UK: Palestine and climate activists urge government to secure release of Madleen crew

​A coalition of Palestinian solidarity and climate justice groups held an “emergency demonstration” outside the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to demand the government secures the release of the detained crew aboard a charity vessel which was carrying aid to Gaza.

The Madleen, whose 12-strong crew includes climate activist Greta Thunberg, was delivering a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula, to Gaza with the intention of breaking Israel’s siege on the territory.

It was intercepted by Israeli forces at around 3am on Monday, who detained the crew. 

The protest was organised by a broad coalition of Palestinian and climate groups, including Fossil Free London, and calls on the UK government to push for the release of the activists.

They argue that the raid was illegal as the boat was sailing in international waters and that, under international maritime law, the UK has full jurisdiction over the vessel and a legal duty to protect the crew as the boat is British flagged.

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“The boat was flying a British flag and was sailing in international waters, 110 nautical miles off the coast of Palestine,” James Godfrey, a FFC spokesperson told Middle East Eye.

 “We were due to sail from international waters in Palestinian territorial waters, so Israel has no right to interfere anywhere, its acts are illegal.”

For Godfrey the interception came as no surprise - the coalition had sailed many ships previously which were met with greater violence.

In 2010, Israeli forces open-fired at the crew of another FFC boat, the Mavi Marmara, killing nine people.

Glyn Secker, national secretary of the Jewish Voice for Labour, was the captain of a ship bound for Gaza carrying eight Jewish activists. It set sail shortly after the Mavi Marmara.

According to Secker, the Israeli forces who intercepted the boat “tried to kill two people”.

He described how the soldiers held a taser gun to one of the crew members' chests.

“Luckily, his heart withstood the 30,000 volt shock - he survived,” Secker told MEE, adding that another crew member was dragged into a rib boat where soldiers “pushed their thumbs on his carotid artery”.

Secker was also unsurprised by the lack of response from the UK government regarding the incident. After his boat was attacked in 2010, the UK authorities said there was nothing they could do, and instructed them to contact the British embassy in Jerusalem.

Whereabouts remain unknown

The coalition said they are “urgently” trying to locate the crew. 

“They’ve cut all signals, they’ve abducted people. They’re held incommunicado. They've been denied their rights of contact with lawyers, with the outside world. This is not a peaceful takeover. It's a violent attack in international waters,” Godfrey said.

FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya reported that the group has still not heard from the crew, and that their "whereabouts remain unknown".

The Israeli authorities have confirmed it will deport the activists and that the Madleen is en route to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Wiya reported that, according to the Israeli immigration authority, the crew are not currently being held in Israeli custody, adding that rights group Adalah has repeatedly contacted Israeli military officials but has yet to receive any response to its inquiries or letters since the early hours of the morning.

Shortly before communication with the boat was lost, a photo was circulated on social media showing the activists with their hands up in the air, wearing life jackets.

Before their arrest, crew aboard the FFC said that quadcopters surrounded the aid ship and sprayed it with a "white liquid".

A series of pre-recorded messages by the activists were also released.

“If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces,” Thunberg said. 

Huwaida Arraf, the co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement that is supporting the flotilla, said that Israel has "no legal authority" to detain the Madleen crew.

“These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalised for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade - their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately," Arraf said in a statement.

‘We’ll continue to sail’

According to Godfrey, the FFC are already preparing to launch fresh boats.

“We’re looking at buying more boats. We’ll continue to sail and we’re  planning to sail very soon,” he told MEE. “There are people ready right now to sail. So nothing’s going to stop us”.

“People are being illegally detained at the moment, but we'll continue to get on board boats, long as governments aren't doing the job for us”.

While French President Emmanuel Macron requested that the French nationals aboard the boat be “allowed to return to France as soon as possible,” and Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack,” the UK government has yet to comment.

UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese joined calls on the UK government to "urgently seek full clarification" and "secure the immediate release of the vessel and its crew".

She also called for “every Mediterranean port” to “send boats with aid, solidarity and humanity to Gaza”.

“Breaking the siege is a legal duty for states, and a moral imperative for all of us," she said in a post on X.

Despite the silence from Downing Street, Godfrey is convinced that the UK government will be forced to act.

“People are lobbying and demanding their governments to do better,” he said. "It's not good enough. Times will change. The British government will act.

"The Israeli state will be made to end the illegal blockade of Gaza. It will be treated as a pariah state, as the South African government was a few decades ago, and then eventually, after this very, very long night, the day will come and Palestinians will be able to gain their freedom."

middleeasteye.net