By Larry Parnass | LParnass@repub.com
Two Western Massachusetts brothers are safe after their ships, part of a flotilla carrying food and other aid to Gaza, were attacked Tuesday off the coast of Crete.
Their mother, former candidate for Congress Nadia Milleron of Sheffield, said Wednesday her sons plan to continue their mission with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Following the latest attacks, the convoy is now escorted by an Italian naval vessel.
Milleron is in Washington, D.C., pressing an effort to enlist help from lawmakers on behalf of the aid shipments, in the face of repeated attacks on the roughly 40-vessel convoy.
Milleron said she was to meet Wednesday with staff of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and has been working with U.S. Sen. Edward Markey as well as with her former First Congressional District opponent, U.S. Richard E. Neal.
Recently, Neal’s office sent a letter to the White House asking the Trump administration to help ensure that food aid is allowed to reach Gaza without facing obstacles. Volunteers with the flotilla say they believe the Israeli government is behind efforts to halt the shipments.
“It’s a very good letter,” Milleron said. “It addresses the wider point of why my boys are going there. This is a critical time as they move closer and closer.”
According to the World Health Organization, more than 500,000 people in Gaza are “trapped in famine” amid widespread starvation. The group said in August that conditions of famine were expected to spread. In addition to food, the flotilla is carrying baby formula and hydration packets.
Gaza’s Health Ministry estimates that Israel’s war against Hamas has resulted in more than 65,000 deaths, including more than 17,000 children.
“It is the Holocaust of our time, a horrendous thing that we are participating in and supporting” as a country, Milleron said.
In a post to Instagram while under sail, Milleron’s elder son, Adnaan Stumo, 32, swept his phone camera over a display of supplies that his 12-meter sailboat is carrying and said he hoped the medical supplies, powdered milk, rice, egg biscuits and canned goods and more would address a “desperate need” in Gaza.
“We’re a very small vessel but we’ve put in every nook and cranny as much humanitarian aid as we can fit,” he said. “And we can’t wait to pass it to the desperate people who will be able to use it.”
It is believed that 30 Americans are taking part in the flotilla, among roughly 200 passengers and crew in all.
Maritime careers
Both of Milleron’s sons work in the maritime industry. Tor Stumo, 26, is a ship’s engineer and attended the SUNY Maritime College in New York City. Adnaan Stumo is a sailboat captain familiar with the Mediterranean and has sailed across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“They are very skilled in what they do,” Milleron said. Both men grew up in Sheffield and remain registered voters there.
Before joining the flotilla, Tor Stumo had attempted to help persuade members of Congress to end U.S. aid to Israel. “He felt that he didn’t get anywhere,” Milleron said of her son.
On Tuesday, the flotilla was attacked over the course of three hours while underway in the open Mediterranean, with ships suffering damage. No one was injured. Milleron said she believes the extended drone attack was mounted by Israel, which she claims was also behind at least three drone attacks while the flotilla was in port in Tunis.
In a statement, the flotilla said it came under fire off the coast of Crete, in Greece, from “multiple drones.”
“Unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed and explosions heard from a number of boats,” the flotilla said in a statement quoted by the Times of Israel.
In an Instagram post, Tor Stumo described the attacks, which included a nonlethal “sound bomb.” One falling explosive device detonated in the air and damaged a ship’s mast.
In another post, coming off night watch, Tor Stumo said the morale among flotilla volunteers was unbroken. “Despite all the frustration and obstacles, our crew is tougher than they’ve ever been … we are more determined than ever,” he said.
Milleron said she spoke with her sons early Wednesday and was told there were no casualties on the boats.
With her sons in harm’s way, Milleron said she feels driven to do all she can for them, having suffered deep personal loss before. In 2019, her daughter, Samya Stumo, 24, died in a crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet.
She said Wednesday that her daughter’s death led her to contemplate what she must do now, knowing her sons could be hurt by taking part in the aid mission. “I made me consider what I would wish to do with them, before they left, and make any effort that I can.”
On scene in Barcelona
That effort included spending nine days in Barcelona, Spain, where the flotilla’s crew and volunteers prepared for the voyage to Gaza and received extensive training in nonviolence. While preparing, the crews were monitored by agents of the Israeli government, Milleron said. A man wearing a black mask circled the flotilla vessels on a jetski, she said, and drones were seen overhead.
In Tunis, drones were captured on video releasing incendiary devices onto ships in the flotilla, igniting holds carrying life preservers, Milleron said.
In Wednesday’s call with her sons, Milleron said both were upbeat and said the flotilla needed to continue on its mission, with Gaza an estimated six days away. They told her that aggressive and unlawful action taken against peaceful craft in the open ocean can’t be allowed to end the aid effort.
“I don’t want them to put themselves at risk,” she said. “They seemed very cheerful.”
Milleron was pleased to learn that the Italian vessel was on the scene, though uncertain how long it would escort the ships. “That’s very good news.”
