Björk made an urgent plea on behalf of fellow Icelandic musician Magga Stína on Wednesday morning (Oct. 8), after claiming that her childhood friend had been “kidnapped” by the Israeli army after attempting to deliver aid to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip that morning as part of an international aid flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces.
“my childhood-friend , musician magga stína has just been kidnapped by the israeli army . she sailed on a boat following greta thunberg in trying to open the path for international aid to gaza,” Björk wrote in an impassioned Instagram post about the nine-boat flotilla attempting to breach Israel‘s naval blockade of Gaza to deliver much-needed aid to the enclave that has been under near-constant bombardment from Israeli forces for two years.
“i believe activism is as diverse as humans are . i support magga stína and greta doing everything possible to try to stop the genocide in palestine . it is illegal to starve people and hinder that food arrives to children,” Björk added, the latter a reference to claims that Israel has been purposely and systematically starving the people of Gaza in an effort that has led to global organizations such as Amnesty International proclaiming in July that Israel is using starvation as part of its “ongoing genocide” in Gaza against the Palestinian people.
According to the Associated Press, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that its actions in the Mediterranean Sea resulted in the detention of 145 activists taking part in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition & Thousand Madleens to Gaza, who were brought ashore and processed in Israel before being deported. At press time a spokesperson for Israel’s defense forces and foreign ministry had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the interception of the flotilla or confirmation that Stína was among those detained.
The action came after more than 400 activists from a previous 40-boat flotilla — which included European lawmakers and climate activist Greta Thunberg — were intercepted last week while trying to reach Gaza with what was described as a “token” amount of aid. The AP reported that the organizers of Wednesday’s flotilla, which included one member of the European parliament and national lawmakers from Turkey, Denmark, France and Belgium, called the detentions “arbitrary and unlawful.”
The Icelandic Monitor reported that Stína’s family has also urged the Icelandic government to do everything it can to secure her immediate release. “Our family and Magga Stína’s friends are deeply concerned about the situation — especially considering the treatment she is likely to face at the hands of the Israeli military,” the family said in seeking the release of the nearly 100 health workers, journalists and peace activists aboard the Conscience, which reportedly had medicine, medical equipment and food aid on board. “We urge the Icelandic government and the public to condemn Israel’s illegal detention of civilians and to demand that all volunteers be released immediately,” continued the appeal signed by Stína’s daughter, sister and mother.
The family claimed that those detained have been “mistreated, denied food, water and sleep and deprived of necessary medication.”
Stína, born Margrét Kristín Blöndal, is a classically trained violinist who previously led the Icelandic punk band Reptile and has released solo albums and contributed to albums by Icelandic rap-rock group Quarashi, as well as the groups Lone Ranger and Beam Me Up. According to Last.fm, she released the experimental album, An Album, on Björk’s Ear label in 1998 and opened for Björk on her 1998 Homogenic tour.
Björk’s note added that Iceland has often been a leader in recognizing “many small nation’s independence,” including supporting Palestinian statehood in 2014. “we know after being a colony for 600 years what it feels like to be suppressed . even though we are few , our voice matters and we can continue to set an example of having the courage to rise up against oppression and represent peace,” she wrote.
“i ask icelandic authorities to follow their own support for palestine 11 years ago , to stop all business interactions with israel until the genocide in gaza stops and fight for magga stína’s safe return,” Björk said, adding that she also calls for “all the world to bring home every single nations hostage home.” The latter statement did not specify if she was referring to all hostages around the world, or to the 48 Israeli hostages still believed to be in captivity in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on the nation in which militants killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
Israel has come under increasing international scrutiny for its now two-year offensive in Gaza, in which Gaza health authorities have said more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed and many more are on the brink of starvation as famine spreads throughout the enclave due to Israeli restrictions on the delivery of food aid to Gaza. The world’s leading association of genocide experts, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, passed a resolution last month stating that Israel’s actions in the war fit the legal definition of genocide as laid out by the U.N. convention on genocide due to the “near-total demolition” of housing in the territory, as well as attacks on personnel and facilities needed for survival, including in the sectors of healthcare, aid and education.
Israel has repeatedly denied it is engaged in genocidal actions, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slamming a recent report by the U.N.’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) panel that the two-year war has created a “man-made famine,” saying in a statement, “Israel does not have a policy of starvation.”
President Trump had insisted that Palestinian authorities agree to his 20-point peace plan by Sunday (Sept. 5), threatening on Truth Social that, “if his LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.” That deadline has come and gone, and on Wednesday U.S. special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and the president’s son-in-law, private citizen Jared Kushner, arrived in Egypt to join the negotiations to free the remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza.
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