Have you ever wondered why coverage of a war dwindles over time?
Like any other human phenomenon, war is a complex affair. It is impossible to fully grasp its impact unless you’ve witnessed it with your own eyes. Even then, some man-made horrors are just beyond comprehension.
All wars are dynamic, constantly evolving over time. The tempo of a conflict dictates its coverage. It starts with swarms of live feeds straight from the battlefield. It ends with hardly a whimper.
Israel’s genocidal spree in Palestine started over 75 years ago. It accelerated aggressively after the 7 October attacks two years ago. It has now all but wiped out what was left of Palestine, and intends to continue until it achieves what is chillingly described as “total victory.”
Israel’s indiscriminate killings of civilians, journalists, and doctors have earned it global condemnation.
In spite of the reams of evidence that clearly show the apartheid state’s systemic breaches of international law, Israel remains at liberty to continue inflicting untold harm on Palestinians.
Anywhere between 52,000 to 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in less than two years. 290,000 children are at risk of death from starvation.
85 journalists were killed in action in Palestine in 2024 alone. That’s roughly seven out of every ten journalists who were killed last year. News coverage in such a dangerous setting becomes impossible. Even global heavyweights like Louis Theroux faced regular harassment.
Israel didn’t just wipe out Palestine and its citizens. It gouged out the eyes of the world and made sure nobody was looking.
This context is precisely what made everyone’s attention pivot towards the ongoing stand-off outside Malta’s territorial waters.
On Friday, a vessel bearing humanitarian aid – named Conscience – was attacked about 14 nautical miles off Malta’s coastline. According to the crew’s reports, the boat lit up in flames as it was hit by two drones in quick succession.
Significant damage was caused to the boat’s generators and hull, effectively immobilising it and threatening the vessel’s structural integrity.
Crucially, it is pertinent to note that the vessel was de-flagged just before the attack. No explanation has been given for this de-flagging by Palau, the nation which previously provided the vessel with a port to call home.
The Conscience aims to break Israel’s aid blockade in Gaza by providing crucial supplies at a time when the Palestinian population is on the brink of starvation.
A couple dozen activists remain on the boat to ensure that the aid remains in the hands of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group which organised the expedition.
Since the attack was first reported, the Maltese government offered to pay for repairs and assist the vessel in reaching its destination. However, prime minister Robert Abela did not yet confirm whether the vessel will be allowed into Malta’s territorial waters.
Speaking during a press conference on Sunday, activists from the coalition also requested a new flag for their vessel from the Maltese authorities. As of Sunday evening, a source close to the campaign confirmed that there were no indications that the Maltese government would do so.
Local authorities insist that the vessel must be subjected to a full inspection by a marine surveyor before being allowed entry into Maltese waters.
As of Monday, it seems that the Maltese government’s intent is to provide emergency repairs and assistance free of charge. In the short-term, it seems that the vessel is under Malta’s protection.
However, the prime minister failed to condemn the attack and has dismissively rejected any assertions that the Israeli government is to blame for the brazen bombing in international waters.
While the Maltese government’s limited offers of assistance to Palestine are always welcome (in lieu of nothing at all), the real test of its commitment to the Palestinian cause is now floating perilously at the edge of Malta’s territorial boundary.
Merely providing an AFM escort for the activists aboard the flotilla is the bare minimum.
Anything short of providing them with safe passage, repairs and supplies, and a Maltese flag would be selling Palestinians down the river. Every day that the Conscience and its crew are forced to waste jumping through bureaucratic hurdles is another day in which the relentless siege in Gaza is allowed to continue unchecked.
Without that flag, they will be stuck in international waters at the very worst. If allowed safe passage into a Maltese port but still without a flag, the mission would be stuck in place until further notice.
On a more diplomatic level, the Maltese government and relevant bodies like the United Nations must coordinate a thorough investigation and determine the facts of the case.
The overarching suspicions about Israel’s involvement are not to be taken lightly. The apartheid state had orchestrated a similar attack on the same group of activists – with far deadlier consequences – 15 years ago.
The Israeli government is also known to deny involvement in strikes that involve innocent civilians only to then backtrack when hard evidence connects it to an attack. In this case, it didn’t even deny its involvement.
In the face of such brutality – the likes of which has landed Israel in hot water at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court – Malta’s claims that it is engaging in diplomatic communication with Israel is very telling.
In that respect, though Malta’s government gave plenty of humanitarian support to Palestine, the fact is that it continues to call for a facetious two-state solution in a genocide that has decimated the Palestinian population and allowed Israeli aggression to continue undeterred.
Simply put, negotiating with a genocidal state that is openly hostile to anyone who opposes it is not a recipe for success. It is a path towards more bloodshed. Neutrality in the face of this kind of aggression is all the tacit encouragement an aggressor needs.
For all its goading about European Parliament president Roberta Metsola’s early betrayal of the Palestinian cause, the fact that the Labour government keeps kicking the can on formally recognising Palestine as a state compounds concerns about its evident reluctance to hold the Israeli government accountable for the attack on the Conscience.
At this rate, there will be nothing left of Palestine to recognise.
It is bitterly ironic that the fate of this aptly named vessel is going to serve as a live wire test of whether the Maltese government has any conscience of its own.
Given its track record for opportunistic humanitarian gestures that fail to address the heart of the matter, I’ll be very surprised if they prove my cynicism wrong.