Israel stops the Freedom Flotilla in international waters, seizes humanitarian aid for Gaza

Brussels – With the first light of dawn, at exactly 3:02 a.m. this morning (June 9), the journey of the Madleen to Gaza was interrupted. The Israeli navy boarded the boat of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in international waters, seized the humanitarian aid, and transferred the crew to the port of Ashdod, some thirty kilometers south of Tel Aviv. A “blatant violation of international law”emphsizedthe Left Group in the European Parliament, whose ranks include Rima Hassan, a Franco-Palestinian MEP who was one of the 12 aboard the Flotilla.

The Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, French Al Jazeera journalist Omar Faiad, and nine other volunteers were with her. Of the crew, six members are French. The others are Swedish, Turkish, Spanish, Dutch, English and German. “These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade—their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately,” a press release of the collective that fights for the rights of the Palestinian people underlined.

The Madleen had set sail on June 1 from the port of Catania and – after diverting its course at the request of Frontex to rescue a boat of migrants off the coast of Libya – arrived within sight of the coast of the Gaza Strip. Already during the journey, Israel had made it clear that it would prevent access to the Palestinian enclave, despite the UN’s explicit request to guarantee safe passage to the Freedom Flotilla and despite freedom of navigation and the rules of maritime and international law.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had instructed the army to show the Madleen’s crew “videos of the horrors of the October 7 massacre” when they arrived at Ashdod port. “It is only fair that the anti-Semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organization is that they have come to support and who they work for,” the far-right minister attacked. The ship was transporting necessities for the people of Gaza, including powdered milk, flour, rice, nappies, feminine hygiene products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and prostheses for children.

The Ankara government condemned the Israeli action, a “heinous act of the government” of Benjamin Netanyahu that “threatens freedom of navigation and maritime safety.” So far, the governments of the European countries of the crew members detained by Israel have taken no position despite the growing media pressure exerted since the past few days by the large following enjoyed by Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, above all.

“Netanyahu’s army intercepted the Freedom Flotilla against a background of deafening silence from political leaders in Europe and around the world. History is watching them. Their inaction to put an end to the genocide is nothing but complicity,’ noted Manon Aubry, co-chair of the European Left group and member of the French radical left-wing party La France Insoumise, of which the MEP now in the hands of the Israeli army is also a member. The party led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon has mobilized widely and called for demonstrations in support of the Freedom Flotilla in over 30 French cities this afternoon. The European Union “demands clarity on how they were captured and joins our call for their immediate release,” said the 5 Star Movement delegation to the European Parliament.