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Many seized Freedom Flotilla participants still held in Israel

The IDF says the seizure was uneventful but those on board claim violence was used. A short video is appended showing a part of the boarding and seizure of those on board with the Israelis being armed commandos. The video shows Dr. Ghattas a member of the Israeli Knesset talking to the Israelis: Ghattas says that he is not in command of the Marianne but is speaking with the captain’s permission.

Ghattas joined the flotilla even though some of his fellow lawmakers threatened to remove his parliamentary immunity so he could be prosecuted. Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid party denounced the flotilla as “a provocation against the state of Israel” saying: “This is a flotilla of a group of terror supporters a heinous flotilla that needs to be stopped. We need to act against the flotilla the same way we do when dispersing a violent protest and these guys need to all be arrested.” Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, supported and defended the seizure of the Marianne, claiming that the “flotilla is nothing but a demonstration of hypocrisy and lies that is only assisting the Hamas terrorist organization.”.

Ghattas defended breaching the blockade as a means of avoiding a future war with Gaza: “More than anything, it is obvious that the situation of Palestinians in Gaza will inevitably lead to another round of bloody war, perhaps even more horrifying than the one we had less than one year ago. Still, my very outspoken colleagues in the Knesset would not even consider lifting the blockade as a means to avoid future war.”

Four of the participants were released: Dr. Bassel Ghattas, a member of the Israeli Knesset; the ex-president of Tunisia, Dr Moncef Marzouki; Ana Miranda, a member of the EU parliaments; and Chad Hemo, a journalist. The other 14 passengers on the ship were moved to Givon Camp where they are still being held. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is demanding that the others be immediately released and Israel return the ship “Marianne of Gothenberg” as well.

Among the remaining 14 there are six Swedes, two Canadians, two Norwegians, two New Zealanders, a Russian and a Moroccan. Professor Robert Lovelace, retired chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation in Canada, is one of the two Canadians still being held.

A critical article in the liberal news outlet Haaretz notes that Netanyahu sent a public sarcastic letter to the Flotilla group a day before they were arrested: “Welcome to Israel! It appears you have made a wrong turn. Perhaps you wished to sail somewhere not too far from here: Syria, where the Assad regime is massacring its people on a daily basis, with the support of the Iranian regime.There is no blockade of Gaza.”
The article remarks that Netanyahu also claimed there was no blockade after seizing the Marianne. Israel claims there is no Gaza blockade but then makes sure it enforces it. Israel has allowed more humanitarian aid in to Gaza after international criticism and pressure but Israel still determines what and who goes into Gaza.

While some international experts believe the Israeli blockade is legal as a means of self-defense, many other experts consider it is against international law: “… a Fact-Finding Mission for the UN Human Rights Council chaired by a former judge of the International Criminal Court, as well as a panel of five independent U.N. rights experts concluded that the blockade constituted collective punishment of the population of Gaza and was therefore unlawful.[28][29] UN envoy Desmond Tutu, United Nations Human Rights Council head Navi Pillay, the International Committee of the Red Cross and some experts on international law[30] consider the blockade illegal. “

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