Gaza flotilla leader Lisi Proenca attended the funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei, where she said that Iran must be supported as a buffer against Zionism.

“It’s time for us, the free people of everywhere, of all the world, to guarantee that Iran, even with this brutal attack with its leader, martyrised, can continue to be a border against imperialism and Zionism, and support and get us all together,” she said. “We must rise.”

The Brazilian native was implicated in a sex scandal while aboard the “love boat” flotilla in April 2025; a subsequent investigation by the organization cleared her of wrongdoing. However, critics have said that the organization investigating its own members does not qualify as an independent probe.

Proenca’s support for the Iranian regime raises the question of why those who support the human rights of Gazans would support a regime that abuses the human rights of its own people. In addition to the massacre of tens of thousands of Iranians during the January protests, the Islamist regime of Iran suppresses women’s rights, engages in censorship and bans free speech, to list just a small number of human rights abuses.

Critics say the answer is simple: The supporters of Gazans, like the activists from the Gaza flotilla, care nothing for the rights of ordinary civilians in Gaza. They support Hamas, which in turn is supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. As an Iranian proxy group, Hamas in Gaza functions as an arm of the IRGC. That’s why pro-Hamas activists have flocked to Khamenei’s funeral to show their support for the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism.