An activist travelling on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla – also carrying Greta Thunberg – has denied accusations of “sexual misconduct” by three other volunteers, labelling the allegations a “smear campaign”.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which set sail from Barcelona on Sunday, has routinely delivered food and medicine to the decimated Strip over the past year.
Earlier this week, in a social media post reported by The New York Post, Palestinian group Heart of Falastin claimed that “a senior leader within the flotilla – a member of the steering committee, the highest governing body of the organisation – engaged in sexual relations with multiple activists while on the boat heading to Gaza”.
“Not one person. Not two. Three different individuals,” the group alleged.
“To do it on the boat, while heading to a nation undergoing genocide, with volunteers who are under your authority … is a clear violation of ethics and power.”
A separate Brazilian group named the alleged perpetrator as activist Thiago Avila.
“On a ship carrying humanitarian aid, a Brazilian shows up with his d*ck swinging and the only thing he manages to do is f**k and get arrested,” Anti Esquerda Esquerda Club, a group that describes itself as criticise the left from the left, wrote on X on Tuesday, referring to the Israeli Navy’s interception of the flotilla last year, when it took activists into custody.
Mr Avila strenuously denied the accusations in a statement to The Post.
“These allegations are obviously not true,” he said in a WhatsApp message while sailing off the coast of Spain.
“The ethics committee talked to all three people mentioned and they confirmed that this is just a smear campaign, that we are comrades and nothing ever happened.”
A spokesperson for the flotilla said an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Avila, which first came to light in November, found no evidence of wrongdoing.
“In the absence of any complainant, witnesses or evidence, there was no basis for the matter to proceed,” the GSF spokesperson told The Post.
The organisation said it hired an “ethics committee” made up of trained legal professionals after the 2025 trips to keep everyone in check.
“The ethics committee has conducted investigations of this nature unrelated to the current allegations, and disciplinary action has been taken where evidence has warranted it,” the spokesperson said.
The 39-year-old sailed to Gaza in June 2026 aboard the 12-person Madleen, where he was pictured with fellow activist Ms Thunberg, before they were eventually arrested by Israeli forces and deported.
He joined the larger 500-activist SF convoy in September, during which infighting among senior leadership led Ms Thunberg to step down from the steering committee and off the main boat, and transfer to a different ship.
At the time, Ms Thunberg’s decision to leave stemmed from frustration that leadership was spending too much time arguing about “internal affairs” and was not focusing enough on the situation in Gaza, according to Italian newspaper Il Manifesto, which had a correspondent on board.
Ms Thunberg did not respond to questions from The Post about the accusations against Mr Avila, and whether it played a role in her own departure.
The allegations have added fuel to critics’ fire that the flotilla is nothing more than performative activism.
“At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are being starved … we would expect mobilisation to reflect the respect and seriousness this moment deserves,” the group Palestinian Reveals said.
“Instead, we are seeing concerts, a large stage, music and celebratory atmosphere,” it added, referring to the flotilla launch party last weekend in Barcelona.
The flotilla aims to raise $US3.5 million ($4.87m) for the current trip, but its donor list is not public.
“As one resident living in the tents in Gaza said, ‘It would have been better to donate money to Gaza instead of throwing it into the sea without benefit’,” Palestinian journalist Mohammed AbuSalama wrote.
This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission
