Freedom Flotilla

Turkey, Israel make U.S.-brokered peace after Mavi Marmara apology

by News Sources 03.22.2013

Today’s Zaman reports: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered an apology to Turkey for a 2010 raid on an aid flotilla that resulted in the deaths of eight Turks and a Turkish American, ending a deep crisis in ties between the two former allies. In a statement carried by Reuters, Netanyahu said he “expressed apology” [...]

Read the full article →

Documents reveal how U.S. let Israel off the hook over ‘execution’ of American Furkan Dogan

by News Sources 02.23.2013

Alex Kane reports: In May 2010, 18-year-old American citizen Furkan Dogan was shot at point-blank range by Israeli naval commandos as he was standing on the deck of a ship and filming the violent raid on the flotilla to Gaza. It took three days for the U.S. to contact his family–and that was after the [...]

Read the full article →

Video: Gaza-bound ship ‘attacked by Israel forces’

by News Sources 10.20.2012

The Associated Press reports: Israeli troops on Saturday commandeered a Gaza-bound ship that tried to break through Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-ruled seaside strip, the military said. European lawmakers and other pro-Palestinian activists aboard did not resist, and the Finnish-flagged vessel was diverted to an Israeli port. The voyage by the ship, Estelle, marked the [...]

Read the full article →

The flotilla and the siege of Gaza

by News Sources 11.08.2011
Read the full article →

Flotilla controversy within Occupy Wall Street shows Palestine continues to be a fault line

by Guest Contributor 11.04.2011

BY BEN LORBER At about midnight Palestinian time, all was quiet on the Mediterranean Sea. All reports coming from the Tahrir and Saoirse indicated that the two unidentified (possibly Israeli) ships and planes, which had been trailing the humanitarian vessels an hour before, had receded into the distance, and posed no immediate threat. The international [...]

Read the full article →

Israelis seize boats carrying supplies to Gaza Strip

by News Sources 11.04.2011

The Los Angeles Times reports: Israel’s navy intercepted a pro-Palestinian protest flotilla Friday as it attempted to break a sea blockade around the Gaza Strip, the third such attempt in less than two years. Israeli officials said the takeover of two boats carrying 27 activists, journalists and crew members occurred without the kind of violent [...]

Read the full article →

Israel Navy contacts Gaza-bound aid vessels

by News Sources 11.04.2011

Haaretz reports: Two protest boats approached the Gaza coast on Friday with the intent to violate Israel’s naval blockade of the territory and were met by Israeli navy vessels, Palestinian activists said. In Gaza, activist Amjad Shawwa said the boats were about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Gaza and had been warned over the radio [...]

Read the full article →

U.N. experts say Israel’s blockade of Gaza illegal

by News Sources 09.14.2011

Reuters reports: Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to a U.N. body said on Tuesday, disputing a conclusion reached by a separate U.N. probe into Israel’s raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship. The so-called Palmer Report on the Israeli raid of May 2010 that [...]

Read the full article →

Erdogan calls for a secular Egypt

by News Sources 09.13.2011

Al-Masry Al-Youm reports: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on Egyptians to adopt a secular constitution, noting that secularism does not mean renouncing religion. A secular state respects all religions, Erdogan said in an interview with the private satellite TV channel Dream before heading to Egypt for a two-day visit. “Do not [...]

Read the full article →

Turkey: Israel’s raid on Gaza flotilla was ’cause for war’

by News Sources 09.12.2011

Reuters and the Associated Press report: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan saw “cause for war” with Israel last year after a deadly raid on a Turkish ship headed for Gaza, according to a transcript of a recent interview. State news agency Anatolia released late on Sunday what it said was an original Turkish-language transcript of [...]

Read the full article →

Erdogan slams Obama for silence on Israel’s Gaza flotilla raid

by News Sources 09.10.2011

Haaretz reports: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Saturday his country’s intent to refer the legality of Israel’s Gaza blockade to The Hague, adding a criticism of U.S. President Barack Obama’s position regarding Israel’s 2010 of a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla. Speaking a convention of businessmen in the central Turkish city of Kayseri broadcast [...]

Read the full article →

Turkish warships will escort aid vessels to Gaza

by News Sources 09.09.2011

Today’s Zaman reports: Turkey said on Thursday it would escort aid ships to Gaza and would not allow a repetition of last year’s Israeli raid that killed nine Turks, setting the stage for a potential naval confrontation with its former ally. Raising the stakes in Turkey’s row with Israel over its refusal to apologise for [...]

Read the full article →

Ankara and Tel Aviv, collision course or path to progress?

by News Sources 09.05.2011

Haaretz reports: Turkey on Monday informed Israel’s top diplomat in Ankara that nearly all senior Israeli embassy personnel must leave the country by Wednesday. Ella Ofek, the deputy to the Israeli ambassador to Turkey and the person currently in charge of the Israeli embassy in Ankara, was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Monday. [...]

Read the full article →

Turkish FM says flotilla issue not just between Israel and Turkey

by News Sources 09.05.2011

Today’s Zaman reports: Firmly opposing the portrayal of the recent escalation of the crisis between Turkey and Israel solely as a bilateral affair which must be resolved between the two countries, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has warned that when dealing with Israel’s lethal 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, in which nine pro-Palestinian [...]

Read the full article →

‘Israel’s bullying in eastern Med is over’

by News Sources 09.03.2011

Hürriyet Daily News reports: The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their “bullying” practices against civilian vessels, a Turkish official said Friday. The official said this would be the outcome of Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s statement earlier in the day that “Turkey would take every precaution [...]

Read the full article →

Turkey to challenge Gaza blockade at International Court of Justice

by News Sources 09.03.2011

The Guardian reports: Turkey is to challenge Israel’s blockade on Gaza at the International Court of Justice, amid a worsening diplomatic crisis between the once close allies. The announcement by Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu appears to rebuff UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s attempt to defuse the row over Israel’s armed assault on a Gaza-bound [...]

Read the full article →

Turkey expels Israeli diplomats, suspends military ties after UN report

by News Sources 09.02.2011

Today’s Zaman reports: In the face of a leaked United Nations panel report on the Mavi Marmara incident, which includes accusations both against Israel and Turkey, Turkey on Friday announced that it is further reducing diplomatic relations and cutting military ties with Israel over the country’s refusal to apologize for last year’s deadly raid on [...]

Read the full article →

How Israel got away with murder on the Mavi Marmara

by Paul Woodward 09.01.2011

The long-delayed and long-awaited UN report [PDF] on the Mavi Marmara massacre has finally been released by the New York Times. I guess the newspaper feels a responsibility that it should spin this as much in Israel’s favor as possible before the report get’s officially released. “Report Finds Naval Blockade by Israel Legal but Faults [...]

Read the full article →

Turkish FM: No more delays for UN report on Israel

by News Sources 09.01.2011

Today’s Zaman reports: Ankara has refused to comply with Israel’s request seeking a delay of the UN report on the Mavi Marmara flotilla raid for another six months, reportedly designed to cut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu some slack until he gets more political backing at home in Israel. “It is not remotely possible for [...]

Read the full article →

Gaza protest boat forced into Israeli port

by News Sources 07.19.2011
Read the full article →

Israel Navy intercepts sole remnant of flotilla heading for Gaza

by News Sources 07.19.2011

Haaretz reports: The Israel Navy intercepted the French yacht Dignite-Al Karame on Tuesday after it had refused to stop heading toward the Gaza shore, as per IDF instructions. Elite troops from Shayetet 13, a naval commando unit, boarded the vessel minutes after IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz issued the order to intercept it and [...]

Read the full article →

Gaza-bound ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists sets sail from Greece

by News Sources 07.18.2011

Amira Hass reports from somewhere in the East Mediterranean. On Saturday evening a Gaza-bound boat left Greek territorial waters. Its 10 participants regard themselves as representatives of the entire abortive flotilla to Gaza, and are determined to exhaust all possibilities in order to reach their destination, or at least carry out the symbolic act of [...]

Read the full article →

Journalists barred from flight to Israel

by News Sources 07.07.2011

Al Jazeera reports: Two Dutch journalists were not allowed to board a flight from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv late yesterday. Security Correspondent Bud Wichers and Photographer Ettora Hesseling, who are both working for an International news agency, recently covered the preparation of the Dutch Flotilla activists from Greece. They intended to sail with flotilla, but [...]

Read the full article →

Juliano ship heads for Gaza

by News Sources 07.06.2011

Ynet reports: The Gaza-bound Juliano ship left Greece Wednesday afternoon, after suffering huge delays due in part to a ban set by Athens on the departure of flotilla ships from its ports. On board the ship are 20 activists. Last week flotilla organizers claimed that Israel had sabotaged the ship in an attempt to prevent [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries