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Yves right here. “Freedom flotilla” appears each a bit generic and neoliberal for an pressing sea-borne mission to carry meals and provides to ravenous individuals in Gaza. The anodyne title is much more hanging if you learn beneath the true bodily dangers the member of the aid crew are taking. Ray McGovern, who participated in a stymied 2011 mission, recounted lengthy type on considered one of his many YouTubes (this one I feel was with Nima) on how the Greek authorities discovered repeated lame excuses for barring the ship from leaving port, the final being it was unfit to journey as a result of considered one of its air conditioners was malfunctioning. When the captain defied the edict and tried leaving (I presume at excessive) it was shortly pursued and surrounded, with the officers saying they might board it if its crew didn’t return to port. The captain relented, involved not only for the ship but in addition the crew and passengers, since (because the historical past beneath exhibits), earlier aid efforts have resulted in Israeli forces killing individuals on board.
By Medea Benjamin, the cofounder of CODEPINK for Peace, and the creator of a number of books, together with Inside Iran: The Actual Historical past and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Picture credit score: Medea Benjamin
The non-violence coaching to hitch the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ships to Gaza has been intense. As tons of of us from 32 nations gathered in Istanbul, we had been briefed about what we would encounter on this voyage. “We now have to be prepared for each risk,” our trainers insisted.
The very best state of affairs, they stated, is that our three ships–one carrying 5,500 tons of humanitarian assist and two carrying the passengers–will attain Gaza and achieve our mission. One other state of affairs could be that the Turkish authorities would possibly cave to stress from Israel, the US and Germany, and forestall the boats from even leaving Istanbul. This occurred in 2011, when the Greek authorities buckled below stress and ten boats had been stalled in Greece. With our boats docked in Istanbul at this time, we concern that Turkish President Erdogan, who just lately suffered a crushing blow in native elections, is weak to any financial blackmail the Western powers could be threatening.
One other risk is that the ships take off however the Israelis illegally hijack us in worldwide waters, confiscate our boats and provides, arrest and imprison us, and finally deport us.
This occurred on a number of different voyages to Gaza, considered one of them with lethal penalties. In 2010, a flotilla of six boats was stopped by the Israeli army in worldwide waters. They boarded the most important boat, the Mavi Marmara. In accordance with a UN report, the Israelis opened hearth with reside rounds from a helicopter hovering above the ship and from commando boats alongside the facet of the ship. In a horrific show of power, 9 passengers had been killed, and another later succumbed to his wounds.
To attempt to stop one other nightmare like that, potential passengers on this flotilla should endure rigorous coaching. We watched a video of what we would face—from extraordinarily potent tear fuel to ear-splitting concussion grenades—and we had been advised that the Israeli commandos might be armed with weapons with reside rounds. Then we divided up into small teams to debate how greatest to react, non-violently, to such an assault. Will we sit, stand, or lie down? Will we hyperlink arms? Will we put our fingers up within the air to indicate we’re unarmed?
Probably the most scary a part of the coaching was a simulation replete with deafening booms of gunfire and exploding percussion grenades and masked troopers screaming at us, hitting us with simulated rifles, dragging us throughout the ground, and arresting us. It was certainly sobering to get a glimpse of what would possibly await us. Equally sobering are Israeli media stories indicating that the Israeli army has begun “safety preparations,” together with preparations for taking up the flotilla.
That’s why everybody who has signed up for this mission deserves great credit score. The biggest group of passengers are from Turkey, and lots of are affiliated with the humanitarian group, IHH, an infinite Turkish NGO with 82 places of work all through the nation. It has consultative standing on the UN and does charity work in 115 nations. By way of IHH, tens of millions of supporters donated cash to purchase and inventory the ships. Israel, nonetheless, has designated this very revered charity as a terrorist group.
The subsequent largest group comes from Malaysia, a few of them affiliated with one other very massive humanitarian group referred to as MyCARE. MyCARE, recognized for serving to out in emergency conditions akin to floods and different pure disasters, has contributed tens of millions of {dollars} in emergency assist to Gaza through the years.
From the U.S., there are about 35 individuals. Main the group, and key to the worldwide coalition, is 77-year-old retired U.S. Military colonel and State Division diplomat Ann Wright. After quitting the State Division in protest over the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Wright has put her diplomatic abilities to good use in serving to to tug collectively a motley group of internationals. Her co-organizer from the U.S. is Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American legal professional who’s a co-founder of the Worldwide Solidarity Motion and who ran for congress in 2022. Arraf was key to organizing the very first flotillas that began in 2008. To date, there have been about 15 makes an attempt to get to Gaza by boat, solely 5 of them profitable.
The unbelievable breadth of individuals is obvious in our nightly conferences, the place you possibly can hear clusters of teams chatting away in Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Malay, French, Italian, and English in various accents from Australian to Welsh. The ages vary from college students of their 20s to an 86-year-old Argentine medical physician.
What brings us collectively is our outrage that the world group is permitting this genocide in Gaza to occur, and a burning need to do greater than we’ve got been doing to cease individuals from being murdered, maimed and starved. The help we’re bringing is gigantic–it’s the equal of over 100 vehicles—however that isn’t the one function of this journey. “That is an assist mission to carry meals to hungry individuals,” stated Huwaida Arraf, “however Palestinians don’t need to reside on charity. So we’re additionally difficult Israeli insurance policies that make them depending on assist. We are attempting to interrupt the siege.”
Israel’s vicious assaults on the individuals of Gaza, its blocking of assist deliveries and its concentrating on of aid organizations have fueled a large humanitarian disaster. The killing of seven World Central Kitchen employees by Israeli forces on April 1 highlighted the damaging setting wherein aid businesses function, which has compelled a lot of them to close down their operations.
The U.S. authorities is constructing a short lived port for assist that’s alleged to be completed in early Could, however this is identical authorities that gives weapons and diplomatic cowl for the Israelis. And whereas President Biden expresses concern for the struggling Palestinians, he has suspended assist to UNRWA, the primary UN company answerable for serving to them, after Israel made unsubstantiated claims that 12 of its 13,000 workers in Gaza participated within the October 7 assaults.
Given the urgency and hazard this second presents, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is coming into tough and uncharted waters. We’re calling on nations world wide to stress Israel to permit us “free and secure passage” to Gaza. Within the U.S., we’re asking for assist from our Congress, however having simply accredited one other $26 billion to Israel, it’s uncertain that we are able to rely on their help.
And even when our governments did stress Israel, would Israel concentrate? Their defiance of worldwide regulation and world opinion throughout the previous seven months signifies in any other case. However nonetheless, we’ll push ahead. The individuals of Gaza are the wind in our sails. Freedom for Palestine is our North Star. We’re decided to achieve Gaza with meals, medicines and, most of all, our solidarity and love.
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