Global Sumud Flotilla Intercepted by Israel in International Waters

The Global Sumud flotilla, which was transporting humanitarian aid to Gaza, was attacked by Israeli armed forces in a Greek search-and-rescue zone, 35 miles from Crete (Greece) and 1,200 km from Gaza. Netanyahu’s genocidal government used drones, communications jamming technology, and armed speedboats in international waters to seize the flotilla’s members.

According to reports, 22 ships from the flotilla have already been seized. Among them is the one carrying Mandi Coelho (a member of the PSTU-B and Rebeldia) and Thiago Avila (an internationalist activist), and another carrying Andriy, from the Ukrainian delegation. Other ships in the flotilla are heading to Crete for safety reasons.

This act by the genocidal government of Israel, backed by U.S. imperialism, is openly illegal—an act of piracy and terrorism in international waters. It has the same colonialist nature as the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, and the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 2,000 Iranians (including 175 children in a school) in Iran, carried out by the joint U.S.-Israeli attack. It is a continuation of the same methods of genocide against the people of Gaza

We demand that all governments of the world issue an immediate statement against this act of piracy and genocide, and in defense of the immediate release of the activists. Israel has no right to blockade Gaza, much less to kidnap activists in international waters. The silence of any government is an eloquent act of complicity with the genocidal Zionist government of Israel.

We call for demonstrations in all the world’s capitals in defense of the Flotilla and in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza. On May 1 demonstrations around the world should take up the defense of the Flotilla and its members.

First published here in Spanish