2011 Summary of the Cultural Boycott of Israel for Musicians
The year 2011 was a year full of many successes in the campaign for the cultural boycott of Israel. This summary will focus on the cultural boycott with emphasis on musical artists and groups.
The fall of South African apartheid was preceded by many musical artists who joined to create a movement. That movement became known popularly as “I’m not gonna play Sun City.” Israel has not yet seen its Sun City moment fully, but as you’ll see, significant rumblings are beginning.
January, 2011:Jon Bon Jovi was asked not play in Israel. Thus far, boycott efforts have been successful. The singer had announced on Larry King Live he would perform in Israel. After boycott efforts to ask him to refrain, no concert ever happened. [1]
French pop star Vanessa Paradis refuses to perform in Israel.[2] Her partner, American film icon Johnny Depp also cancels his visit to Israel.
February, 2011:Roger Waters (founder of Pink Floyd) comes out in strong support of the cultural boycott when he writes “Artists were right to refuse to play in South Africa’s Sun City resort until apartheid fell and whites and blacks enjoyed equal rights. And we are right to refuse to play in Israel until the day comes — and it surely will come — when The Wall of occupation falls and Palestinians live alongside Israelis in the peace, freedom, justice and dignity that they all deserve.” [3]
German bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, scheduled to sing five classical concerts in Israel, withdraws shortly beforehand. He’d been asked to cancel his concerts by BRICUP, Boycott from Within and others. He said his withdrawal was on grounds of illness.
Pete Seeger unequivocally supports the cultural boycott, stating “I misunderstood the leaders of the Arava Institute because I didn’t realize to what degree the Jewish National Fund was supporting Arava. Now that I know more, I support the BDS movement as much as I can.” [4]
May, 2011:August Burns Red refrained from playing at Tel Aviv’s Barby. Just over one week prior to their gig sources said “they have no plans to reschedule, they cancelled because they do not want to play in Israel.” A three month long effort had been launched to ask the band to refrain. [5]
Marc Almond’s cancellation was welcomed by the BDS Movement. [6] Letters, as well as a Facebook page were created to let the “Tainted Love” singer know about the real Israel. His fans passed out leaflets before a UK concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London. His welcome response came four days later when he refused to play in Israel.
June, 2011: Although Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not a musician, the cancellation of his film promotion at the Jerusalem Film Festival brought a whirlwind of attention to the cultural boycott of Israel. 101 organizations signed a letter praising the basketball legend. [7]
Also, in late June, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine announced that they would refuse to perform in Tel Aviv. [8] The voice of the Palestinian people was ultimately respected by the vintage punk rocker Jello Biafra.
Punk rock fans unite with punk bands and artists to launch Punks Against Apartheid.
July, 2011: Musicians Dave Randall, Maxi Jazz, and Jamie Catto release the single “Freedom For Palestine” with the Durban Gospel Choir. As the video went viral it gained momentum from endorsements by Coldplay, LUSH Cosmetics, Lowkey, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, and many more. [9]
August, 2011:Tuba Skinny, while in Rome en-route to Israel , received information about the cultural boycott. Tuba Skinny refused to perform at the Israel Government-sponsored Red Sea Jazz Festival, cancelling their concert only a few days prior to their scheduled gig. [10] Latin jazz great Eddie Palmieri of Puerto Rico [11]and jazz musician Jason Moran of Houston [12] followed Tuba Skinny, and also cancelled their appearances at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.
September, 2011:Natacha Atlas stuns her Israeli booking agents when she refuses to play her scheduled concert in Israel. She bravely states on her facebook page:
“…after much deliberation I now see that it would be more effective a statement to not go to Israel until this systemised apartheid is abolished once and for all. Therefore I publicly retract my well-intentioned decision to go and perform in Israel and so sincerely hope that this decision represents an effective statement against this regime.”[13]
The cultural boycott came closer to home as the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra went on tour. Creative protests were seen in many cities in the USA and Europe. A protest in London during the BBC’s Prom Live Broadcast of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra resulted in worldwide press coverage when the BBC decided to halt its live broadcast of the concert.
Denise Jannah was written to just prior to her tour in Israel. She did perform in Israel, but her experience in Israel caused her to regret her choice, and she came out in support of the cultural boycott. She stated: “Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid.” [14]
Riverdance set designer Robert Ballagh, in bold support for BDS, called for the cancellation of Riverdance’s tour in Israel, but he was unable to stop it because he does not possess the copyright. However he donated all his royalties from the performance of Riverdance in Israel to the Irish Ship to Gaza campaign.[15]
October, 2011: The Yardbirds were scheduled to play in Israel, and a letter [16] signed by professors in the UK was written to them from BRICUP. They subsequently cancelled their performance. Humanitarians are asking them not to reschedule in 2012.
Greek singer Martha Frintzila bows out of her performance at the Israel Government-sponsored Jerusalem Oud Festival with a the statement that she: “…will not participate in Oud Festival in Jerusalem for conscientious and political reasons.” [17]
Hosam Hayak, a regular performer at the Jerusalem Oud Festival, chose this year to cancel, making a press release in Arabic on his facebook notes.[18]
In another boost to the cultural boycott, John Michael McDonagh, director of Golden Globe nominated (director and main actor) film The Guard, announces that, “due to the conflict, [he] declined to attend the Haifa Film Festival 2011.”
November, 2011: The Jerusalem String Quartet was met with creative protests in both the UK and North America. Parody programs were received by concert attendees in at least four North American cities.[19]
Macy Gray tweets regarding her February Tel Aviv gig @MacyGraysLife “i had a reality check and I stated that I definitely would not have played there if I had known even the little that I know now.”
Punkers Zdob si Zdub of Moldavia were also asked to refrain playing in Israel. They cancelled their 5 November concert, and the BDS movement is asking them to refrain from playing in 2012, as they are being pressured to “reschedule.”[20]
Mireille Mathieu was asked by BDS France [21] to cancel her concert in Tel Aviv. The French singer was also the recipient of a letter [22] signed by seventy people in the artistic community in Gaza asking her to respect the boycott. Mireille Mathieu’s courageous announcement [23] on her website that she has postponed playing in Tel Aviv is a welcome one. The BDS movement encourages her to stand strong against pressure from both French and Israeli booking agents to “reschedule” her concert in the apartheid state.
Rapper MF Doom was called on by numerous groups and individuals not to “rap in the apartheid state.” Press reports indicated he cancelled his 26 Nov concert due to illness. As of this publication, Doom has not rescheduled his concert in Tel Aviv.
In Switzerland, over 150 artists pledge to boycott apartheid Israel.[24]
December, 2011:Oumou Sangaré becomes the third French artist in 2011 to cancel her planned performance with the Israeli Opera, as BDS makes inroads into the classical music world. An informative letter from BDS France was followed by letters from DPAI and BDS Italy. [25]
Joe Lynn Turner’s 16 December concert in Tel Aviv is cancelled.[26]
Joker (UK) refuses to bring his dubstep-bass sounds to Tel Aviv. It appears that his decision might have been influenced by other musicians in the London music scene who asked him to reconsider.
Looking Ahead to 2012:
UK and Irish musicians are taking the lead under the “Freedom for Palestine” banner. In the USA, expect Lupe Fiasco to continue to vocalize his support for Palestinians.
Current campaigns for cultural boycott are underway for Bruce Springsteen, Arch Enemy and Red Hot Chili Peppers to alert them about the reasons to join fellow musicians in refusing to play in the apartheid state. Cultural BDS is growing and volunteers remain busy working in countless creative ways.
The JNF was created in 1901 to acquire land and property rights in Palestine and beyond for exclusive Jewish settlement. While indigenous Palestinians are barred from leasing, building on, managing or working their own land, the JNF holds the land in trust for “those of Jewish race or descendency” living anywhere in the world to “promote the interests of Jews in the prescribed region.”
To ensure such racist control over the majority of confiscated Palestinian lands, Israel adopted the JNF model of discriminatory land management as official state policy. In 1953, the Israeli Knesset legislated special status for JNF, enabling it to carry out governmental functions as a Zionist institution (“for Jews only”). The JNF continues to operate as a state-chartered organization[6] under Israeli law with direct control over some thirteen percent of the land in pre-1967 Israel.
Further, the JNF appoints six out of thirteen members of the governing board of the Israel Lands Authority (ILA), which manages the JNF’s thirteen percent, in addition to another eighty percent of all land in Israel. It is through this relationship with the JNF that Israel, while portraying itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, in fact, outsources the land-management
functions of the state to this discriminatory state-chartered organization.
Today Al Mezan releases ‘Children in the Gaza Strip’s Access to Medical Care’ a factsheet published under the Save the Children UK funded project ‘Child Rights at the Centre: Enhancing National Capacities to Monitor, Document, and Report on Child Rights Issues in the oPt.’ The factsheet documents Israel’s policies towards the Gaza Strip which result in children being denied the right to access proper medical care.
The ongoing siege on Gaza which stops essential medical equipment and drugs from entering and causes sporadic fuel and electricity cuts combined with the closure system which prevents medical professionals from travelling abroad to access advanced training outside Gaza. These policies have resulted in a medical system in Gaza which cannot provide care and procedures for many patients. Children requiring care that is unavailable have to go outside Gaza, usually to hospitals in Israel, Jerusalem or the West Bank (as well as to Egypt and Jordan). In order to access these hospitals children require a permit from the Israeli authorities. The process for acquiring a permit is long and complex and often results in denials. Since January 2008, 4 children have died because their application was denied or took too long to be approved.
Israel also denies children’s access to medical care when it prevents ambulances from accessing the Buffer Zone. Ambulances require prior coordination with the Israeli military authorities before they can access the sick or injured in the Buffer Zone. 173 children have died because ambulances have been denied access to reach them (throughout the Gaza Strip, not just in the Buffer Zone).
The policies outlined in this factsheet result in serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law which Israel, as the Occupying Power in the Gaza Strip, has an obligation to uphold.
“Children in the Gaza Strip are deprived from receiving quality medical treatment and access to procedures that can save their lives. The right to access medical treatment and to enjoy the highest attainable physical and psychological health is one of the Israeli systematic violations of children’s rights in the Gaza Strip,” Samir Zaqout, Al Mezan’s fieldwork coordinator, states. “This has particularly been the case in the last five years since Israel tightened its siege on the Gaza Strip.”
In addition to the polices outlined in this factsheet which directly affect access to medical care Samir Zaqout says that “the Israeli siege has caused a deterioration in the health of children due to increasing poverty levels and diseases among children such as anemia. Israeli military attacks have also injured thousands of children, hundreds of them sustaining permanent physical disabilities.”
the UN General Assembly has adopted a new Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) establishing a complaints procedure for violations of children’s rights.
The new treaty will enable children, or their representatives, claiming that their rights have been violated to bring a complaint to an international committee of children’s rights experts if they have not been able to get remedies for these violations in their countries. A coalition of over 80 international and national NGOs, coordinated by the NGO Group for the CRC, which has been actively campaigning for the treaty since 2006, welcomed the news.
‘Israeli children are educated to see the Palestinians as a problem that must be solved and as a threat that must be eliminated. They can go through life, as I did growing up in Jerusalem, without ever meeting a Palestinian child. They know nothing of the life or culture of Palestinians who quite often live only several hundred meters from them.’
The fact she was a MediaCentral employee is what I reported and focused on, mainly because the Jewish Chronicle failed to even mention this basic fact. The problem with Marcus Dysch’s story is that it failed to mention Bakovic works for what is essentially a PR agency that aims to improve Israel’s image in the world.
…
This also calls into question the professionalism of Jewish Chronicle journalist Marcus Dysch. He’s entitled to promote a pro-Israel viewpoint, but that’s no excuse for dishonesty or (at best) poor journalism. The omission of such a salient point means he either didn’t do the five minutes of research it took to find out who Bakovic works for, or that he knew and covered it up.
Today, I asked Dysch on Twitter why he didn’t mention it, but he hasn’t replied (he’s unlikely to have seen this question, however, because he’s preemptively blocked me, despite the fact I’m pretty sure I’ve never Tweeted at him before).
If I had written an analogous story about a Palestinian student who was an employee of, say, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, without mentioning who he or she worked for, that would have been sloppy at best and dishonest at worst.
If Bakovic’s campaign against Professor Pratt has “no connection whatsoever” to her employer, as Plosker claims, why not simply say as much in the Jewish Chronicle article? Why did they wait till after Abraham Greenhouse and myself wrote about the case on Electronic Intifada to admit the fact?
Dysch’s reporting has also been called into question after he claimed in a second article that the agency which reviews the performance of universities in the UK “would conduct a preliminary investigation” into Pratt’s behavior. The Quality Assurance Agency soon denied this to the Times Higher Education magazine. They reported that: “no official complaint has yet been made and the QAA will require more details over the allegations before it could proceed with any investigation”.
UPDATE 5th January, 2012 Dysch publishes in the JC a story full of dire innuendo, sinisterly entitled “Performers deny ‘dark art’ funding”.
Dysch insinuates misdoing with the frightening news that ‘At least 34 artists (out of 150) who supported it [the cultural boycott campaign] have received funding to help pay for tours, running costs or fund individual projects’ and refers to Raymond Deane.
Composer Raymond Deane, a founding member of the IPSC, has received around £76,000 from the council during the past five years.
He said: “Neither I, nor the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, receives a penny from the Irish government for our activities in defence of Palestinian rights.”
Well, I hope that clears up Dysch’s confusion.
[UPDATE 28th December: Raymond Deane is contacted by a journalist from the Jewish Chronicle, Marcus Dysch.
"Mr Deane - I'd like to speak to you about reports in the Israeli media which name you and others involved in the IPSC and claim you are receiving Irish government funding for your pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel activities. We are likely to run a story in our newspaper this week which includes Israeli officials suggesting you are knowingly using funds from the Arts Council for these activities. I'd like to speak to you about this and hear your reaction. Please let me know if we can speak in the next 24 hours.
Marcus Dysch
Reporter
Jewish Chronicle
Tel: 020 7415 1665
@MarcusDysch
Been in office 25 minutes and already had three emails accusing me of being an Israeli government agent. (I'm not, if you were wondering.) #
Ilan Pappe draws attention to the campaign of intimidation conducted by the zionist lobby in his article today in the Electronic Intifada, noting
"What you learn is that once you cower, you become prey to continued and relentless bashing until you sing the Israeli national anthem. If once you do not cave in, you discover that as time goes by, the ability of Zionist lobbies of intimidation around the world to affect you gradually diminishes."
[UPDATE 25th December: Recently, zionists made hacking threats against BDS activists. The Amnesty International UK site was compromised on or before December 16th. According to Paul Royal of Barracuda Labs,
So, if you have visited the website anytime between and has out-dated Java software, there’s a good chance that your computer is infected. In that case, run a complete system scan using your updated anti-virus. It is also a good idea to change the passwords of your online accounts.
...
This exploit will not affect you if you had already installed the latest Java updates or if you don’t have Java installed.
Paul also says:
The working theory for this anomaly relates to Amnesty International as a human rights non-governmental organization. To explain, certain countries use zero day exploits and other techniques to gain electronic information about the activities of human rights activists. Of course, a subset of these activists are too smart to click on links in even well-worded spearphishing emails. But what if you compromised a website frequented by these activists (e.g., Amnesty International)? Then your targets come to you. The context-specific damage potential is significant.
Amnesty International is currently being asked to disassociate itself with Arch Enemy lead singer Angela Gossow's claim that they will accompany the band in Israel. Amnesty International withdrew its support from a boycott breaking Leonard Cohen concert in 2009.]
[UPDATE 23rd December: On Ynet, world-renowned Irish composer Raymond Deane is "price-tagged" at the mammoth sum of $119 million (now amended to $119,000) over the past 5 years, which he has, according to the shameless libeller Itamar Eichner, received from the Irish government (are oil companies involved here as well?) to 'subject to verbal attacks and letters of incitement' 'Irish elements interested in sustaining ties with Israel', and 'in a bid to free him from the need to work for a living so that he could devote his time and energy to the creation of music.' For zionist propaganderists, music isn't considered a "real job", at least if the targeted musician has private activities which include solidarity in campaigns for Palestinian human rights. And here's the zionist veiled threats against a musician's livelihood for daring to exercise conscience to support boycotts, divestment and sanctions from apartheid, colonial Israel:
The Foreign Ministry report also reveals that although the Irish foreign minister has voiced his objection to any type of boycott against Israeli culture, Deane is still receiving government funding.
...
"The ongoing funding of a person who has been conducting a hostile, public and aggressive campaign against Israel from Irish taxpayers' money raises very difficult questions," says a source in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.
The propaganderist ends on a softened tone which only serves to highlight the previous attempt at intimidation of an individual of conscience in a foreign country:
"Nonetheless, an artist's breach of trust toward Ireland's authorities is an internal Irish matter which we cannot and do not wish to intervene in, despite its harsh implications on us."
]
In November, Palestinian Solidarity activists in Ireland protested the holding of an Israeli film event at Filmbase in Dublin which was sponsored and funded by the Israeli Embassy.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) also issued an “Open Letter to Filmbase“, expressing its surprise
“that a prominent Irish cultural institution would allow the Israeli embassy to carry out this audacious ‘Brand Israel’ activity on its premises hardly two weeks after Irish peace activists were illegally apprehended by the Israeli navy in international waters, humiliated, and imprisoned in Israel…”
These approaches were rejected by Filmbase, despite much dissension among its employees, not all of whom supported the decision to host the event. The opening of the festival, a wet and miserable evening, saw Filmbase “defended” by a force of at least two dozen Gardaí. Members of the IPSC, the Irish Anti-War Movement, Act for Palestine and others demonstrated noisily and peacefully, displaying Palestinian flags and placards with such slogans as “End the Siege of Gaza” and “Boycott Israel”. The arrivals of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, and the Minister for Defence and Justice Alan Shatter were greeted with particularly vociferous cries of ”shame! shame!”
These state marketing events are mooted by Israeli propaganderists (hasbarists) as effective tools to whitewash Israeli crimes of apartheid, colonialism and Occupation and to counter what they cast as “delegitimization”, although through its ongoing crimes against humanity, Israel accomplishes singlehanded its own delegitimization. Attempting to address “the BDS delegitimization network”, the Reut Institute which develops propaganda strategy for Israel crows that ‘it takes a network to fight a network’. What a tawdry network the hasbarist network is! Some elements supportive of Israel of late have taken to using dirty tricks, as evidenced below from Filmbase to the present, fabricating threats supposedly made by BDS activists against venues and performers that are unsubstantiated, despite repeated challenge.
Now the tactic of falsely accusing BDS people of threats has resurfaced on the facebook wall of Joker, who announced his decision not to play Israel a few days ago, following information about racism the last time he played there. Joker has said several times since he is not going to play Israel, while Israel’s hasbarists have continued to claim that he is not cancelling, on twitter and facebook. The Israeli media has also published a misleading and unsubstantiated story about the cancellation claiming Joker and his girlfriend had received threats on their lives. An email was also circulated from CLUTCH – Electronic, claiming that ‘Joker was very frustrated from the situation and said to tell everyone that the decision was very hard for him and was directly because of death threats and his girlfriend lives.’ They accuse BDS supporters, then admit they made massive efforts to convince Joker to play, including direct conversation with Joker and all those around him – euphemisms for bothering his girlfriend and libellous attacks against people who supported Joker’s decision to cancel.
‘Politically savvy and passionate, Noa Tishby is a Member of AIPAC (The American Israel Public Relations Committee) and has traveled to Washington DC to lobby on Capitol Hill. She is also a member of The Israeli Consulate Speakers Bureau, a member of “Summit Series” organization for young entrepreneurs, a member of the ILC (Israeli Leadership Council) and is a mentor for Women In Film.’
Israel Leadership Council (ILC) of Los Angeles partners with the taskforce – As part of its current strategic re-visioning effort, the ILC invited the taskforce to think about its potential leadership role. In this context, a report was written and presented to ILC board members in Israel. The report includes both a theoretical framework describing the fledgling phenomenon called the organized Israeli Diaspora, as well as guidelines for how the ILC can best fit into this emerging reality. The report aimed to address the following question: How can the ILC leverage the Israeli Diaspora in the US?
Act for Israel concocts lists of spurious ‘talking points’ for Israel’s hasbara borg hubs to proliferate, while spreading malicious interpretations of BDS activists’ tweets, misspelling Palestinian rights advocate Ali Abunimah’s name and labelling him an ‘antisemite’.
Below is the evidence of the malicious Israeli campaign against activists for Palestinian human rights which ironically attests to the effectiveness of the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions movement, otherwise these reprobate zionists would be otherwise occupied.
Anti-apartheidist and supporter of Palestinian rights Archbishop Desmond Tutu supports the Occupy movement. ‘In a letter to OWS, Tutu describes Trinity Church, on Wall Street, as an “esteemed and valued old friend” but said it caused him pain to hear of the impasse in negotiations between OWS and the church over the site.’
Davutoglu told reporters on Friday that Israel should apologize, pay compensation to families of the Turkish citizens killed during the boarding of the aid ship and end the embargo on Gaza. Otherwise, the minister stated, relations between Turkey and Israel will not be normalized.
Additionally Davutoglu extended Turkey’s criticism of the apartheid land-thieving entity:
“Israel should decide to be a part of either the problem or the solution,” Davutoglu told reporters. The minister also spoke out against other aspects of Israeli policy, criticizing Israel to for continuing its settlement policy. The minister concluded by emphasizing that Turkey would react positively if Israel pursued a less hawkish foreign policy.
From @leventbasturk: If it doesn’t remain firm on this issue, the new course of Turkish Frgn Pol in ME will be under great suspicion. #
In the US press, Davutoglu’s comments were under-reported, omitting the need for Israel to end its embargo on Gaza.
Zoe Lawlor relates her experiences on the Freedom Waves voyage to Gaza aboard the MV Saoirse and subsequent abduction of crew members by Israel in November 2011.
Freedom Waves to Gaza – Tales of a kidnapping from the MV Saoirse
Freedom waves, freedom rides, freedom marches…. it won’t stop until Palestine is free.
On Wednesday 2nd November 2011 the MV Saoirse and the Tahrir sailed from Turkey to Gaza as part of Freedom Waves to Gaza – the international effort to break the illegal, immoral siege of Gaza and show solidarity with the people there. Although the Tahrir was carrying medical supplies and the Saoirse sports equipment, the aim of the mission was to break the political siege imposed by Israel on the people of Gaza, not as an aid mission.
These are my personal thoughts and recollections and really represent a means for me to put the events into some sort of chronology – it’s less an analysis and more a recounting of events. I would like to preface this by first stressing that the experience of the Saoirse and Tahrir people in Israeli captivity is in no way comparable to what the Palestinian people face daily from the apartheid state. Our brief time in captivity provided a minute snapshot of what Palestinian prisoners experience and I am in no way equating what happened to us with what happens to the Palestinians. The prisoners held in administrative detention were on my mind a lot when we were in prison as the thought of not knowing how long you are to be detained is truly frightening and is the reality for so many Palestinians. We also had the security of knowing that there were family members, friends and loved ones, solidarity initiatives, embassy and other political figures advocating for us and pressuring for our release – our European person’s privilege highlighted in stark contrast to the extremely limited rights of the Palestinian people.
We are not the story – the story is Palestine, the story is Gaza, the story is the Freedom Waves, the story is freedom.
I want to pay tribute to my shipmates, great and brilliant people that they are: Mags O’Brien, Fintan Lane, Hugh Lewis, Trevor Hogan, Chris Andrews, John Hearne, Pat Fitzgerald, John Mallon, Phil McCullough, Billy Smith, Paul Murphy, Felim Egan, Ger Barron and our Captain Zach. We also missed our shipmates from the summer: Gerry MacLochlainn, Charlie McMenamin, Rik Walton, Hussein Hammed and Jim Roche. The shore team were amazing too especially Claudia Saba, Laurence Davis, Ronan O’Dowd, Kev Squires, Raymond Deane, Greg Manahan, Sinéad MacLochlainn and Caoimhe Butterly.
Family, friends and loved ones went through so much and were strong voices for us throughout – I know my brother Gay burned the ear off DFA officials and media outlets, kept my mum and friends informed and was just brilliant.
Other friends gave amazing support, some of it very practical, you know who you are – many thanks a cháirde.
Sailing
From Wednesday we sailed for two days, extremely happy that despite sabotage and international governmental complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people in June, we were at last on our way to Gaza. The significance of sailing and demonstrating to the people there that they are not isolated, that there are hundreds of thousands of people represented on these ships who stand with them and wish for their freedom was huge to us, we hadn’t given up, we were sailing – on course for Gaza.
The trip was fun, funny and hopeful, interspersed with some shipmates suffering badly from seasickness and very interesting times in the kitchen for the galley slaves, cooking while being fired from side to side is challenging! Sailing alongside the Tahrir was exhilarating and getting close and talking our comrades across the waves was very emotional. Seeing the ships heading to Gaza, flying the Palestinian flag was just beautiful, I can only imagine how amazing the larger flotillas must have been.
On the Thursday evening after dinner we had a refresher meeting about what to do in the event of an Israeli intervention. Shortly after that a ship was spotted on our radar, there were spotter planes in the sky and everyone got ready for an Israeli intervention that evening. When the phone call hadn’t come by the small hours, most of us relaxed and thought we would get through the night safely.
Kidnapped
When the sun came up on Friday morning and we were still sailing unimpeded, hopes began to rise that we would get to Gaza. Looking at the Irish flag and the Palestinian flag fluttering on the Saoirse with Gaza in the not too far distance, it all seemed possible. Unfortunately and criminally it was not to be as the Israeli government sent an astonishing amount of force to stop twenty-seven people, armed solely with humanity and solidarity, from reaching Gaza. We were only forty nautical miles away when we were attacked, tantalisingly close. Our ships were surrounded by warships, zodiacs and gunboats, all populated by heavily armed, masked commandos. Our ships were corralled at sea and forced to collide causing much damage to the Saoirse which was taking on water – all of us put on our life jackets. Then the pirates water-cannoned the ships, causing massive electrical damage, almost causing the bridge to go on fire and forcing our coordinator Fintan Lane down the stairs into the front saloon where water was pouring through the closed windows, soaking absolutely everything inside. The Saoirse was then violently boarded with the windows smashed and commandos armed to the teeth boarding and threatening all the people on both ships. The crew on the Tahrir were also assaulted. In the front saloon of the MV Saoirse, Mags O’Brien and myself were held separately from our male colleagues and sat in the dark the entire trip to Ashdod as the lights had been blown by the water cannons – we were accompanied by at least four commandos for the journey, there were many more with the men. The efforts of our crew, especially Pat Fitzgerald the ship’s engineer, to keep us safe and also informed as to everyone’s welfare were incredible.
The commandos attempted to steal the Irish flag that they had removed from the Saoirse but were prevented from doing so. They also tried to put an Israeli flag on the Saoirse’s flagpole but we stopped that and ensured that our ship was not brought into Ashdod flying the apartheid flag. The commandos tried to sing military songs while saluting to each other in the front saloon but were ‘interrupted’ by our visits to the loo – we weren’t listening to that shit. From these actions the efforts to humiliate us are clear to see but thankfully were thwarted, equally obvious were pathetic efforts to capture propaganda footage to be used to paint the interception as not violent – offering us water and trying to film it (we refused), asking us if we were ok and telling us not to worry while pointing guns at our heads.
On shore captivity
Once in Ashdod the groups in both saloons unanimously demanded to see the Irish ambassador and refused to leave the ship. The presence of Paul Murphy, Socialist Party MEP no doubt lent weight to our demands as even for the Israeli government there are limits and they most certainly include the European Parliament. There was a very large group of people in the port waiting to see us dragged from our ship, most of them with film cameras at the ready. (The level of voyeurism that accompanied all of the Israeli encounters was amazing, from multiple, unnecessary searches to constant filming).
Conor Long, the Irish Deputy Head of Mission, came to speak to us and a representative of the Israeli Department of Foreign Affairs was the liaison. We left the Saoirse under protest, stating we had been kidnapped and brought to Israel illegally and refusing to accept any status of illegal entry to the state. We were guaranteed phone calls, no strip searches and refused to accept any physical assistance from the ship – no propaganda opportunities. In Ashdod the Israeli searching machine kicked into action with a vengeance and all of us were taken to temporary cubicles for a ridiculously thorough search of our belongings and the theft of all of our electronic equipment from phones, cameras, satellite phones and also personal items such as notebooks, work swipe cards, money etc.
Having been body searched twice and stripped down to my underwear the second time, I was taken to a prison van where one of my friends was handcuffed and shackled and one handcuffed (John Mallon and Phil McCullough), at the van a security person attempted to search me again, having just brought me from a search, I objected.
‘Court’
From there we were brought to Ofer military prison where we were ‘processed’, fingerprinted, photographed, and asked to sign deportation papers stating we had entered Israel illegally. Some of us were given copies of the papers for this procedure but most were not, the explanation of the process was negligible. Everyone also had an interview with Israeli intelligence who asked us if we were aware of the ‘military’ blockade of Gaza– needless to say we all explained that we were well aware of the illegal and immoral blockade of Gaza.
Prison
The next stop on this endless day in Israeli captivity was Givon prison in Ramle and the women went there separate from the men, our group now reduced to five: Mags O’Brien and me from the MV Saoirse and Jihan Hafiz, Kit Kittredge and Karen de Vito from the Tahrir. On arriving in Givon prison we were again searched thoroughly despite having just arrived from a lengthy search process, this time it was filmed and carried out before a large audience, some of our friends had their underwear sniffed. At 4 am I was locked into my cell and about half an hour later my friend and cellmate, Mags, was put in with me. Throughout this process we repeatedly asked for a phone call which we were denied.
During our incarceration in Givon we were denied a phone call and kept incommunicado until Sunday, we were also without books, pens or paper until then. In the women’s wing, as our numbers were smaller than in the men’s, we didn’t have a lot of free association with each other and spent 21 hours and 19 hours locked in on the first two days respectively. We tried to assert our rights as political prisoners and got some concessions but we were less successful than our male colleagues who were very organised. The prison guards were obnoxious, abusive and delighted in asserting whatever power they could over us. They would often refuse to tell us the time, repeatedly lying about it, wouldn’t turn our lights off at night, wouldn’t release us from the cells when it was our ‘out’ time. There were constant attempts to get us to sign the papers stating we had entered Israel illegally, to get us to buy our own tickets home, to threaten us with indefinite detention and there were constant lies – everything we were told was a lie. The guards dehumanised us in their own eyes as best they could, one of them screaming at Karen, Jihan and Kit that we were not human, not Israeli and had no rights. This was a constant among the security personnel we encountered, they hate supporters of Palestine, just less than they hate the Palestinian people.
Guards would burst into the cells in the morning, about 6 am, demanding we stand to be counted- there were usually two women and two men. We explained that if they couldn’t count two people locked in a cell while they were lying down, then that was their problem. There was a stream of disinformation from the prison people all the time, from lying about the time, to what the others were doing, to the timing of our release. We staged a protest in the corridor and refused to re-enter our cells unless we were guaranteed more time outside and free association with just the five of us. The prison commander came and the ‘rules’ were relaxed somewhat and we had more time in the air and the dreaded corridor – all better than the cells. Small victories, they seemed bloody huge at the time…
On a personal level, being with our sisters from the Tahrir and with Mags was a great experience and we got to know each other well, shared stories and laughs and planned more flotillas and BDS actions! Every time we got to meet with our friends in the male wing was a huge bonus and seeing them and their strength kept us going. From Monday, when our US and Canadian colleagues left, it was just Mags and me on our wing and while we felt more vulnerable and isolated, we kept each other going and never had a cross word, it was great solidarity and a little sanity, more insanity!
‘Court’ Part 2
A judge visited the prison and left shaking having been through individual meetings with each of the men. When we met him the following day, he seemed resigned to his fate! He admitted to me that we hadn’t been treated in accordance with Israeli law, that we hadn’t received our full rights, hadn’t been given a copy of our deportation orders, that we should have been given both phone calls and access to phone cards. When pressed as to where the decision for this treatment came from, the judge first tried to blame the prison governor and then the Ministry of the Interior or the Department of Foreign Affairs – he conceded that “some procedures were not followed” but insisted that “technically” it was all the same thing – I insisted that “actually” it wasn’t and also queried the situation regarding the location and legitimacy of many of the ‘legal processes’ that took place in the corridors of the prison. The judge was also unable to explain why he didn’t recognise international law.
The Ben Gurion Vortex
On Wednesday 9th November we were called to leave Givon prison and seven of us were put on a bus to a detention centre inside Ben Gurion airport complex, via a trip to a high security check in the airport where one of our friends was handcuffed for sitting on the same side of the room as us. I was elated to be leaving the prison, delighted to be reunited with some of my shipmates and looking forward to meeting the other seven later that night. The detention centre was worse than the prison with the staff there displaying even more sadistic tendencies than those in Givon had. We were again separated by gender and put into a cell with six other women and no water. When I banged on the door to ask for water and to get some air, one of the guards came to the window, shouting and banging his head off it – he perfectly set the tone for the remainder of our captivity – rotten and aggressive.
On Thursday morning Mags and I were brought to the airport to allegedly board a flight home, we were brought to the main terminal where I was taken for another search despite having been in Israeli captivity since the previous Friday and having to sleep in my clothes as my belongings were now ‘secure’. We then entered a twilight zone that was to last the whole day, driving randomly around the airport with our guards either not knowing, or pretending not to know, where to bring us. We were eventually brought to our plane but not allowed to board and were brought back to the detention centre while being told to stop protesting or we would stay in Israel “forever”. Our five friends were at the detention centre as were the Irish Ambassador and Deputy Head of Mission, all of whom were infuriated by the fact that we were not on a flight home. The guys were not even released from their cells or brought to the airport so there was clearly no intention to get us on that flight. At this point we were able to make only our second call home in seven days to let our loved ones know that we would not be home as expected. With much wrangling and many phone calls by the ambassador and deputy, the seven of us were organised for a flight to Frankfurt that afternoon, we were vouched for by the Irish ambassador, and the German and Polish embassies contacted the airline too. We were getting anxious about departure time but were assured that there would be time as there would be no further searches, then we were loaded into segregated prison vans and taken to the plane. There the main guard went on board with all of our documents and then we were driven away from the plane and up to the main terminal where Fintan Lane and I were taken off for another search. I was furious at this point and knew we would never get on that flight, especially as the search was so slow and there was no van waiting when we came out after it. When we were eventually put in another van, we were driven to near where the planes were and then turned around and driven away, we repeatedly asked where we were being taken to but they ignored us, saying only there was a passport problem. This was the time I was most worried as we were separated from the rest of the group and didn’t know where we were going. After some aimless driving around, we were brought again to the detention centre where the furious DFA people met us and attempted to get us on another flight. The guards in the detention centre refused to let them see our passports and treated the Irish officials with contempt, as they had with the Irish government with all the messing around regarding flights. Flights to Istanbul were organised finally and then we were told to run, get our bags and go to the airport again. When we got to the van to go to the airport one minute later we were told it was too late and we had needed to check in three hours previously – comical, groundhog day, malicious mind games stuff. Some sense prevailed in the centre and a call was made and we were brought to the airport in the same van as Hassan Ghani, one of our colleagues from the Tahrir. On our way out, we met the second seven of our friends – heading in to spend a night in that horrible place. Only when the flight took off did I believe I was out of Israel, which I never wanted to visit in the first place.
Twelve hours in Istanbul airport and then HOME.
Some final observations:
For me the most important aspect of this leg of the Irish Ship to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla 2 campaign was that we did sail and we refused to accept the crimes being perpetrated on the people of Gaza by Israel and that another year didn’t pass without people at least getting on the water. We didn’t reach the shores of Gaza but we got close and demonstrated our love and solidarity for the Palestinian people, also our immense respect and admiration for their incredible sumoud.
Civil society is key to ending Israeli apartheid – Palestinian civil society leads and the international solidarity movements follow. The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign is vital to delegitimising the Israeli regime’s crimes against the Palestinian people. All efforts to end complicity with this regime have to be supported – boycott all Israeli goods, ensure no artist performs there without huge protest, work to end EU funding for collaboration with Israeli research projects, highlight the importance of Israeli blood diamonds to the economy and to funding war crimes against the Palestinian people.
The security apparatus employed by the Israeli state is staggering, the sheer numbers of people employed to police and enforce apartheid are huge. The amount of searches reflects the matrix of control they try to impose and for every searcher, there are at least five observers.
While Irish embassy staff in Israel did a lot to help us, especially on the Thursday when they went all out to assist us to get home, it is profoundly depressing and disenfranchising for our government not to have called for our immediate release. I have no doubt that had another state kidnapped fourteen Irish citizens in international waters, illegally brought them to that state and then imprisoned them, the Táiniste would have called for their release – in our case he didn’t.
The clichés are sometimes true, small numbers of people can take on oppression – the reaction where the Israeli navy had to send gunboats, warships, massive weaponry to stop twenty-seven people is testament to that. Israeli pirates won’t stop us, their jails won’t break us. We will sail again to Gaza.
The inspiring resilience and resistance that the Palestinian people have displayed since the Nakba of 1948 is what moves people all over the world to act and to support them in their hundreds of thousands. No militarised, aggressive, apartheid state can stop the Freedom Waves and waves of love for Palestine. We’ll keep sailing, marching, freedom fighting until Palestine is free- they can do it, why can’t we? I’ve been trying to get to Gaza for years, I’ll get there yet.
Freedom waves, freedom rides, freedom marches…. it won’t stop until Palestine is free.
Fintan Lane and Zoe Lawlor, who were among a group of 14 Irish activists arrested last week while trying to break the blockade of Gaza, speak about their time in detention in Israel after arriving at Dublin airport today.
For Michael Coleman … Michael, try not to be deterred by the rogue regime that illegally detains you. They kidnapped you and your comrades because they fear the growing moral outrage of the world; all criminal regimes harbour this dread of a known truth. Be assured the great majority of humanity is with you in spirit; I personally am grateful to you for what you have done and for your courage. All power to you.
“It began with Israeli forces hosing down the boats with high pressure hoses and pointing guns at the passengers through the windows,” Lane, who was onboard the Saoirse, said. “I was hosed down the stairs of the boat. Windows were smashed and the bridge of the boat nearly caught fire.”
From FB: Zoe Lawlor phoned home this Sunday morning and both she and Mags O’Brien are in good spirits and looking forward to getting home very much. They also asked us all to put as much pressure on the Dept of foreign affairs as possible.
UPDATE SUNDAY NOV 6 EVENING
Confirmed that the two Irish women hostages are being held in Givon prison.
“There are 21 passengers detained who refused to be expelled immediately and are engaged in proceedings against their deportation before an Israeli judge,” interior ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad told AFP. … ‘She said the remaining 21 people were still being held at a detention facility in Ramla near Tel Aviv, after questioning by immigration authorities.’
4 easy ways you can help illegally detained Australian #FreedomWaves to Gaza delegate Michael Coleman (please RT!) – is.gd/fda1ky
“We have just spoken to Michael’s father who has just had a call from Michael.
He was supposed to have a 3 minute call but was cut off after a minute. He reported that 30 armed men forcibly boarded the Tahrir. He and others were assaulted on the boat and again when they were forcibly taken off the boat against their will into Israel.
He has not signed and will not sign any deportation order or ‘admission’ that he entered Israel illegally. He expects to be deported 72 hours after ‘the process’ began.’
‘But it is understood activists have refused to sign deportation orders as they were brought to Israel against their will.
They include Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy, former Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews, Siptu official Mags O’Brien, artist Felim Egan, People Before Profit councillor Hugh Lewis, Sinn Féin councillors Pat Fitzgerald and John Hearne, and Zoe Lawlor, who teaches at the University of Limerick.’
‘Claudia Saba, spokeswoman, said there has been no contact from anyone onboard since it was hijacked, apart from a single text message from Mr Hogan’s mobile phone.
“Once again, as with the flotilla of June 2010, Israel has managed to gain a monopoly on the narrative of what happened when the Gaza-bound boats were hijacked by Israel at sea,” she said.
“The footage released by Israel of the boarding of the boats is vague and lacking in detail.
“Since we have no direct contact with our fellow citizens, and since they are not allowed to communicate with the outside world, we do not know exactly what happened or how those aboard were treated.”
Campaigners called on the Government to suspend Israel from the Euromed Agreement, end all arms trade with Israel and take steps to ensure no Irish state-funded institution engages in any cultural, academic, or economic cooperation with the state of Israel or its associated institutions.’
More update on the recalcitrant Occupy Wall Street mob who have failed to make the connections between racism, imperialism, neoliberalism, capitalism and zionism. :
‘The tweet was erased because there was discussion about how it was not appropriate to address this issue on these large public social media accounts until we had agreement from the group on our exact stance on these kinds of international conflicts.’ http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-responds-to-controversy-over-gaza-flotilla.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
As thought the NYT doesn’t shill for imperial interests: ‘In the wake of the #OCCUPYWALLSTREET movement, the New York Times has twice taken a swipe at Adbusters magazine, originators of the event. David Brooks led the charge in his October 10 column, The Milquetoast Radicals, falsely accusing us of being anti-Jewish. ‘
Here comes anonymous! ‘Anonymous said that if the siege continues and Israeli forces intercept additional flotillas, or if they conduct additional operations such as the commandeering of the Mavi Marmara, it will have no alternative but to launch repeated cyber-attacks on Israeli computer systems until the siege ends.’
Congratulations, Occupy Boston, for having the humanity to extend the 99% to encompass oppressed Palestinian people who suffer because of the Israeli apartheid regime, zionist hegemony which strides arm in arm with US imperial hegemony. Freedom Waves and BDS are unstoppable and they are the Occupy movement’s natural ideological partners, not racist zionism and US elites.
‘Although Michael and I (among others) were transported in handcuffs and leg shackles, let me stress that we are neither criminals nor illegal immigrants but rather political prisoners of the apartheid state of Israel. Four from the Tahrir are imprisoned with 12 Irish comrades from the Saoirse, who have more experience with such issues. The four of us, Ehab and I (Cdn), Michael (Aus) and Hassan (UK) have joined with the Irish in their political prisoners’ committee in order to press our collective demands:
Association in the block – i.e. open cells
adequate writing and reading material
free communication with outside world – i.e. regular phone calls
information about shipmate women held at same prison’
We add one Tahrir-specific demand: that Israeli state recognize the professional status of Democracy Now journalist Jihan Hafiz in accordance with her credentials from the US government. All political incarceration is unjust but let me stress that in duration and conditions, our situation pales in comparison to the plight of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners and to the open air prison of Gaza.
If you have energy to devote to solidarity actions in the coming days, please concentrate on them. We must get Tahrir back and hope Freedom Waves continue.
Free Majd Kayyal! Free all political prisoners! Free Gaza! Free Palestine!
Anishnabe-debuewin, restons humaine, stay human, in love and struggle,
“We have had one call from DFAT. That is all. Michael has not been able to contact us. We have support from the organisers here and around the world but not from our Government.”
We understand that the delegates were asked to sign deportation papers testifying that they entered Israel illegally and waive their right to a court hearing. They were brought into Israel against their will; therefore they have refused to sign those papers. We also understand that this peaceful resistance is what is leading to ongoing punishment and communication restrictions.
Yesterday, the “Australia Foreign Affairs Department said it was trying to arrange a consular visit to Michael Coleman, 35, from the state of New South Wales.”
The Derry Friends of Palestine received a phonecall from Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams office at about 10PM Irish Time last night (Friday). We were then advised that their office had been in touch with the Israeli authorities who were holding Belfast passengers John Mallon and Phil McCullough.
They were told both men were in custody and in good spirits. That they and the other passengers were believed to be in good physical condition. We were told they will be taken to court and charged with illegally entering Israel, if they agree to this “crime” and accept the charge they can go home immediately with voluntary deportation, if they refuse the criminal charge then they will be given a lawyer to appeal and ultimately be forcibly deported within 72 hours. The Israeli diplomat informed Mr Adams office that we could expect John Mallon home most likely on Tuesday.
We were told John was very concerned that people back home would be worrying, especially his 7 children and family members. So they were all overjoyed when the news came through last night about their Dad.
We can also confirm that Phil McCullough’s family has had a phonecall from the Irish Consulate just this morning (Saturday) And that Phil is in good spirits and, like the others, will be taken before the courts soon.
All passengers are being refused direct contact with family members; however, we can expect them to be back in Ireland most likely on Tuesday.
There’s two other big stories on the apartheid entity out today -
“This report reveals significant evidence arousing the suspicion that many doctors ignore the complaints of their patients; that they allow Israeli Security Agency interrogators to use torture; approve the use of forbidden interrogation methods and the ill-treatment of helpless detainees; and conceal information, thereby allowing total immunity for the torturers.”
The legal apparatus of the Israeli military system does not endeavor to protect Palestinian children’s rights; the military courts, under which children from the OPT are tried, lack comprehensive fair trial and juvenile justice standards. In September 2009, Israel established the Military Juvenile Court, but the situation on the ground remains essentially unchanged. On September 27, 2011, the Israeli military authorities raised the age of majority in the military courts to 18 years old. Until this time, the age had been officially set at 16, which directly defied the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, in practice, children as young as 12 have been and continue to be tried in military courts, with those 14 years of age often being tried as adults.
As of the Second Intifada (which began in September 2000), Israel began to employ administrative detention against children. Since this time the arrest and detention of children has grown more rampant and systemic, with around 700 children detained each year, and frequently held with adults in detention. The most common charge is stone throwing. At the time of this writing, 164 Palestinian children are in Israeli detention, 35 of whom are between the ages of 12 and 15.
In addition to regularly suffering abuse and torture similar to that of adult prisoners (beatings, blindfolding, being painfully shackled, position abuse, solitary confinement, electric shocks, threats of sexual assault, coercion into signing documents in Hebrew despite being unable to read them), children in detention are routinely subjected to tactics designed to exploit their age and intimidate them into confessions. These illegally obtained admissions are often used as evidence in the military courts. In the overwhelming majority of cases before these courts, children are denied bail and ordered to remain in detention until the end of the legal process. Credible allegations of ill-treatment and torture are not investigated.
OLDER INFO
As I’ve tweeted, the thing about waves is that they keep on coming, until the rubbish of Israeli apartheid and oppression is washed away. The most recent wave of humanitarian passengers from the seized Tahrir and MV Saoirse are now in custody at Ashdod port, incommunicado for several hours.
Michael Coleman, Australian delegate on the Tahrir, left a pre-recorded message in the event of his capture.
Before the Israeli pirates boarded the two vessels, they sprayed them fiercely with water cannons. UN Human Rights Council independent investigation of the Israel’s May 2010 flotilla attack declared Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza illegal. Further, as Ali Abunimah tweeted: “Israel claims Gaza waters are “closed military zone” but that it “withdrew” from Gaza in 2005. Which is it liars?”
Israel’s blockade was not broken on this 12th flotilla attempt, yet the waves will keep rolling over Israel’s apartheid and oppression in solidarity with the people of Palestine until it ends.
Here’s some resources for action to support Aussie delegate Michael Coleman and the other #FreedomWaves activists while they are held captive by the Israeli brigands.
remained in costudy and are slated to board flights back to their home countries over the next few days.
The other six passengers were released, including 2 Greek crew members, an Egyptian citizen that was returned to Egypt and two reporters, American and Spanish, who were released under limiting conditions and commited to leave Israel on Sunday.
“Who are we?” an Occupy Sydney spokeswoman asked the crowd.
“We are the workers, we are the indebted, we are the immigrants and the indigenous. We are homeless, we are the students, we are the unemployed, we are the under-represented people of the world. We are the 99 per cent. We are Occupy Sydney.”
Speaking at yesterday’s event, Palestinian refugee Leila Khaled drew parallels between South Africa’s apartheid regime and her own experiences in Palestine.
“I am optimistic, because in South Africa there was an apartheid regime and you ended your struggle with the support of the international community,” she said.
“I remember at school, rallying, demonstrating and calling for freedom in South Africa. I was brought up saying ‘when South Africa is free, Palestine will be free’.”
Khaled also called for the international community to boycott Israel.
Other issues discussed by the panel included the recent decision by countries such as the US to block funding to Unesco for accepting Palestine as a member country. Israel has also said it will block funding to the organisation.
US money accounts for nearly a quarter of Unesco’s funding.
Sourani, meanwhile, said this showed in a “clear-cut way that the US is providing full and clear diplomatic immunity to Israel”.
‘Four Knesset members have withdrawn their support for a private member’s bill that would subordinate democratic rule to Israel’s Jewish identity. Three of the MKs – Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor ) and Kadima’s Doron Avital and Shlomo Molla – have already formally removed their signatures from the draft for the new Basic Law. MK Nachman Shai (Kadima ) said he will remove his within a few days. ‘
The trip was fun, funny and hopeful, interspersed with some shipmates suffering badly from seasickness and very interesting times in the kitchen for the galley slaves, cooking while being fired from side to side is challenging! Sailing alongside the Tahrir was exhilarating and getting close and talking our comrades across the waves was very emotional. Seeing the ships heading to Gaza, flying the Palestinian flag was just beautiful, I can only imagine how amazing the larger flotillas must have been.