The lack of visible outrage at the recent pirating of a yacht intending to provide aid to the people of Gaza is both unsurprising and unconscionable.
On June 9th at approximately 3am CET the yacht Madleen (which was sailing under a British flag) was pirated by Israeli military forces whilst sailing in international waters. The word ‘pirated’ is used here deliberately, according to its meaning of a “hijacking committed aboard a ship“. One would perhaps expect that such an illegal act would be met with condemnation (indeed, the United Nations passed a resolution to this effect in 2021), however in this instance, the outcry seems limited: aside from the European Parliament, Iranian, Turkish and Spanish governments who have all condemned this as either an act of terror or piracy as well as a breach of international law; it would seem that governmental reactions are muted. In point of fact, most seem to be limited to requesting the safe return of the people being held captive by the Israeli army. Thus far I have seen nothing from the British government (despite this being a British ship) and the French have done little more it seems that request the swift return of its own citizens.
The temerity of the Israeli government in undertaking this action (for possibly the second time in the last 6 weeks) is such that, the announcement they made to the vessel they were intending to seize was captured on video and released to the press. The Israeli forces proclaimed loudly that “…Gaza is closed to naval traffic as part of a legal blockade. If you wish to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip, you are able to do so through the port of Ashdod via the established channels and distribution centres…”. This statement, is manifestly false in a number of ways: firstly the blockade is not in any form legal, and secondly even were it legal, Israel has no authority to enforce such a blockade in vessels in international waters.
Is also appears to me that the remarks concerning the ability to depose ‘humanitarian aid’ in the Port of Ashdod is disingenious in the extreme… not only is the port of Ashdod inside Israel and not Gaza, but the implication here is that Israel have a legitimate right to monitor and manage the provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, as perhaps a parent would ‘manage’ sweets being given to a child. Israel has no such authority – although as an occupying power it certainly pretends to this claim. The hypocrisy of the announcements being made by Israel are further undermined by statements made by Israel Katz the Israeli Foreign Minister, who said this week that “The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,”. Despite the illegality of even this endeavour, were the prevention of the import of weapons actually the true purpose of the pirating of the yacht Madleen, then the Israeli forces could simply have checked the boat for weapons. They did not, they seized the vessel, kidnapped the crew and confiscated the aid.
This is possibly the second instance of Israel illegally attacking a ship in international waters during an attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. In May, another vessel by the Freedom Flotilla was bombed by drones, which resulted in the loss of the ship and the aid. That ship was not however crewed by people of renown; as opposed to this voyage which counted Greta Thunberg and a Minister of the European Parliament amongst its compliment. This may go some way to understanding why this second instance of the disruption of an aid vessel was an interception and not an attack, since the endangering of the life of an elected official may have necessitated governments to react more vociferously.
The lack of protestation and objection on the part of much of the international community leads only to support Israel in their continued genocide against the Palestinian people. The reticence of elected officials to denounce their actions is all too evident, and whilst we listen to mealy-mouthed politicians proclaim that they are not in a position to judge the legality of Israel’s actions. As an example of this just last week, the United States of America again vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a full and permanent cease fire in Gaza. Several excuses were given: that the the resolution did not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza and Marco Rubio the Secretary of State said that Washington would not support any text that “draws a false equivalence between Israel and Hamas, or disregards Israel’s right to defend itself. …and indeed who could argue with his logic? Since the start of this part of the ongoing war, Hamas and killed 1,200 people, and Israel more than 50,000 (mostly civilians). Israel has also destroyed most of the schools, hospitals and housing in its mad bombing campaign too. No equivalence to be drawn…
The failure of politics and diplomacy in this area is all too evident. It is transparently clear that the powerful say and do what they will – there is no respect for the rule of law – or for the wishes of the electorate.
It takes individuals with courage to stand up for the weak against the powerful, and the powerful simply swot them like flies whilst other powers look on…