Sunday, June 21, 2015

Arab MK to join third Gaza-bound flotilla, warns Israel not to intercept it - Ariel Ben Solomon, Lahav Harkov, Yonah Jeremy Bob




by Ariel Ben Solomon, Lahav Harkov, Yonah Jeremy Bob


Balad MK Basel Ghattas wrote Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday that he would be joining the Gaza-bound flotilla and that there is “no reason” to prevent it from reaching its destination.

Ghattas plans on joining the flotilla of Palestinian activists in Athens.

“I will be on deck together with many participants including dozens of members of parliament and public figures from around the world,” said Ghattas in the letter.

The “flotilla of peace” seeks to break the siege on Gaza and turn the world’s attention to the 1.8 million Palestinians that are living in “prison conditions,” he continued.

Israel is collectively punishing the Palestinians, which is “a flagrant violation of humanitarian law,” he added.

“There is no reason to prevent us from reaching Gaza and deliver the aid we will be carrying,” argued Ghattas, adding that the prime minister should order the Israeli security forces to “stay away” and allow the flotilla to reach Gaza.

Ghattas also warned that any action to take over the boat would “complicate Israel with another international crisis.”

While Israel was not officially relating to the flotilla, one government official said that Israel will not allow the flotilla to reach the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem has made clear in the past that there are numerous channels to bring humanitarian material into Gaza, and these types of flotillas are meant solely as provocations.

The Zionist Union party released a statement reading: "Just as the flotilla to Gaza is not humanitarian, rather it is a political act to legitimize the Hamas regime and bring terrorism to Israel, so to MK Ghattas' participation is unfortunate and not humanitarian, but political and will bring conflict and quarrels within Israel."

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman said "Ghattas' planned participation in the flotilla is further proof that the Joint List is one big terrorist ship, that is only meant to harm the State of Israel and use Israeli democracy to try to destroy it."

Liberman called on Israeli society to stop "the hypocritical game and denounce and vomit this group of terror supporters from within us."

MK Sharon Gal (Yisrael Beytenu) said that Ghattas is joining the "terrorist flotilla" because he is "extremist and hates Israel."

"The time has come to learn that our policy of containment is understood by our enemies as weakness, whether they have an Israeli ID card and live here or if they are part of terrorist organizations and live in the Palestinian Authority's territory," Gal stated.

"We need to wake up and take care of these phenomena with an iron fist."

Gal called the Joint List a fifth column, pointing out that Ghattas has also called for boycotts against Israel.

Meanwhile, NGO Shurat HaDin on Sunday sent a warning letter demanding that the Swedish bank Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) “cease providing financial services” to the groups Free Gaza and Ships to Gaza, which are “helping to arrange a flotilla to breach Israel's lawful naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.”

In particular, the NGO wrote that “SEB holds a maritime lien on the Marianne of Gothenburg, the lead ship in the planned Gaza flotilla.”

Next, the letter said that the bank issued a mortgage to the owner of the boat, Charles Bertel Andreasson, who it called “a veteran anti-Israel provocateur who has engaged in illegal efforts against the Jewish State in the past.”

In the letter to SEB's president and group chief executive, Annika Falkengren, Shurat HaDin's president, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, stated that the flotilla ship “might be destroyed or confiscated” by the IDF and that the Stockholm-based bank “is at serious risk of losing its collateral: the boat.”

The IDF is conducting naval intelligence to monitor the progress of the Gaza-bound flotilla that set off from Sweden at the end of May and docked at Palmero, Italy earlier this month.

The Marianne av Göteborg trawler is carrying a crew of pro-Palestinian activists, who have brought with them a solar panel and medical equipment.

Israel has told past flotillas to Gaza that they are welcome to dock at Ashdod Port, where their equipment can undergo a comprehensive security check, and that any humanitarian equipment can be sent on to Gaza afterward via a land crossing.

In 2010, fellow Balad MK Haneen Zoabi jointed the Mavi Marmara flotilla that sought to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Israel Navy commandos boarded the ship, were attacked, and killed nine of the attackers. A tenth Turk died four years later from his injuries.

Earlier this month, a Madrid court shelved a five-year-old investigation into the 2010 flotilla, though the probe could potentially be re-opened if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ever visits Spain.

Herb Keinon, Yaakov Lappin and Reuters contributed to this report.



Ariel Ben Solomon, Lahav Harkov, Yonah Jeremy Bob

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Arab-MK-to-join-third-Gaza-bound-flotilla-warns-Israel-not-to-intercept-it-406687

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ghattas should be charged with treason and sentenced as a traitor to Israel for life.

Anonymous said...

Deport him.

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