The Global Sumud Flotilla, in which 1,000 activists from around the world were traveling in 100 boats to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, was stopped by Israel near Greece, about 1,000 kilometers before reaching Gaza. Israel removed 175 activists from the boats and deported them, while two members of the steering committee — Saif Abukeshk, a Spanish citizen of Palestinian origin, and Thiago Avila of Brazil — were arrested and taken to Israel. This action is completely illegal because Israel has violated international law.
For the last three years, Israel has continuously attacked Gaza and the West Bank. Since the ceasefire last year, more than 800 people have been killed in Gaza. Over the last three years, around 75,000 people have been killed, most of them women and children. Gaza has been completely devastated. Israel has also blocked food, water, and medicines there, and has prevented the United Nations agency UNRWA created for Palestinian refugees from functioning. It has even used starvation as a weapon.
When South Africa filed a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, the judges ruled that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir were war criminals and arrest warrants were issued against them.
Meanwhile, several European countries — Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, Ireland, Belarus, and Malaysia — have taken positions against Israel. There are discussions about removing Israel from the European Council. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that, as a mother and a woman, she cannot stand with a man responsible for the massacre of women and children. China removed Israel from maps and replaced it with “Palestine.” Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez said that history would judge those who remain indifferent on Gaza; Palestine needs us, and we stand with Palestine. Spain and Slovenia have appealed to the European Union to act in order to preserve the independence of the International Court of Justice and the United Nations. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has said that Israel also uses sexual violence against Palestinians.
Several film personalities and artists such as Angelina Jolie, Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Williams, Dua Lipa, Javier Bardem and Hillary Allison have openly supported Palestine despite professional risks. Among the athletes supporting Palestine is the famous boxer Mike Tyson.
At the University of Michigan’s graduation ceremony Professor Derek Peterson has praised the students advocating the rights of Palestinians.
Now the time has come for the countries of the world to boycott Israel in the same way South Africa was once globally boycotted because of apartheid policies. If the United States becomes an obstacle in this path, it too should face the boycott.
The Presidents of Spain and Brazil, Pedro Sánchez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, respectively, have demanded the release of Saif Abukeshk and Thiago Avila from Israel. Meanwhile, Thiago’s mother, Teresa Regina de Avila e Silva, has passed away. Saif Abukeshk and Thiago Avila are reportedly being tortured in prison. They are blindfolded, their hands tied behind their backs, and they are being beaten. Yet the Global Sumud Flotilla is a completely Gandhian nonviolent satyagraha, in which all activists are committed to nonviolence. Their sole purpose is to show solidarity with Gaza and deliver some relief material there. Treating activists of such a campaign like criminals is condemnable. The Israeli government has crossed all limits of civilized behavior. Along with Saif Abukeshk and Thiago Avila, around 10,000 Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails should also be released. Israel has passed a law under which they can even be sentenced to death on accusations of carrying out deadly attacks. Hamas, on the other hand, has released all the hostages, alive or dead, taken on October 7, 2023.
The United Nations should take immediate initiative to find a universally acceptable solution to the Israel–Palestine issue. Out of the UN’s 193 member states, 157 have recognized Palestine. The United States, by using its veto power, has blocked Palestine from obtaining full UN membership. What an irony it is that the self-proclaimed defender of human rights around the world is directly complicit in the violation of the human rights of the entire Palestinian population. Furthermore, it has formed a “Board of Peace” to rebuild Gaza post-war that includes people from around the world, yet has no representative from Gaza itself. Countries around the world should unite to oppose this conspiracy by the United States and Israel to evacuate Gaza and should demand dissolution of this board.
Benjamin Netanyahu is advising Palestinians to move elsewhere. How strange it is that after bringing Jews from all over the world and encroaching upon Palestinian lands — for example, during the Nakba of 1948, when seven lakh Palestinians were expelled, whose descendants still live in refugee camps in neighboring countries — Israel now says that Palestinians should go elsewhere. In reality, Israel, as was initially proposed with alternatives such as Uganda, Argentina, Australia, Alaska, and the Soviet Union, should have been established in some less densely populated region of the world. Instead, the mistake of the 1917 Balfour Declaration by the British continues to haunt Palestinians and Israelis alike, just as the mistake of the 1947 Partition continues to haunt the people of India and Pakistan.
Author: Sandeep Pandey
Author Profile: Sandeep Pandey is the Secretary General of the Socialist Party (India).