Tieu Nguyen Bao Ngoc, a 28-year-old from Ho Chi Minh City, became the first and only Vietnamese national to join the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which aimed to break Israel's siege of Gaza by delivering aid by sea.
Two weeks before sailing across the Mediterranean in May, Bao Ngoc, also known as Ashley, announced her participation in the mission to reach the war-torn enclave where Israel has killed over 73,000 Palestinians.
News of her exploit circulated among young Vietnamese who closely followed her journey on social media. In a country where civil society remains subdued under the powerful Communist Party, Bao Ngoc emerged as a rare figure to achieve public visibility on a political matter: the fate of Palestinians under Israeli occupation.
"As a Vietnamese who has endured the same sufferings and war crimes committed by Western imperialists, especially the US, I feel tremendous sympathy for the Palestinian people," Bao Ngoc told Indonesia's Republika Online in an interview from aboard her aid vessel.
On May 18, the Gaza flotilla live tracker alerted that her vessel had been intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters west of Cyprus. A prerecorded SOS video confirmed she had been abducted by Israeli forces and urged the Vietnamese government to intervene.
Her supporters flooded social media with demands to "release Bao Ngoc!" However, all major media outlets in Vietnam remained silent during her two-day detention.
Pro-government influencers accused Bao Ngoc of harming Vietnam's national image. Some questioned the authenticity of her nationality, and when a video showed her passport, conspiracy theories circulated that it was AI-generated.
After two days, Vietnam's diplomatic mission to Israel issued a statement saying it had worked to ensure her safety and release. Vu Minh Hoang, a historian of diplomacy, described the incident as unprecedented in contemporary Vietnam.
Ly Thuy Nguyen, a scholar of transnational activism, said Bao Ngoc's case stems from Vietnam's historical memory and the political maturation of younger Vietnamese. Bao Ngoc made the Palestinian struggle relatable to everyday Vietnamese people.
Bao Ngoc, a sociology student and part-time baker, never intended to become an activist. Her support for Palestine began after the October 7, 2023 attacks. She dropped out of her master's program and co-founded the solidarity group VietForPalestine.
Her fiery public admonishments of Israel drew followers and became a counterweight to pro-Israel sentiments in Vietnamese media and business communities, where Israel is promoted as a "Startup Nation."
Ko Tinmaung, a Rohingya activist, likened the starvation in Gaza to conditions in Rohingya refugee camps. Indonesian journalist Bambang Noroyono also joined the flotilla and noted contradictions between public sentiment and government policy.
Phil Robertson, a human rights advocate, said, "If Israel can get away with what they do in Gaza, other governments will think they can get away with doing the same thing to their own people."
Source: www.aljazeera.com