Opinion | What Can the Next Gaza Freedom Flotilla Expedition Expect?

Fifteen years in the past, in Could 2010, I used to be certainly one of roughly 700 individuals that sailed on seven unarmed civilian ships to interrupt the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and produce wanted meals, medicines, and supplies to Palestinians in Gaza who have been struggling underneath the brutal, inhumane insurance policies enacted by the Israeli authorities, which included a naval, land, and air blockade of Gaza.

These insurance policies included “putting Palestinians on a diet” by lowering the caloric consumption of individuals dwelling in Gaza by permitting a a lot cut back variety of vans carrying meals into Gaza.

Laborious to Predict or Imagine the Cruelty of the State of Israel Towards Palestinians

I don’t suppose 15 years in the past we may have predicted the cruelty of the Israeli authorities because it now conducts the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleaning of Palestinians dwelling within the West Financial institution.

We couldn’t have predicted that the worldwide neighborhood would permit the Israeli authorities to bomb Gaza day by day for over 19 months inflicting over 55,000 deaths, tens of hundreds useless underneath the rubble, a whole lot of hundreds injured and wounded both bodily or psychologically, and all the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza having to maneuver again and again because the Israelis bombed Gaza from north to south, from east to west.

We’re properly conscious that violence is the Israeli method to anybody and any vessel difficult their genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

We couldn’t have predicted that even after the genocide grew to become obvious to everybody together with these earning money from weapons or funds for political campaigns, that the USA, Germany, and different Western European nations would proceed to provide bombs and different army killing munitions to the Israeli authorities.

Nor may we now have predicted that the worldwide neighborhood would permit Israel to chop off all meals, medicines, and water for over 90 days after the brutal bombing of 17 months.

Residents Telling Our Governments to STOP Their Assist for Israel By means of Assist for the Flotillas

Since 2008, around 31 unarmed civilian ships full of a whole lot of activists from world wide have tried to interrupt the unlawful Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. In 2008, five small ships actually got into Gaza, the primary ships from worldwide waters that had arrived in Gaza in over 40 years.

Since December 2008 with the 22-day Israeli assault on the folks of Gaza known as “Operation Cast Lead,” no ships have gotten into Gaza.

But we maintain sending ships with courageous folks prepared to face as much as Israel and symbolic cargo to finish the naval blockade of Gaza.

Israeli Navy More and more Violent Towards Unarmed Civilian Ships—Together with BOMBING ships!

Crew and individuals on every of the ships which have tried to interrupt the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza have been met with some degree of violence. After 10 Turkish residents (together with one Turkish American younger man) have been killed and 50 Turkish residents wounded 15 years in the past on Could 31, 2010, on the large Mavi Marmara ship, crew and individuals on different ships have been overwhelmed up, tasered, and mistreated on the next ships.

On Could 2, 2025, Israeli commandos bombed a Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship called the Conscience, so named to remind each particular person on this planet that every is part of the conscience of the world and they need to be doing all the pieces inside their energy to cease the Israeli genocide, and their authorities’s complicity.

The Could 2, 2025 bombing got here immediately after an Israeli C-130 plane was flown from Israel and circled the European island nation of Malta. The Conscience was anchored in worldwide waters 13 kilometers off Malta.

The Conscience was hit by two explosive units fired from drones. Crew members report listening to drones across the ship previous to the explosives hitting and critically damaging the ship.

A number of of the 13 crew members and 6 non-crew individuals have been injured by shrapnel and damaged glass attributable to the explosives.

Organizers of the Gaza flotilla had deliberate for 32 individuals to affix onboard the Conscience later within the morning of Could 2. Had the explosive detonated on the ship six hours later, many others may have been injured.

Israel Directs the U.S. to Order Palau to Cancel the Flag and Certification of the Conscience

We all know there was a lot worldwide complicity within the bombing of the Conscience. About 12 hours earlier than the bombing, the small Pacific island nation of Palau, which is able to obtain $890 million from the USA over the next 20 years through the Compact of Free Association, cancelled the flag and certification of the Conscience, giving no purpose. The annual earnings of Palau citizens is $17,000.

I perceive that the categorised cables will likely be out there quickly from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel requesting that, on the path of the State of Israel, the U.S. State Division and White Home direct Palau to cancel the flag of the Conscience.

Moreover, the company we had employed to conduct the switch of individuals from shore to the Conscience reported that they’d by no means acquired any curiosity from Maltese authorities officers on the switch of individuals to ships till the day earlier than the assault on Sunday, Could 1, a nationwide vacation in Malta, when the company was deluged with calls from Maltese officers informing them that the flag and certification of the Conscience had been cancelled… on a Sunday… with out clarification of the rationale for the cancellation. The U.S. Embassy in Malta little question knowledgeable the Maltese authorities of Palau’s cancellation of the flag as quickly because it was cancelled on the path of the U.S. authorities.

Regardless of the Doable Israeli Violence Towards Flotilla Ships, One other Gaza Flotilla Ship Madleen Will Sail Over the Could 31-June 1, 2025 Weekend

As organizers of the flotilla, we acknowledge that Israel has dramatically elevated its killing of Palestinians and with the bombing of the Conscience has issued one other warning to the worldwide neighborhood that if you happen to problem Israeli insurance policies they are going to bomb you and the nations from the place you come won’t care… as they don’t care what number of Palestinians Israel has killed.

However regardless of this warning on Could 2, we now have many people who find themselves prepared to place their lives on the road in hope that their motion will spur worldwide condemnation and isolation of Israel and pressure them to cease the genocide.

You might suppose we’re loopy, however we now have made public the departure of the subsequent wave of the Gaza flotilla crusing to interrupt the unlawful Israeli naval blockade of Gaza

Our individuals know that the Israeli Navy has already made plans as to how the Madleen will likely be stopped.

The historical past of the Gaza flotilla reveals that Israel will shoot from helicopters unarmed civilians standing on the highest deck of our ship (Mavi Marmara).

We all know Israel will board our ships and beat up and taser captains, crew, and individuals. (Marianne, Estelle, Al Awda, Freedom)

And now we all know that Israel will bomb our ships. (Conscience)

What’s Subsequent from the Israeli Navy? Nonviolent Stopping of Ships? NO!

Regardless of having nonviolent means out there to cease ships of the flotilla, reminiscent of

• Damaging the propeller (which they did to 2 ships in 2011),
• Blocking the ahead motion of our ships by placing their ships in entrance of ours and bringing the ship to a halt and ready till our ship has to return to a port for water or meals, or
• Asking NATO ships to cease our ship (and hopefully NATO would take note of worldwide maritime legislation which Israel doesn’t)…

We’re properly conscious that violence is the Israeli method to anybody and any vessel difficult their genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Would Israel on Steroids Use Torpedoes In opposition to an Unarmed, Civilian Ship Crammed with Activists Difficult a Genocide????

We’ve no doubts the Israeli army could use different weapons towards the flotilla, together with torpedoes from submarines. The “order of battle,” or models and gear utilized by the Israeli Navy in stopping ships from the flotilla has included all lessons of naval vessels type massive warships, to small boarding boats, to submarines, from surveillance plane, to drones, to helicopters.

We don’t put out of the vary of potentialities that the Israeli Navy, that has been firing naval artillery weapons from their ships into Gaza, would possibly wish to give their submarine crews a chance to take part within the killings by the Israeli authorities of Palestinians and activists from world wide.

In accordance with Naval News, Israel’s newest submarine, INS Drakon (“Dragon”), was launched in Kiel, Germany in 2023 and it reveals a major progress in Israeli submarine capabilities. It has a novel design with a big “sail,” which might be used for autonomous underwater autos (AUVs), uncrewed air autos (UAVs), loitering munitions reminiscent of drones (which can have been used within the assault on the Conscience ship), or perhaps a rescue submersible, in addition to for launching a missile.