Famagusta, Cyprus – A boat carrying Jewish activists from Israel, Germany, the U.S. and Britain set sail on Sunday for Gaza, hoping to breach Israel’s blockade there and deliver aid.
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Richard Kuper, an organizer with the U.K. group Jews for Justice for Palestinians, said one goal is to show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
Kuper said the boat, which set sail from northern Cyprus flying a British flag, won’t resist if Israeli authorities try to stop it.
The trip came nearly four months after Israeli commandos boarded a flotilla of Gaza-bound ships, killing nine activists. The voyage also came as Israelis, Palestinians and U.S. mediators sought a compromise that would allow Mideast talks to continue after an Israeli settlement slowdown expires at midnight.
Boat passenger Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose daughter Smadar was killed in a suicide bombing at a shopping mall in Jerusalem in 1997, said it was his “moral duty” to act in support of Palestinians in Gaza because reconciliation was the surest path to peace.
“Those 1.5 million people in Gaza are victims exactly as I am,” Elhanan, 60, said in an interview.
Other voyage organizers included the group European Jews for a Just Peace and the U.S.-based Jewish Voice for Peace.
The 33-foot (10-meter) catamaran Irene, carrying a total of nine passengers and crew members, set sail from the Turkish Cypriot north of the island because the Greek Cypriot south imposed a ban on all-Gaza-bound vessels in May, citing “vital interests.”
Prior to the ban, international activists had used south Cyprus to launch eight boat trips to Gaza, a coastal strip seized by the Islamic militant group Hamas three years ago.
On May 31, eight pro-Palestinian Turkish activists and a Turkish American died when Israeli naval commandos boarded a flotilla of Gaza-bound ships.
The Irene boat planned to deliver children’s toys, medical equipment, outboard motors for fishing boats and books to Gaza residents.
Kuper said the voyage is a “symbolic statement” intended to show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians and to underscore what he called Israel’s “illegal, unnecessary and inhumane” blockade of Gaza.
“Jewish communities around the world are not united in support of Israel,” Kuper said in a telephone interview from London. “Israel’s future peace is coming to terms quickly with the Palestinians.”
Organizer Alison Prager said from the boat before it left Cyprus that although many Jews have been on previous “blockade-busting trips” to Gaza, this was the first time Jewish groups have banded together to send a boat of their own.
Kuper said the trip was funded entirely by supporters’ donations.
“The Irene boat planned to deliver children’s toys, medical equipment, outboard motors for fishing boats and books to Gaza residents.”
All that, plus nine people, on a 33 foot boat? Is this a joke?
They should check their yichus, how can Jewish people be so stupid?
Any US Citizens aboard should be prosecuted for aiding a terrorist group once Israel stops the ship. But will Israel extradite?
The Ribono shel Olam has a special place in the next world for those “Jews” who harm their own brethren. This includes not only these people but the shoot off of the Neturei Karta who kiss the likes of Ahmadinijad. How dare they endanger the rest of Bnei Yisroel.
A gutten moed to everyone
They are attention-seeking tourists. Are they going to enjoy the luxury hotel in Gaza or go shopping at the Gaza Mall?
If they continue with their mission they re putting themselves in sakona for no reason & they SHOULD be blown to smitherines.
Besides, I would be willing to bet, upon a careful check of their yichus, that they are NOT really yidden!!!!!
mr. levin,the phenomenom of self hating jews sacrificing themselves to help our enemies is not new. this existed by the assyrian greeks,the spannish inquesition communist russia and now in our time by israelis and other jews regarding ey. is it proper to wish for their death? i’m not a rav but i think it would be more productive to daven forthem to do tshuva.
We all know what America would do if such a ship approached within 200 miles of Cuba………
I don’t know. The Jews, of all the peoples of the earth, seem to produce, in every generation, many of their own who for take up sides with the enemies of the Jewish people. Maybe this is the meaning of “eruv rav” in the generations.
#6 ,
Mark, to simply blow up the boat without warning would violate international law just as much as do the actions of the Somali pirates or Hamas terrorists. The proper thing to do is to intercept the boat:
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/57JMSU
#6
Mark Levin,
Col HaPossel B’Mumo Possel!
Mamash, it’s right after Yom Kippur and you’re being motzei laz on Jews, you should probably add that to your list of things to do tshuva for…
These activists represent the worst of the worst of self hating liberal minded misguided Jews. Stop the boat, lock them up and throw away the key. Where were these activists when rockets are being fired into Israel from Gaza? Shameful!!
Allan: Wrong, these are not “self hating liberal minded misguided Jews”. They are enemies of the Jewish people. Their political orientation, left, right or center should not enter any discussions. Treat them for what they are: Enemies. Your solution, however, is correct. Where were they when Israel was attacked from Gaza? Safe at home planning their next stupid action.