AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org.

We end today’s show with an update on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Israel has formally placed eight of the 12 international activists on the flotilla under arrest, after they refused to sign a voluntary deportation order, including Rima Hassan, French Palestinian member of the European Parliament. Israel has already deported four other Freedom Flotilla passengers, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who’s just arrived in Paris. The flotilla was challenging the Israeli siege on Gaza. The March to Gaza to the Rafah border crossing in Egypt is about to start this week, demanding a total end to the Gaza siege.

For more, we go to Dubai, where we’re joined by Hala Rharrit, who’s preparing to join that Global March to Gaza. She’s an 18-year career diplomat who resigned from the State Department over the Biden administration’s Gaza policy.

Hala, welcome back to Democracy Now! In these last minutes that we have, if you can talk about that leap from being a top-level State Department official to now marching from Cairo to the Rafah border, and what you’re hoping to achieve?

HALA RHARRIT: Amy, thank you so much for having me. It’s such a pleasure to be back with you.

Well, fundamentally, justice anywhere is a threat to all of us, whether it’s in Los Angeles or El Salvador, where we’ve just heard your segments — and bless your show for covering these issues — or in Gaza. Silence does not protect us. Silence does not ensure that we will be OK. It’s quite the opposite. Silence ensures the injustice spreads.

I dedicated my entire adult life to diplomacy because I’m fundamentally a peacemaker, but, unfortunately, I saw, after 20 years, almost 20 years of service, that there is some institutionalized corruption within our government that profits from war at all costs, that profits from genocide.

And at this point, when we’re seeing starvation, absolute starvation of civilians in Gaza, while they are simultaneously being bombarded, words are no longer enough. I’ve been on your show. I’ve done interviews with you. I’ve done interviews on dozens, if not hundreds, of networks across the world. At this point, we need action.

That’s why I’m joining over 3,000 other human beings that want to help their fellow human beings. From over 50 countries, we’re going to arrive to Cairo on Thursday, and then go to el-Arish the next day, and then walk from el-Arish to Rafah in a show of human solidarity, because we cannot live in a world where we, as human beings, accept other human beings being forcibly starved.

AMY GOODMAN: Hala Rharrit, we have to leave it there, but we’d like to ask you to stay so we can do a post-show and post it online at democracynow.org. Hala Rharrit is participating in the Gaza walk from Cairo to Rafah. She’s an 18-year career diplomat who resigned from the State Department over the Biden administration’s Gaza policy. She was the Arabic-language spokesperson for the State Department.

That does it for our show. We have three job openings. Check them out at democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.