This One Is for Rima Hassan
Integrity and risk in a world of moral disappearance.
In Turkish, we have a saying: “Biz onun tırnağı bile olamayız.”
It means: We cannot even compare to the worth of her fingernail.
That’s how I feel about Rima Hassan. None of us can hold a candle to her.
Rima Hassan is a 32-year-old French-Palestinian lawyer and politician whose life experiences have forged an unshakable sense of purpose.
She was aboard the Madleen—a humanitarian vessel hijacked in international waters and now held by Israel.
A newly elected Member of the European Parliament, Rima began her life stateless, born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria. At the age of nine, she and her family resettled in France, where she eventually gained citizenship at eighteen.
She wrote her master’s thesis in international law on apartheid in South Africa and Israel. She also founded the Observatory of Refugee Camps.
In 2023, Forbes named her one of its “40 Distinguished Women.”
Today, she is in Israeli custody, awaiting a hearing before an Israeli judge.
Rima knows what it means to live at risk. She continues to speak truth to power and empire despite relentless efforts to silence her—including multiple death threats and police investigations over her outspoken advocacy for Palestine.
And yet, she still boarded the ship to Gaza.
Despite being Palestinian.
Despite being targeted.
Despite being asked to sign a document acknowledging she had entered Israeli territory illegally—she refused.
She stood her ground.
She refused to legitimize the alleged illegality of her presence.
She did this without support from Europe.
She did this with no guarantees for her safety, while in the custody of a state actively exterminating her people.
“Joining this action is about coherence with what I stand for,” she said.
When it comes to Rima Hassan (and Greta Thunberg), the reason they are so reviled by members of the media establishment is that they cannot stand people who live their beliefs with unwavering integrity.
That’s why they constantly label them as narcissists, accuse them of shrieking, claim they are seeking attention, or dismiss their activism as a stunt.
They grasp at any charge of hypocrisy, desperate to tear them down—because their integrity stands as a direct rebuke to their corruption and moral emptiness.
Rima Hassan has shown a courage and clarity of conviction most of us can barely fathom.
This mission has not failed. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
It has exposed, to more people than ever, the lived reality of Israeli apartheid.
It has illuminated the power of peaceful resistance.
It has underscored what true moral leadership looks like.
All power to Rima Hassan. May she stay safe, may she remain unharmed.
If you’ve made it this far, I hope you carry Rima’s story with you. Not just as news—but as a mirror, a call, a reminder of what it means to stand firmly, when the world trembles around you.
Thank you for reading, dear reader.
Stay tender, stay aware, and take care.
With gratitude,
Dilek
💓