Attorneys representing the crew of the Madleen, a Gaza-bound aid ship seized in international waters by Israeli forces, have accused Israel of breaking international law.
The British-flagged civilian aid ship — operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition — was carrying a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade by sea, while also raising awareness of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
On Monday local time, the boat was seized by Israel’s military, with reports of drones spraying it with a white, paint-like substance before the commandos eventually took hold of the ship. The crew was also ordered to throw their phones overboard, as reported by Al Jazeera.
The 12-person crew, which included Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were detained by Israeli authorities and will be deported to their home countries, according to the Israeli foreign ministry.
However, the Freedom Flotilla and the crew’s Israel-based lawyers said the ship was seized in international waters, and the crew shouldn’t have been taken to Israeli soil simply to be deported.
“We’re basically talking about people who were sailing in the international waters, and then Israel basically captured them and abducted them into Israel,” lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih said, per ABC News.
“And even the legal procedure they are willing to take does not apply to them, because they are talking about illegal people who entered Israel illegally.
“But the situation we’re talking about now is a situation that Israel brought those people inside of Israel, and now they want to deport them based on the claims that they entered Israel illegally.”
On Monday night local time, the Israeli foreign ministry said the ship had docked at Ashdod Port “a short while ago”.
“The ‘Selfie Yacht’ docked at Ashdod Port a short while ago. The passengers are currently undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health,” it posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, also revealed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been instructed to “show the flotilla passengers the video of the horrors of the October 7 massacre” upon arrival.
In a statement on Monday, Amnesty International described Israel’s interception of the Madleen and detention of the crew as flouting international law.
“By forcibly intercepting and blocking the Madleen which was carrying humanitarian aid and a crew of solidarity activists, Israel has once again flouted its legal obligations towards civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip and demonstrated its chilling contempt for legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice,” said Amnesty International’s secretary general, Agnès Callamard.
“The operation carried out in the middle of the night and in international waters violates international law and put the safety of those on the boat at risk. The crew were unarmed activists and human rights defenders on a humanitarian mission, they must be released immediately and unconditionally. They must also be protected from torture and other ill-treatment pending their release.”
Callamard said the Madleen had emerged as a “powerful symbol of solidarity with besieged, starved, and suffering Palestinians amid persistent international inaction” since it set sail from Catania, Italy, about a week ago.
“However, this very mission is also an indictment of the international community’s failure to put an end to Israel’s inhumane blockade. Activists would not have needed to risk their lives had Israel’s allies translated their rhetoric into forceful action to allow aid into Gaza,” she said.
“Israel’s interception of the Madleen despite global calls for it to be granted safe passage underscores the longstanding impunity Israel enjoys which has emboldened it to continue to commit genocide in Gaza and to maintain a suffocating, illegal blockade on Gaza for 18 years.” (Israel has refuted allegations of genocide.)
She called on countries to publicly denounce Israel’s interception, and demand the immediate and unconditional release of the 12-person crew on board.
“Now is the time to take a clear stand – through actions not just words. They must make clear that they will no longer tolerate Israel blocking humanitarian aid to a population facing starvation and genocide. They must press Israel to lift its suffocating blockade and allow aid to be delivered through all crossings into Gaza now,” Callamard said.
Over 600 days of war and an 11-week blockade have pushed the region’s 2.1 million people deeper into a hunger crisis, with food security experts warning nearly half a million Palestinians were living in “catastrophic” levels of hunger while a million others could barely get enough food.
Speaking to ABC News, former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) senior lawyer Eran Shamir-Borer rejected the claim Israel acted unlawfully, arguing the country had imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since 2009.
“Once a naval blockade has been imposed there is a right, even an obligation, to enforce it,” he told the publication.
“Enforcing could be done not just with respect to an actual breach of such a blockade, but also if is an attempted breach.
“An attempted breach could be decided by way of the intention, declared intentions, stated intentions of those involved in the flotilla, those on board the vessel, and then you could just enforce this also on the high seas, actually from the moment when they have made their intentions clear that they want to breach a lawful naval blockade.”
How have countries responded?
In addition to Thunberg, the Madleen’s crew includes activists Yasemin Acar, Baptiste Andre, Thiago Avila, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, Suayb Ordu, Sergio Toribio, Marco van Rennes and Reva Viard.
Six of the crew are French citizens, including Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan.
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked that the six French nationals “be allowed to return to France as soon as possible,” per the BBC.
“We have asked to be able to exercise our consular protection over them” and to “visit them”, added French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot.
Sweden’s ministry of foreign affairs said it was aware of the situation on the Madleen and following developments onboard.
“The ministry of foreign affairs and the ambassador in Tel Aviv are in contact with local authorities and monitoring the situation closely,” a spokesperson said, per The Guardian.
“Should the need for consular assistance arise, the embassy and the ministry of foreign affairs will assess how we can bets help the Swedish national / Greta Thunberg to solve their situation.”
The Palestinian foreign ministry has called for the activists onboard the ship to be protected, writing on X that it “salutes the international solidarity activists aboard the ship attempting to break the siege on the Gaza Strip”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong have not yet commented on the incident.
Lead image: Getty
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