'Piracy': Israel Kidnaps Nearly 200 Peace Activists Aboard Flotilla 600 Miles Away From Gaza
Zeteo contributor Alex Colston is among those Israel abducted, as activists accuse Greece, a NATO member, of complicity after Israeli forces intercepted 22 boats in international waters near Crete.
Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza aid flotilla over 600 miles from the coast of Gaza on Wednesday night, abducting the crews of nearly two dozen boats in international waters near Greece.
According to the flotilla’s live tracker, 22 boats carrying 179 crew members were intercepted, and over 40 others are still sailing.
The latest flotilla effort, the Global Sumud Flotilla, includes more than 400 people from over 70 nations. It is now the fifth humanitarian flotilla that Israel has intercepted in the past two years. People from around the world have joined the efforts as an attempt to breach Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to millions of Palestinians suffering from Israel’s occupation and genocide.
Among those kidnapped are 15 people from the US, including Zeteo contributor Alex Colston.
This is the furthest away from Gaza that Israel has seized an aid flotilla. There is no legal authority that enables the Israeli government to commit what some are calling “piracy” in international waters.
“How on earth is [it] possible that Israel is allowed to assault and seize vessels in international waters just off Greece/Europe?” UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese said in a social media post. “Besides what you can think of Apartheid Israel and its genocidal leaders, this should send shock waves across Europe. Apartheid without borders.”
On Wednesday night, the Israeli navy contacted the flotilla by radio through the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise vessel.
“This is the Israeli Navy. Attempts to break the lawful maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip constitutes a violation of international law,” a voice says. “...Any further attempts to sail towards Gaza places your safety at risk and leaves the IDF no choice but to take necessary measures at its disposal to enforce the lawful maritime security blockade.”
via Greenpeace
One passenger aboard a flotilla vessel that wasn’t intercepted told Zeteo that a drone flashed lights at the vessel last night and military vessels were visible in the distance, but Israeli forces have otherwise not made contact. The boat is planning to anchor in Crete to shelter from a storm.
The crew member, who asked to remain anonymous out of safety concerns, said Israeli forces sabotaged the engine of at least one flotilla vessel, stranding people aboard ahead of the expected storm, but other vessels in the fleet were able to pick them up.
On Wednesday, hours before Israeli forces illegally intercepted the ships, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he “imposed sanctions” on the flotilla’s crowdfunding campaign, ridiculously claiming it is “organized by the Hamas terror organization, in cooperation with additional international organizations and under the guise of a humanitarian aid flotilla.”
On Thursday, Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace,” which is supposedly overseeing the reconstruction of Gaza, smeared the flotilla as “performative love-boat activism of people who know nothing of and care even less for the condition of Gazans.”
After the Israeli Foreign Ministry said it would take the kidnapped crew members to Israel, Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar then claimed on Thursday that the abducted passengers will be handed over to Greece, and thanked the Greek government for its “willingness to receive the flotilla participants.”
Sa’ar falsely claimed that people who want to deliver aid to Gaza can do so through the so-called Board of Peace, and called Israel’s naval blockade “lawful.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the Israeli Navy on social media.
‘Act of Piracy’
Israel’s attack has prompted worldwide condemnation. In a statement, the Italian government said it “condemns the seizure of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels,” and called on Israel to “immediately release all the unlawfully detained Italians” and for the “full respect of international law and guarantees on the physical safety of the people on board.”
Italy added that it is “committed to continue supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza in the framework of our cooperation and in respect of international law.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez slammed Israel, saying it “is once again violating international law by assaulting a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it.”
“The EU must suspend the association agreement NOW and demand that Netanyahu comply with the law of our seas,” he added, referring to the 2000 trade and relations agreement between the European Union and Israel.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs slammed Israel’s attack as “an act of piracy.”
“By targeting the Global Sumud Flotilla, whose mission is to draw attention to the humanitarian catastrophe faced by the innocent people of Gaza, Israel has also violated humanitarian principles and international law,” the Turkish government said, calling on the international community to take a unified stance against Israel’s “unlawful” action.
“This act of aggression further represents a breach of the principle of freedom of navigation on the high seas.”
Opposition parties and pro-Palestine advocates in Greece accused the conservative government of complicity in Israel’s attack in international waters near Crete.
“The Greek government is either complicit or utterly incapable of defending our waters and the Law of the Sea against Israeli incursions,” Yanis Varoufakis, secretary of left-wing party MeRA25, said on Wednesday as Israel was targeting the fleet.
The March to Gaza Greece initiative accused the government of cooperating with Israel.
“It is obvious they are lying,” the group said in a statement. “The ships are within the Greek SAR zone, the same area where they were targeted by drones last summer. We demand the Greek government, the Coast Guard, and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs ensure the safe passage of our fleet and prevent further aggression.”
If Greece did cooperate with the Israeli government in any way, the implications would be far-reaching. It would pin one NATO member state, Greece, against several others in the region – including Italy, Spain, and Turkey – who have slammed the attack.
A NATO official referred Zeteo to Greek authorities, which did not respond. The White House referred to the US State Department, which did not respond.
‘Our Leaders Have Failed Us’
Last October, Israel intercepted a 44-vessel flotilla, which was crewed by individuals including European Union Members of Parliament Rima Hassan and Emma Forreau, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ star Adèle Haenel, and Zeteo contributor Greta Thunberg.
Israeli soldiers allegedly strip-searched, zip-tied, and blindfolded members, even forcing some, including Thunberg, to take photo-ops with the Israeli flag. In Israeli detention, crew members were allegedly subjected to abusive treatment, including sleep and medical deprivation, beatings, and having guns pointed at them.
Even still, months later, hundreds of people from around the world set off on the latest flotilla mission.
Flotilla organizers told Alex Colston at the onset of this year’s mission that ongoing genocide, coupled with the Iran war, made the risks worth it this time around.
“This is not a risk-free mission,” Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of the GSF’s lead organizers, told Alex at the time. “Nonetheless, a nonviolent solidarity mission is a fraction of the risk that Palestinians have gone through every single day for eight decades.”
The passenger Zeteo spoke to on Thursday added that the reason for the flotilla mission is “because our leaders have failed us.”
“If we allow Israel to continue kidnapping civilians illegally when they’re not even near Gaza, it shows a reckless and careless attitude towards civilian life by all world leaders,” the passenger said. “If leaders wanted to show us they cared about humanity and actually wanted peace, they would sanction Israel and its allies.”
Read Zeteo’s statement on Israel’s illegal actions:
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While the world is distracted by whatever drama Trump cooks up, Netanyahu’s apartheid regime continues to keep aid away from Gaza and prying eyes away from their continued atrocities by kidnapping these peace activists. The war on Gaza and all Palestinians wages on both in the remains of Gaza and in the West Bank. The genocidal regime will not be satiated and it knows it can continue to act with complete impunity aided and abetted by complaint and complicit governments and media in the West.
Israel is proving time and again that they are the evil. The US is not any better.