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freedom flotilla coalition
Underhanded Israeli Tactic Delays Flotilla Departure
This is not the first time that Israel has used these kinds of tactics to stop our ships from sailing. We have overcome them before and are diligently working to overcome this latest attempt.
Apr 26, 2024
The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the trip to Gaza.
However, today we received word of an administrative roadblock initiated by Israel in an attempt to prevent our departure. Israel is pressuring the Republic of Guinea Bissau to withdraw its flag from our lead ship—Akdeniz (“Mediterranean”).
This triggered a request for an additional inspection, this one by the flag state, that delays our April 26 planned departure.
How many more children will die of malnutrition and dehydration because of this delay and an ongoing siege which must be broken?
This is another example of Israel obstructing the delivery of life-saving aid to the people in Gaza who face a deliberately created famine. How many more children will die of malnutrition and dehydration because of this delay and an ongoing siege which must be broken?
This is not the first time that Israel has used these kinds of tactics to stop our ships from sailing. We have overcome them before and are diligently working to overcome this latest attempt.
Our vessels have already passed all required inspections and we are confident that the Akdeniz will pass this inspection provided there is no political interference.
We expect this to be no more than a few days delay. Israel will not break our resolve to reach the Palestinians of Gaza.
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Will the Freedom Flotilla Sail to Gaza?
We are calling on countries around the world to pressure Israel to allow us “free and safe passage” to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Apr 23, 2024
The non-violence training to join the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ships to Gaza has been intense. As hundreds of us from 32 countries gathered in Istanbul, we were briefed about what we might encounter on this voyage. “We have to be ready for every possibility,” our trainers insisted.
The best scenario, they said, is that our three ships—one carrying 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid and two carrying the passengers—will reach Gaza and accomplish our mission. Another scenario would be that the Turkish government might cave to pressure from Israel, the United States, and Germany, and prevent the boats from even leaving Istanbul. This happened in 2011, when the Greek government buckled under pressure and 10 boats were stalled in Greece. With our boats docked in Istanbul today, we fear that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who recently suffered a crushing blow in local elections, is vulnerable to any economic blackmail the Western powers might be threatening.
Another possibility is that the ships take off, but the Israelis illegally hijack us in international waters, confiscate our boats and supplies, arrest and imprison us, and eventually deport us.
What brings us together is our outrage that the world community is allowing this genocide in Gaza to happen, and a burning desire to do more than we have been doing to stop people from being murdered, maimed, and starved.
This happened on several other voyages to Gaza, one of them with deadly consequences. In 2010, a flotilla of six boats was stopped by the Israeli military in international waters. They boarded the biggest boat, the Mavi Marmara. According to a United Nations report, the Israelis opened fire with live rounds from a helicopter hovering above the ship and from commando boats along the side of the ship. In a horrific display of force, nine passengers were killed, and one more later succumbed to his wounds.
To try to prevent another nightmare like that, potential passengers on this flotilla have to undergo rigorous training. We watched a video of what we might face—from extremely potent tear gas to ear-splitting concussion grenades—and we were told that the Israeli commandos will be armed with weapons with live rounds. Then we divided up into small groups to discuss how best to react, non-violently, to such an attack. Do we sit, stand, or lie down? Do we link arms? Do we put our hands up in the air to show we are unarmed?
The most frightening part of the training was a simulation replete with deafening booms of gunfire and exploding percussion grenades and masked soldiers screaming at us, hitting us with simulated rifles, dragging us across the floor, and arresting us. It was indeed sobering to get a glimpse of what might await us. Equally sobering are Israeli media reports indicating that the Israeli military has begun “security preparations,” including preparations for taking over the flotilla.
That’s why everyone who has signed up for this mission deserves tremendous credit. The largest group of passengers are from Turkey, and many are affiliated with the humanitarian group, IHH, an enormous Turkish NGO with 82 offices throughout the country. It has consultative status at the U.N. and does charity work in 115 countries. Through IHH, millions of supporters donated money to buy and stock the ships. Israel, however, has designated this very respected charity as a terrorist group.
The next largest group comes from Malaysia, some of them affiliated with another very large humanitarian group called MyCARE. MyCARE, known for helping out in emergency situations such as floods and other natural disasters, has contributed millions of dollars in emergency aid to Gaza over the years.
From the U.S., there are about 35 participants. Leading the group, and key to the international coalition, is 77-year-old retired U.S. Army colonel and State Department diplomat Ann Wright. After quitting the State Department in protest over the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Wright has put her diplomatic skills to good use in helping to pull together a motley group of internationals. Her co-organizer from the U.S. is Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American attorney who is a co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and who ran for congress in 2022. Arraf was key to organizing the very first flotillas that started in 2008. So far, there have been about 15 attempts to get to Gaza by boat, only five of them successful.
The incredible breadth of participants is evident in our nightly meetings, where you can hear clusters of groups chatting away in Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Malay, French, Italian, and English in diverse accents from Australian to Welsh. The ages range from students in their 20s to an 86-year-old Argentine medical doctor.
What brings us together is our outrage that the world community is allowing this genocide in Gaza to happen, and a burning desire to do more than we have been doing to stop people from being murdered, maimed, and starved. The aid we are bringing is enormous—it is the equivalent of over 100 trucks—but that is not the only purpose of this trip. “This is an aid mission to bring food to hungry people,” said Huwaida Arraf, “but Palestinians do not want to live on charity. So we are also challenging Israeli policies that make them dependent on aid. We are trying to break the siege.”
Israel’s vicious attacks on the people of Gaza, its blocking of aid deliveries and its targeting of relief organizations, have fueled a massive humanitarian crisis. The killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers by Israeli forces on April 1 highlighted the dangerous environment in which relief agencies operate, which has forced many of them to shut down their operations.
The U.S. government is building a temporary port for aid that is supposed to be finished in early May, but this is the same government that provides weapons and diplomatic cover for the Israelis. And while President Joe Biden expresses concern for the suffering Palestinians, he has suspended aid to UNRWA, the main U.N, agency responsible for helping them, after Israel made unsubstantiated claims that 12 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in the October 7 attacks.
Given the urgency and danger this moment presents, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is entering rough and uncharted waters. We are calling on countries around the world to pressure Israel to allow us “free and safe passage” to Gaza. In the U.S., we are asking for help from our Congress, but as they have just approved another $26 billion to Israel, it is doubtful that we can count on their support.
And even if our governments did pressure Israel, would Israel pay attention? Their defiance of international law and world opinion during the past seven months indicates otherwise. But still, we will push forward. The people of Gaza are the wind in our sails. Freedom for Palestine is our North Star. We are determined to reach Gaza with food, medicines, and, most of all, our solidarity and love.
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Gaza-Bound Flotilla Aims to End Inhumane Israeli Blockade
"What more can I do?" asked one peace campaigner. "I can go on this flotilla to try to break the criminal siege that Israel has imposed on Gaza."
Apr 05, 2024
As Israel continues to starve Palestinians to death in the Gaza Strip, an international coalition on Friday was preparing to set sail with humanitarian aid and human rights observers "to challenge the ongoing illegal Israeli blockade."
Israel has limited the flow of people and essential goods in and out of Gaza for nearly two decades but dramatically increased those restrictions in response to the Hamas-led October 7 attack. Six months later, Israeli bombs, bullets, and limits on necessities have killed and wounded over 108,000 people and displaced most of the Palestinian territory's 2.3 million residents.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which has "sailed since 2010 with the goal of breaking the blockade of Gaza," plans to head toward the besieged enclave with 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid and hundreds of observers in mid-April.
In a Thursday statement about the effort, Ismail Moola of South Africa's Palestine Solidarity Alliance—which is part of the FFC—highlighted the January ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that said Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza.
"While our governments fail to lead in these urgently required humanitarian responses, people of conscience and our grassroots organizations must act to take leadership."
While the South Africa-led case is ongoing, the United Nations court directed Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza—an order the ICJ reiterated last week, noting the "the spread of famine and starvation."
"The International Court of Justice's preliminary measures ordered against Israel are very clear," Moola said. "The court's ruling requires the whole world to play their part to stop the genocide unfolding in Gaza, including unobstructed access to vital aid."
"While our governments fail to lead in these urgently required humanitarian responses, people of conscience and our grassroots organizations must act to take leadership," Moola asserted. "When governments fail, we sail!"
The top international funder of the Israeli assault on Gaza is the U.S. government, which gives the country nearly $4 billion in annual military support. Since October 7, the Biden administration has sought billions more while also repeatedly bypassing Congress to send more weapons to Israeli forces.
As the death toll in Gaza has soared, U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Israel's leaders to precisely target Hamas militants while also refusing to cut off armed assistance, despite pressure from Americans and people worldwide. In a Thursday call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden reportedly threatened to condition future military support. Shortly after that, Israeli officials approved reopening the Erez crossing to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
"President Biden waited six months, waited until 33,000 had been killed, mostly women and children, before picking up the phone and demanding that Netanyahu reduce civilian harm, allow more aid in, and protect aid workers," said Ann Wright, a retired U.S. Army colonel and State Department official who is now with the women-led peace group CodePink, in a statement Friday.
"But even if Israel allows more humanitarian aid in, it is still bombing Gaza with U.S. bombs, shooting innocent people and imprisoning the... people that live in Gaza," she added. "Getting humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza is urgent, but it is not sufficient. We must end Israel's unlawful, deadly blockade as well as Israel's overall control of Gaza. That's why we need this flotilla, filled with unarmed civilians, human rights observers from 30 countries, to challenge Israel’s brutal grip on the Gaza Strip."
"Even if Israel allows more humanitarian aid in, it is still bombing Gaza with U.S. bombs."
Wright plans to join the flotilla later this month, along with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin.
"I have been walking the halls of Congress every day since October, going to rallies every weekend, writing letters of outrage to President Biden every night—and nothing has worked to stop Israel from murdering thousands upon thousands of innocent people," said Benjamin. "What more can I do? I can go on this flotilla to try to break the criminal siege that Israel has imposed on Gaza."
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