Naziyahu cabinet orders Zio-Nazi army to be firm in stopping Gaza flotilla while operating with maximal restraint to avoid causing injuries.
Haaretz
Gaza flotilla organizers said on Monday that Israel is pressuring Greece to halt the ships’ departure.
American activist Ann Wright told a news conference that Israel is mounting a”tremendous diplomatic offensive” to prevent the flotilla from setting sail.
Organizers urged the Greek government in a statement not to “become complicit in Israel’s illegal actions by succumbing to this pressure.”
Organizer Vangelis Pissias said the flotilla is ready to leave in a few days, but gave no specific departure date.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner cabinet on Monday instructed the Israel Defense Forces to be firm in preventing the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip while operating with maximal restraint to avoid causing injuries.
The senior government ministers also instructed the Foreign Ministry to continue its diplomatic efforts to prevent the flotilla from setting sail to Gaza.
Monday marked the second day of discussions by senior ministers on the planned Gaza flotilla. On Sunday, Netanyahu told the inner cabinet that Israel would not allow any ships to breach its maritime blockade of Gaza.
Security officials and Foreign Ministry representatives informed the cabinet on Sunday that Israel has no information indicating that terrorists or anyone affiliated with a terror group is planning to take part in the flotilla, said a government source. Nonetheless, there may be clashes between Israeli forces and some Arab activists aboard the ships.
“The critical mass of participants will include human rights activists from European Union countries, Canada and the United States,” said a senior security official.
Some 10 ships are planning to set sail on Tuesday in an attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of the Strip. The government and army are hoping the ships will stop on their own, possibly early Thursday, and that the Israel Navy will not have to board them, a move that would not be well received in the world.
Some 500 people are expected to be aboard the flotilla, which will include six or seven ships currently docked in Greece.
Assuming the ships do sail from Greece, they will meet up with two or three that have already set sail from Spain and France, and continue toward the Gaza coast.
The announcement two weeks ago from the Turkish group IHH that the Mavi Marmara ship will not take part in the flotilla has changed the security establishment’s views regarding the anticipated resistance. IHH members violently resisted the naval takeover of the Mavi Marmara in the flotilla of May 2010, and nine of them were killed in the clashes. In addition, since the Mavi Marmara won’t be part of this flotilla, only smaller ships will be involved, increasing the likelihood that Israel will not have to board them to force them to turn back.
Cabinet ministers were told on Sunday that after IHH announced that the Mavi Marmara would not be in the flotilla, there was less reason for concern about possible violent confrontations.
Government and defense sources said the fact that most, if not all, the flotilla participants will be European peace activists presumably not interested in violence will present a “more difficult public diplomacy challenge,” and Israel wants to avoid clashes with the activists. In contrast to the decision last year to deploy naval commandos onboard the ships when they ignored Israeli warnings not to continue to Gaza – this year Israel will try other methods to stop the ships and direct them toward Egypt’s El Arish port.
The navy has, however, trained for scenarios involving violent resistance and forcible takeover of the ships, but this is considered a last resort. In such a case, the ships and passengers will be brought to a special security area at Ashdod Port.
“The IDF is preparing for all possible scenarios,” the army spokesman said.
Flotilla organizers have been informed that if they dock first at Ashdod, Israel will bring the humanitarian aid directly to Gaza, a government source in Jerusalem said.
Israel has also talked in recent days with the interim government in Egypt, which has agreed to allow the ships to unload goods in El Arish, from where they would be sent to Gaza.
Cabinet votes to stop Gaza flotilla
National Security Cabinet orders IDF to ‘adamantly’ stop vessels trying to breach maritime blockade while doing everything possible to spare human lives. Flotilla organizers say are ‘optimistic’
The Security Cabinet voted Monday in favor of stopping the planned Gaza flotilla from breaching the maritime blockade placed on the Strip and reaching its shores.
The cabinet further ordered the IDF to “adamantly” stop the sail should it try to breach the siege, while doing everything possible to spare human lives.
Israel will also continue to try and stop the sail via diplomatic efforts.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the second Gaza flotilla called a press conference Monday in Athens:
“We hope to leave as planned in a few days,” they said. “We are not against Israel or the Israeli government. Our actions are only against the policies of the Israeli government.” The press conference was held in Greek for the most part, with an interpreter present for the benefit of the press.
“The ships are ready and will leave if the pressure is reduced, pressure which is known and is coming not only from the Israeli government but from the US government and other sources as well,” the organizers said.
“We are optimistic because… we have the will of the people. This is the key to our effort. We hope that the technical difficulties that we face are not caused by Israeli pressure on the Greek government,” they added.
‘Magicians never reveal all their tricks’
“We are going to sail, we have ten boats, we have cargo boats and they will not stop us. If they will try to physically stop us we will come again and again and again…because this our purpose, to open the traffic of people and goods to make the relations in Gaza normal again,” Dror Fyler, who will take part in the flotilla as head of the Swesidh mission, said.
“You want to know when we are coming but magicians never reveal all their tricks… he continued.
“After the holocaust two kinds of Jews evolved,” he continued, “one kind, because of the terrible experience, say ‘we will do everything we can to never let this happen to us again.’ The other kind of Jews say ‘we will never let it happen to anybody again.’
“It has been 13 months since the attack on the Mavi Marmara, they killed 9 of our brothers, 13 months of grueling hard work and we have finally come to the conclusion – we are on our way to Gaza.”
The organizers noted that the looming sail was prompting Israel to “suddenly allow medicines and construction materials into Gaza. Israel says there is no need for flotillas…if so – let us come in, open (Gaza) completely.
“Even when Egypt opens the Rafah crossing, it isn’t complete – one day open, one day closed,” Fyler said. “The people of Gaza should not be victims of the whims of the Egyptian or Israeli governments and therefore we are going there.”
American author Ann Wright, added that “all 22 national delegations are here to challenge the policies of Israel and the US. That’s why we named our boat the ‘Audacity of Hope’ which is a book by President Obama. We are challenging Obama’s policies and those of his Seecretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who call our actions provocative.”
The organizers further said Israel was “trying to outsource the siege to Greece and to the US and trying to get others to do their job… It is our job to stop them.”
Huweida Arraf, the flotilla’s legal counsel said that “There are no ‘established channels’ for the desire for freedom… Israel’s policy is one of collective punishment… Speaking as a Palestinian: We don’t want aid, we want liberation.”
The organizers urged the Greek government to let the ships sail from Athens and urges Israel to end the blockade.
Israel believes the second flotilla will be much smaller than originally planned, as six ships which were slated to take part in the Gaza-bound flotilla have been detained by the Greek port authorities.
It now appears that no more than seven ships, carrying 200-500 passengers, will participate in the flotilla.
Commander of the Israel Navy Admiral Eliezer Marom recently urged organizers to call off the flotilla. The Navy said it was “gearing for all scenarios” in the coming flotilla.
On Sunday Government Press Office’s Director Oren Helman warned international journalists against joining the flotilla, saying the move may result in various sanctions.
The Foreign Press Association inIsrael demanded Monday that Helman recant the threat, saying it has no legal merit.
The enraged backlash and subsequent allegations suggesting “Israel was not committed to the freedom of the press” prompted the Prime Minister’s Office to release a statement Monday, saying that the proposal will be revisited.
The planned flotilla has been denounced as a provocation by the US, UN and EU. The United States urges American citizens against participating in the sail.
