UK avoids condemning Israeli seizure of British-flagged aid boat to Gaza

Middle East Eye

4 hours ago

The UK has avoided condemning the Israeli seizure of a British-flagged aid vessel heading towards Gaza in the early hours of Monday morning.
The Madleen boat, whose 12-person crew included Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French lawmaker Rima Hassan, was intercepted by Israeli naval commandos at 3:02am CEST.
The vessel was in international waters at the time of the interception, 40 nautical miles from the Egyptian coast and 120 nautical miles from the nearest point in Gaza, the flotilla's organisers told Middle East Eye.
Asked by MEE if the government condemned the interception of a UK-flagged vessel, the Foreign Office avoided directly answering the question.
Instead, it referred to a statement by Downing Street, which said that the UK wanted to see Israel resolve the detention of the vessel 'safely with restraint, in line with international humanitarian law'.
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A spokesperson for the prime minister added that more aid must get into Gaza, with 'unimpeded entry'.
There was no further comment on the raid on a vessel that was flying a British flag.
'Israel had absolutely no authority to attack a UK flagged vessel - a sovereign UK territory in international waters'
- Huwaida Arraf, lawyer and activist
Under international maritime law, the UK has full jurisdiction over the vessel, and a legal duty to protect the crew of the boat.
A spokesperson for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which organised the boat, told MEE that the mission had not had any official contact or cooperation from British authorities.
'Israel had absolutely no authority to attack a UK flagged vessel - a sovereign UK territory in international waters,' lawyer Huwaida Arraf, of the FFC, told MEE.
Arraf added that not only was UK sovereignty violated by the attack, but also the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and International Court of Justice provisional measures compelling Israel to allow unimpeded aid access into Gaza.
'The UK should have spoken up early. It did not,' said Arraf.
'The civilians on that UK vessel were actually carrying out the obligations of the United Kingdom, which is the obligations of every country around the world: to act to prevent genocide.'
Arraf added that the UK had in fact been colluding with Israel by not cutting off all weapons sales, or other forms of trade.
'There were quadcopters'
A protest was held outside the Foreign Office on Monday, demanding that the UK secures the release of the detained crew members.
The FFC said that before the vessel was seized, its intention was to sail directly to Gaza City port.
That journey would have taken it from international waters directly into the internationally recognised maritime boundaries of Palestine, without entering Israeli waters.
Israel claims that all waters around Gaza are its own waters, in contravention of international law.
'They were surrounded by Israeli forces that rammed the ship and then we lost contact'
- Huwaida Arraf, lawyer, FFC
Arraf said that the coalition's staff members had lost contact with the crew for over 15 hours.
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.
'The last that we saw or heard from them, they were under attack. There were quadcopters, there were drones. [The crew] had been sprayed with some kind of unknown chemical,' Arraf said.
'They were surrounded by Israeli forces that rammed the ship and then we lost contact. Presumably at that point, the commandos raided the ship.'
She said the team had received unofficial word that the detained crew members would arrive on shore between 7 and 8pm local time in Palestine.
Greta Thunberg aboard Gaza flotilla: Doing nothing 'is not an option' Read More »
Israeli authorities have confirmed that the crew members will be taken to the Israeli port city of Ashdod, from where they will be deported.
It marks the latest instance of years of Israeli attacks on FFC-organised aid vessels attempting to break Israel's 18-year air, naval and land blockade on the Palestinian territory.
The coalition first came together in 2010, after Israeli forces boarded a Freedom Flotilla mission in May that year and killed 10 activists.
Last week, climate activist Thunberg told MEE from abroad the Madleen that while governments had failed Palestinians, it fell 'on us to step up and be the adults in the room'.
We cannot sit by and allow this to happen. We are watching… a genocide happening, following decades and decades of systematic oppression, ethnic cleansing, occupation,' said Thunberg.
'We are just human beings, very concerned about what's happening, and do not accept what is going on.'
The aid on board included baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women's sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children's prosthetics.