{"id":116162,"date":"2018-08-06T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=116162"},"modified":"2018-08-13T10:05:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T09:05:33","slug":"freedom-under-attack-by-israel-as-it-carries-medical-supplies-to-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/08\/freedom-under-attack-by-israel-as-it-carries-medical-supplies-to-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Freedom\u2019 under Attack by Israel as It Carries Medical Supplies to Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Statement 4 Aug 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

At 20:06 (CEST) we lost contact with the yacht Freedom<\/em>, sailing under a Swedish flag, which is on a mission to break the illegal Israeli blockade of the Palestinian people of Gaza. We have reason to presume that the Israeli Occupation Forces has now begun to attack it and that it has been surrounded in International Waters. The latest reported position was approximately 40 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza.<\/p>\n

Based on what happened on Sunday<\/a>, we anticipate that the Israeli Occupation Forces has now cut all communications with Freedom<\/em>, so it can begin an undocumented attack.<\/p>\n

Freedom<\/em> is a gift for the Palestinian fishers of Gaza and is carrying a cargo of medical supplies<\/a>, including #Gauze4Gaza. On board are 10 participants and two journalists from five countries. Details of all of the participants are here<\/a>.\u00a0 The last news that we had from Freedom<\/em> was that she was maintaining her course towards Gaza and the \u2018conscience of humanity\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Israeli Occupation Forces claims that our civilian boats \u2013 including our 100% wind-powered boat \u2013 are breaking international law and threatens that they will use \u2018any measures necessary\u2019 to stop us. We assert the right of \u2018innocent passage\u2019 guaranteed under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982<\/a> and call upon international authorities to protect our small yacht. The only \u2018necessary measures\u2019 are to end the illegal blockade of Gaza and to restore freedom of movement for all Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last Sunday, the Israeli Occupation Forces cut all communications<\/a> and then violently attacked<\/a> our lead boat (\u2018Al Awda) in international waters, pulled down its Norwegian flag and trampled upon it. According to many testimonies that we have, including Yonatan Shapira<\/a>, a former Israeli Air Force officer who was a participant<\/a> aboard \u2018Al Awda\u2019, they then beat up and tasered several people and stole most of the participants\u2019 property.<\/p>\n

Four boats left Scandinavia in mid-May and have since stopped in 28 ports building support for a \u2018Just Future for Palestine\u2019. We demand that Israel ends its ongoing breaches of international law, including the collective punishment<\/a> of a twelve-year blockade of Gaza, thereby enabling the only closed port in the Mediterranean to open and that people have their universal right to freedom of movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Freedom Flotilla Coalition calls on the Swedish Government, the national governments of those aboard Freedom, other national governments, and relevant international organizations to act immediately.\u201d said Dror Feiler of Ship to Gaza Sweden, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. \u201cWe demand that the Israeli Occupation Forces not interfere with our unarmed yacht, as we continue our voyage to Gaza to deliver our gift of much-needed medical supplies\u201d.<\/p>\n

*****************<\/strong><\/p>\n

More information about the \u2018Right to a Just Future for Palestine\u2019 flotilla and the FFC:<\/p>\n

Web:<\/strong> https:\/\/jfp.freedomflotilla.org<\/a>
\nFacebook:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FreedomFlotillaCoalition
\nTwitter:<\/strong> @gazafflotilla<\/p>\n

To arrange an interview or for more information, contact: jfp.freedomflotilla.org\/media-room-2<\/a><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 freedomflotilla.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Statement 4 Aug 2018 – At 20:06 (CEST) we lost contact with the yacht Freedom, sailing under a Swedish flag. We have reason to presume that the Israeli Occupation Forces has now begun to attack it and that it has been surrounded in International Waters. The latest reported position was approximately 40 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":116163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,224,57,66,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-human-rights","category-militarism","category-middle-east-north-africa","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}