On Monday, details emerged that not only was Smalls detained, but he was physically beaten by the IDF. He was the only Black member of the Freedom Flotilla on the Handala.

Chris Smalls, the former Amazon Labor Union president who led the first successful U.S. union drive at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse in 2022, was violently detained by Israeli forces on July 26-27, 2025, while participating in a Gaza aid mission

“When he reached the Israeli prison, U.S. human rights defender Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced. “They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back”

Smalls was aboard the Handala, an aid ship attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, when Israeli Defense Forces seized the vessel and detained its crew. As the only Black person among the 20 detained activists, Smalls faced notably harsher treatment

The U.S. government failed to contact any of the seven American citizens aboard, while other countries like France, Spain and Italy reached out to their detained nationals. According to Palestinian American attorney Huwaida Arraf, who was released due to her Israeli citizenship, the activists refused deportation and began a hunger strike

“I’m thinking of Chris Smalls. And about how, because he’s Black, no Greta Thunberg, no celebrity, no darling of the liberal class, he might not make it out alive,” wrote author Camonghne Felix

While smaller unions condemned Smalls’s detention, the Teamsters union remained silent despite having recently affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union.