Flytilla (fly + flotilla)

The word “flytilla” (fly + flotilla)—also spelled “flightilla”—was popularized on July 3, 2011, following the failure of the “Freedom Flotilla II” to sail past Israel’s blockade and enter the Gaza Strip. The revised plan was to fly into Israel by July 8th and to enter Gaza from there.
 
The word “flytilla” had been used earlier, in June 2010, when a blog poster urged a flotilla and a flytilla of media people to protest and report on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. A “flytilla,” it appears, need not be a fleet of warplanes (such as a “flotilla” being a fleet of warships), but rather describes the political intentions of numerous flight passengers.
   
 
Wikipedia: Flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small flota (fleet) of ships, and this from French flotte), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers. Groups of larger warships are usually called squadrons, but similar units of non-capital ships may be called squadrons in some places and times, and flotillas in others.
 
Wikipedia: Gaza flotilla raid
The Gaza flotilla raid also known as the flotilla incident of 31 May 2010, was a military operation by Israel against six ships of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” on 31 May 2010 in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The flotilla, organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Turkish Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), was carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials, with the intention of breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip.
 
Wikipedia: Freedom Flotilla II
“Freedom Flotilla II – Stay Human” is a flotilla that planned to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip by Israel by sailing towards the Gaza Strip on 5 July 2011. The blockade is in place according to Israel because Israel “is currently in a state of armed conflict with the terrorist organization Hamas, the ruling entity of the Gaza Strip.” The flotilla had been scheduled to sail towards the Gaza Strip on 5 July, but did not. By 7 July, all but a few dozen activists had returned home.
 
Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
flo·til·la noun \flō-ˈti-lə\
Definition of FLOTILLA
1: a fleet of ships or boats; especially : a navy organizational unit consisting of two or more squadrons of small warships
2: an indefinite large number “a flotilla of changes”
Origin of FLOTILLA
Spanish, diminutive of flota fleet, from Old French flote, from Old Norse floti; akin to Old English flota ship, fleet — more at float
First Known Use: 1711
       
Battlestar Gallactica Forum
lalala
6/14/2010
10:09 pm EDT
Join the Indy Media Caravan to the Oil Spill!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(...)
1-What we need to do is get a caravan, (AND a flotilla and AND a flytilla) of independent (much of it internet based) media people to come together and ACTUALLY GO DOWN to New Orleans’ shores and waterways right now!
 
ZStreet
From Flotilla to Flytilla
07/03/11 So the Flotidiots (the few remaining ships) are now going to be joined by Flytidiots.  The plan is now for several hundred faux humanitarians to fly in to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and travel to “Palestine” without harassment.  These misguided mamzers are focusing their attention on themselves the Arab Palestinians in the disputed territories, rather than on Gaza.  Their real goal, of course, is publicity for themselves.  The planned arrival date is Friday, July 8th.
 
Tundra Tabloids
ISRAEL PREPARES TO DEAL WITH ‘FLYTILLA’ ACTIVISTS AS THEY COME INTO ISRAEL…….
Posted on 03/07/2011 by KGS
These people are morons, real morons. They’ll keep trying to delegitimize the Jewish state by using whatever means available, in order to ensure that Hamas is successful in its aims, in other words, to kill Jews and destroy the Jewish state.
     
Foreign Policy
From flotilla to flytilla
Posted By Sophia Jones
Wednesday, July 6, 2011 - 4:27 PM
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists from around the world are planning to fly into Tel Aviv’s airport in hopes of traveling to the West Bank. Over 700 people have already scheduled flights and as many as 1,200 are expected to arrive at Ben-Gurion between Thursday and Friday. Yitzhak Aharonovitch, Israel’s Public Security Minister, responded to the planned ‘aerial flotilla’, saying:
 
“These hooligans who try to break our laws will not be allowed into the country and will be returned immediately to their home countries.”
     
AFP
Israel ready for Palestinian ‘flytilla’
(AFP) – July 6, 2011
BEN GURION AIRPORT, Israel — Squads of Israeli police were deployed at Tel Aviv airport on Wednesday, anticipating the arrival of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists, a police spokesman said.
 
“There are a hundred police from different units who are on standby and will make sure there won’t be any incidents at the airport,” Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
 
BBC News
9 July 2011 Last updated at 12:10 ET
Four Welsh Palestine activists ‘detained’ in Israel
Four protesters from Wales are among a dozen UK activists detained as part of a so-called “flytilla” protest in Israel, according to organisers.
(...)
News agencies report that Israel is set to expel 124 activists, mostly European, who were part of the protest.
 
The “flytilla” - in which protesters say they were planning to make a peaceful visit to families in the West Bank - was taking place as a flotilla of ships was prevented by Greece from sailing to the Gaza Strip in a bid to break the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.