Yvonne Ridley: PIRATES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
NOT content with committing war crimes and human rights atrocities in full view
of the world, Israel has now confirmed itself as a rogue state by launching
into international piracy.
The SS Dignity
Dawn had not yet broken over the Mediterranean waters in which the SS Dignity
was sailing when an Israeli naval gunboat appeared from the inky black
and rammed the aid-bearing ship. The act of aggression on a peace
mission was launched in international waters 90 miles off Gaza, without
any warning to the captain of the Dignity or the crew.
Israel
claimed the incident was an accident and that its naval officers had
made numerous attempts to communicate with the Dignity. It was an
accident that was to repeat itself three times.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told one press
agency that the naval vessel tried to contact the aid boat by radio for
identification and to inform it that it could not enter Gaza. “After
the boat did not answer the radio, it sharply veered and the two
vessels collided, causing only light damage,” Palmor said.
I wonder how many traffic cops around the world have heard that line from a
drunken or reckless driver in the wake of a crash.
The Israeli spokesman then went on to accuse the international
activists of “seeking provocation more than ever.” Isn’t it amazing how
Yigal and Co suddenly go belly up and adopt a victim mentality? I
wonder how he will react to the news that onboard the ship, among the
cargo of much-needed medical supplies and humanitarian aid were TV crew
s from CNN and Al Jazeera as well as other media. For goodness sake,
the Dignity was on a peace mission, armed with nothing more than
humanitarian aid - hardly a match for the tooled up, hi-tech Israeli
Navy and its deadly arsenal.
Sorry to be so direct, but Palmor is a purveyor of deceit, a liar -
and a very unconvincing one at that. You see all sea-faring people know
that there is a certain radio channel and frequency which remains open
24 hours a day. I know myself, because the Israeli Navy used that exact
same frequency on one of the two Free Gaza boats as they set sail back
in August 2008 to break the siege of Gaza by sea. That emergency
frequency carried messages of threats and intimidation as clear as a
bell.
Radio communications were used without any difficulty on the Israeli
Navy several times by human rights activists from the Free Gaza
Movement warning the gunboats to back off when they fired at Gazan
fishermen. The westerners were on the tiny fishing ships to stop the
naval bully boys terrorizing the unarmed fishermen.
And by the way, what the hell is Israel
up to by banning or trying to prevent boats from entering waters not in
its territory? This is the Mediterranean. Just when did Israel assume complete
authority of the Med?
It is also worth pointing out that Dignity was clearly flying the
flag of Gibraltar, and was piloted by an English captain with a
passenger list including revered politician Cynthia McKinney from the
US. The Israeli Government Press Office director was faxed the entire
passenger list and press release shortly after Dignity set sail.
Cynthia is a former Congresswoman from Georgia, and the 2008 Green
Party US presidential candidate. She was traveling to Gaza to assess
the ongoing conflict.
I know her and I can tell you she is one sassy lady. If the Israel Navy thinks
this little incident is going to sink without trace then they truly are in for
one rude awakening.
After reaching port safely in Lebanon, where thousands greeted the
Dignity, Cynthia said: “Israeli patrol boats…tracked us for about 30
minutes…and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three
times, twice in the front and once in the side…the Israelis indicated
that [they felt] we were involved in terrorist activities.”
She was joined by another woman of substance, Dr. Elena Theoharous,
MP who is a surgeon and a Member of the Cypriot Parliament. She was
going to Gaza to assess the ongoing conflict, assist with humanitarian
relief efforts, and volunteer in hospitals.
Also on board is another good friend of mine, Caoimhe Butterly, an
organizer with the Free Gaza Movement. She said: “The gunboats gave us
no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing
huge floodlights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we
didn’t react. We knew we were well within international waters and
supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the
side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes,
we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started
screaming at us as we were frantically getting the lifeboats ready and
putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn’t turn
back they would shoot us.”
Furthermore, the attack was filmed by the journalists, and crew and
passengers and no doubt we will see the full extent of that footage and
the damage caused by Israel.
Of course Israel
is always using the “Oops sorry it was an accident” routine. That’s the
excuse the Zionist State used when it hit the USS Liberty on June 8,
1967 with a flurry of bombs, murdering 34 American servicemen in cold
blood. In the 40 year s since, those with the blood of those shipmates
on their hands have gotten away with murder.
But try as they might to rewrite what happened onboard the Dignity
and the Liberty, there are some memories which will not die. And what Israel
has done to Gaza in the last few days will become an epitaph for the Zionist
State. Israel’s
deplorable attack on the unarmed Dignity is a violation of both
international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,
which states, “the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes.”
Delivering doctors and urgently needed medical supplies to civilians
is just such a “peaceful purpose.” Deliberately ramming a mercy ship
and endangering its passengers is an act of terrorism and piracy.
As I write this a funeral is being planned for five Palestinian
sisters who were slaughtered in their sleep when an airstrike hit the
next-door mosque in .Gaza. One of the walls collapsed on to their small
asbestos-roofed home and they were all killed in their beds in the
densley populated Jabalya refugee camp. The eldest sister, Tahrir
Balousha was 17 years old, the youngest, Jawaher, just four.
Some hours earlier Israel’s
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told al Jazeera: “”Hamas seeks to kill
children; it fires at kindergartens, schools, civilians – because this
corresponds with its extremist ideology. Our values are completely
different,” she said.
Her outrageous claim went unchallenged, like so many statements coming
out of Tel Aviv do these days. In a way, Ms Livni is right - Israel’s
values are different. Hamas has killed no one’s children but the
Israeli cabinet members who have spent the last six months planning the
Gaza massacre, have sent out their military on assaults which have
killed children. The air and sea attacks, shells and missiles have
killed lots of Palestinian children.
While today’s continued military slaughter - and now piracy -
underlines the fact that leaders in the international community seem
unwilling or unable to halt the Zionist War Machine, there are
international lawyers who think otherwise.
And that is why one by one, those responsible will one day be
charged with war crimes … the evidence is stacking up - Nuremberg would
be quite a fitting arena to try the guilty but London, Paris, Berlin,
Amsterdam or Madrid will do.
The Israelis might not acknowledge their guilt publicly, but
Brigadier-General Aviv Kochavi has canceled a study sabbatical in
London for fear of being indicted for “war crimes” and former IDF
Southern Commander Doron Almog clung on to his passenger seat when
someone from the israeli Embassy advised him not to put one foot on the
ground at London’s Heathrow Airport after a suit had been filed against
him for “war crimes” during his stint as head of the IDF Gaza division
from 1993-95 and head of the IDF Southern Command starting in 2000. IDF
Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon and former Shin Bent director Avi Dichter
are two others who are advised not to leave outside Israel.
I understand fresh writs are being prepared for the next generation
of Israeli war criminals and that includes all those involved in the
Gaza massacres … which could be anyone from a lowly reservist who has
just been called up right through to the top ranks and beyond.
Like the Nazi and war crime hunters of the past, we must never
forgive, never forget and never submit to the demands of morally
bankrupt states and politicians.
* Yvonne Ridley and film-maker Aki Nawaz sailed to Gaza with the FGM
on the first mission to break the siege. A documentary about the trip
will be broadcast on Press TV in 2009. Yvonne is a co-founder of the
newly-launched SGS - Stop Gaza Slaughter coalition.convey_url =
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ABDUL WAHID OSMAN BELAL
