OH, THE HUMANITY

On June 30th the Free Gaza Movement boat, Spirit of Humanity, was captured in international waters whilst en route to Gaza with a cargo of humanitarian supplies and human rights witnesses. Not taking any chances with a small boat carrying an unarmed crew of pacifists, eight Israeli warships followed the Spirit, boarding her and taking the crew hostage. At the time the boat was still some 19 miles from the coast, well outside the 12 mile limit that marks the end of any country’s territorial waters. 

Ten Israeli commandos stormed the ship and handcuffed everyone on board. But despite being dressed up in full Navy SEAL combat gear, these commandos hadn’t quite earned their sea legs. Having nicked everyone during slightly choppy weather, they proceeded to throw up over the boat. Apparently this really pissed off the Spirit of Humanity’s captain.

The Israelis tried to spin the story that the boat was ‘trying to enter Israel illegally.’ The mind boggles that the Israeli propaganda machine has the balls to get away with such outrageous rubbish as this. Not only did the ship’s onboard GPS and navigation equipment all prove that the ship was headed for Gaza, but this is the Free Gaza Movement’s boat (the clue’s in the name). Technically even the Israeli state isn’t claiming that Gaza is part of Israel (at the moment at least). 

SchNEWS spoke to one of the Free Gaza organisers, Greta, based in Nicosia, Cyprus. “The 21 hostages were taken to an Israeli immigration jail. They wanted to make the charges (illegal entry into Israel) stick. But nobody signed anything, and they saw that this tactic wasn’t going to work. The Israelis have tried it all before. They rammed one ship three times, and tried to capsize another. These things didn’t work, so I guess they figure ‘maybe if we board them...’ But it’s not going to happen. We’re going back. But we won’t go back with just one ship next time, we’ll take three or four.” To date this is only the second boat that they’ve prevented from getting in. 

After the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Richard Falk) spoke up by saying that Israel had clearly violated the law, Israel quietly dropped the illegal entry claim. They also, somewhat bizarrely, tried to claim that the ship was illegally flying the Greek flag. The commandos tried to rectify this by tearing up all the flags on board (bravo brave defenders of Zion). This fact came as a surprise to the Greek owner of the ship. He’s currently in Tel Aviv negotiating the return of his vessel. Despite the keenness of the Israelis to hold onto the Spirit of Humanity, there are fairly strict rules about capturing the vessels of other nations. These rules are variously referred to as Piracy, Privateering or Acts of War (take your pick, Israel). 
It’s getting harder and harder to decipher Israel’s game these days. After kidnapping the passengers and crew of the Spirit and throwing them in jail, they allowed them to keep their phones and call the world’s press from their cells. It’s almost as if the government revels in bad press.

Meanwhile, all the crew and passengers are out of jail and have returned home. The UK detainees made it back last Monday (5th). The Free Gaza Movement has plenty of people ready and waiting to brave high seas and low tricks to break the brutal and criminal siege of Gaza. They’re short of cash however, and need activists around the world to keep their missions to Gaza in the public eye. 

* See http://freegaza.org