I fantasized countless times about flying to Tel Aviv and positioning myself with a small protest sign at the Erez border crossing, where radical Israelis repeatedly tried to obstruct aid deliveries." Then she heard about the protest march: "It was clear to me that I wanted to, and had to, take part."

The Swiss delegation stands out not only for its size, but also for the names of two of its ships: "William Tell" and "Heidi." A deliberate choice: the Swiss Confederation's mythical struggle for independence and against tyranny is intended to be applied to Gaza and Israel. Whether the solitary Alpine rebel Tell and the homesick mountain girl Heidi are actually suitable symbolic figures for the liberation of the distant Gaza Strip is irrelevant.

The head of the Swiss delegation is Hicham El Ghaoui, a doctor of Moroccan descent who grew up in France and has been working in Verbier for many years. Last year, he was on three humanitarian missions to Gaza. While treating wealthy tourists after skiing accidents while also supporting war victims in Gaza is a daunting balancing act, "it reflects life," he says.

In interviews, participants are often asked whether they aren't afraid of the Israeli army, which has already announced its intention to intercept the ships. "We'll take that risk," is the most common answer. This sounds as if they not only expect it, but also hope for it, to be arrested by the Israelis in the most spectacular way possible. The cameras are probably already at the ready to record this and broadcast it around the world.