When last we left our intrepid Gaza-by-the-sea protestors, they had been beached because the Israeli captain refused to let them aboard his ship unless they dumped the protest signs and kaffiyehs. The latest iteration: A “Free Gaza!” armada will be heading towards Israel’s shores.
But first, they were grounded by storms.
The highly controversial journey, announced earlier this summer, has already been delayed several times because of bad weather.
Methinks SOMEONE is trying to tell them something.
The SS Free Gaza and the SS Liberty, which are sailing from Crete to Cyprus and then on to Gaza after being delayed by a storm, will carry about 40 protesters campaigning against Israel’s economic sanctions on the Palestinian territory, including an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor and Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair, who is the international special envoy to the Middle East.
I don’t know if these are the same protestors—my money is on yes for some of them—but I don’t think they’re going to get to where they’re heading this time, either.
Israeli officials are thought to see the protesters’ efforts as a dangerous precedent. The foreign ministry sent a letter advising organisers that Gaza coastal waters are subject to a no-go warning from the Israeli navy and that any attempt to approach would be interpreted as assistance to a terrorist regime.
They have offered help in delivering humanitarian aid via land borders instead.
“From my point of view this is some kind of pirate ship,” said Shlomo Dror, a defence ministry spokesman.
“You can demonstrate, that’s OK with us. But you are not allowed to break international law.”
They’re all ready for the photo op, however.
Organisers from the Free Gaza movement, who raised £150,000 for their mission to challenge the blockade, maintain Israel has no right to stop the boats. But they acknowledge they are likely to be intercepted by the Israeli navy and detained, and have already contacted consular officials and lawyers in Israel.
And they are full of the usual self-indulgent reasoning behind all lefty protestors: We’re right because we say we are, never mind what the rules may be.
“We hope that the Israeli government will have some wisdom. To drag us in and arrest us and say somehow we are a danger is absurd,” said, Greta Berlin, one of the organisers who is in Cyprus, where the boats are expected to dock before continuing to Gaza over the weekend.
The Israeli government does have some wisdom. It has the wisdom not to let a bunch of morons run a blockade aimed at keeping goods away from Hamas. I don’t think they’ll reach the port they want to reach.
Defence officials say unauthorised vessels would normally be escorted to official seaports at Ashdod or Haifa.
Well, this should be interesting to watch play out. My money’s on the Israeli navy.
Funny, none of these oh-so-self-righteous people bother to protest against Palestinian Arabs murdering Jews. Let them do something effective to stop those murders, then maybe we’ll take their protests about the poor, oppressed murderers with less cynicism. Israel’s blockade is an attempt to stop the murderers, and the failure of the protesters to realize that is a sign that they are both dishonest and moral cretins.