More than 36 hours after their arrest, Handala passengers know a little more about their fate. Arranged in international waters, north of Egypt by the Israeli army while they were trying to join Gaza and break the humanitarian blockade, the 19 pro-Palestinian activists and the two journalists present on the Norwegian trawler had been brought to the port of Ashdod, on the southwest coast of Israel.
Like what had been proposed to passengers in Madleen, the previous boat of the Fluil de la Liberté stopped last June on which was the French MEP Rima Hassan, the passengers were to offer to sign a “Voluntary expulsion”a document attesting to illegal entry into Israeli territory. “Several people have agreed to sign this paper infamous so that they can testify as quickly as possibleprecise at Libération The French spokesperson for the Fluille de la Liberté, Claude Léostic. The decision was made between them before their arrest ”. According to the NGO Adalah, in charge of the defense of activists, and the Freedom Flatilla, three activists, including the rebellious French deputy Gabrielle Cathala and the two journalists of Al-Jazeera Mohamed El Bakkali and Waad Al Musa, should leave the country during the day. The elected LFI should arrive in Paris this Monday evening.
The other arrested activists, having refused the agreement and detained in Givon prison for the most part, were presented to a court responsible for examining their care on Monday afternoon according to the press release from Adalah, like the four remaining French, the European elected official LFI Emma Fourreau, Chloé Fiona Ludden, Ange Sahuquet and the nurse Justine Kempf. “Adalah stresses that the maintenance of these civil activists, who have been arrested in international waters, constitutes a serious violation of international law”, Add the NGO, which requests their release. If the French spokesperson for the Claude Léostic fleet had not raised mistreatment at first, one of the passengers, Chris Smalls, at the origin of the first union in Amazon in the United States “Has reported serious physical violence committed by Israeli forces” Before the court, according to an Adalah press release.
Other activists have described the same abuses, criticizing “Deplorable conditions of detention, in particular a lack of ventilation despite extreme heat and the absence of basic hygiene products for women”. Still according to the same press release, “Several volunteers reported that the Israeli authorities had exerted strong pressure on them yesterday, forcing them to give up their right to meet a lawyer”. The activists have started a hunger strike since their arrest. Two activists holding Israeli nationality, Huwaida Arraf and Bob Suberi, were released on Monday, after being heard by the country’s police.
Broadcast live by the Freedom Flotilla on YouTube on Saturday July 26, the arranging of the Handala was strongly denounced by pro-Palestinian activists, while the boat was located in international waters on maritime tracking sites, as well as that of the Pro-Palestinian movement. “Netanyahu has all the rights: genocide, war crimes, children’s assassinations, kidnapping, published the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X, this Monday. Courage and honor is to resist him as these two women do [les élues françaises Gabrielle Cathala et Emma Fourreau, ndlr] and their teammates. “ The triple presidential candidate took the opportunity to denounce the silence of the French government since the arrowing of the boat. In France, in addition to the rebellious France and the support tweet of the National Secretary of Ecologists Marine Tondelier, demanding the release of the two elected officials, published on Monday, the political class has been relatively silent since Saturday. Before the departure of the boat, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot had qualified the initiative as“irresponsible” on X.
Confiscated by the Israeli authorities, the Navarn, renamed Handala by the organization, was led to the port of Ashdod as well as the 800 kilos of humanitarian aid which it transported. “We reserve the right to file a complaint for the flight of the boat and the cargo”advance the French spokesperson for the flotilla. Almost two months after its arrest, Madleen has still not been returned to the organization and remains in the port of Ashdod. In fifteen years, only three of the 37 boats sent to Gaza by the Flotilla Flatilla have been recovered. The others were “Destroyed or sold”, According to Claude Léostic.
Updated at 3:32 p.m. with the release of Huwaida Arraf and Bob Suberi; At 5:08 p.m. with the mistreatment suffered by activists.
