Free gaza movement

Ship trips began in August 2008 . Until the last incident, there were eight fleets, five times the ships reached their destination in Gaza, three times were not allowed into Gaza.

First Flotillas

The first eight fleets did not receive wide international resonance, although they were discussed in the international press.

• First Flotilla (August 2008) ^[10]
• Second flotilla
• Third flotilla
• Fourth flotilla
• Fifth flotilla
• Sixth Flotilla
• Seventh Flotilla
• Eighth flotilla

Preparing to go to sea

According to media reports, 9 ships were supposed to participate, but by the time they left, 6 ships were ready, three were behind on technical issues. Rachel Corrie ^[11]

Conflict with the IDF

On the night of May 30–31, 2010 , the convoy was stopped by the Israeli naval forces in international neutral waters near Israeli borders on suspicion of attempting to enter a closed military zone. The captains of the ships were invited to take on board an inspection team consisting of maritime special forces and change course to the port of Ashdod .

According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the search team on the Mavi Marmara ship sailing under the flag of Comoros ^[12] was unprovoked by the passengers of the ship using cold and firearms ^[13] and was forced to open fire to defeat. According to activists of the flotilla, the Israeli military “opened fire on the ship with unarmed people a few minutes before landing” ^[14] , after which the passengers were forced to resort to self-defense ^[15] .

During the subsequent assault on the ship, cold steel and firearms were used. According to the Israeli side, the fire was also fired by the passengers of the ship ^{[16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]} . These allegations were rejected by activists ^{[22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]} . Later, the Turkish captain told the IDF that “the mercenaries threw their weapons overboard after the commandos took control of the ship” ^{[18] [19] [20]} .

As a result of the battle, 9 passengers were killed and over 30 injured. ^{[28] [29] [30] [31]} , of which 9 are difficult ^[32] . Later, according to the Guardian , a Turkish criminal medical examination performed an autopsy of the victims and found that 5 out of 9 Mavi Marmar passengers were killed by shots in the head or in the back, and one of them, Fulkan Dogan, died from five bullets injuries, including a shot in the face, fired at a distance of less than 45 cm. ^{[33] [34] [35]}

From 10 to 15 Israeli soldiers were injured, including gunshot ^{[18] [19] [20]} , two of them were serious ^[30] . The remaining ships of the flotilla showed no resistance and were escorted without casualties to the Israeli port of Ashdod ^[36] , where some activists were expelled from Israel, and those who refused to leave Israel were arrested ^[32] .

Shareholders

1. Yara Lee, a Brazilian filmmaker of Korean descent. In 2008, participated in the organization of a concert of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in North Korea . He is a member of the International Crisis Prevention Group and the United States National Geographic Society ^[37] .
2. Annette Grot, deputy of the Bundestag from the Left Party . Works at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation .
3. Norman Peh, deputy of the Bundestag from the Left. Together with several other deputies, he opposed the signing of a resolution dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht in Germany under the pretext that it stigmatizes all those opposed to military policies of NATO , the United States and Israel ^[38] . This step, in turn, led to accusations of anti-Semitism against himself.
4. Angus O'Snodey, Member of the Parliament of Ireland ( Oyryahtas ) from the Sinn Fein Party.
5. Mayrid Corrigan, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Northern Ireland. In 1973 she traveled to the USSR , where she took part in the work on a film about religion in Soviet society. .
6. Khanin Zoabi , Member of the Israeli Knesset from the Balad Party. Israeli Arab . She was elected to the Knesset in 2009 and is the first woman elected to the Knesset by party lists of Arab parties.
7. Raed Salah, activist of the Islamic movement of Arabs in Israel . Declares that Jews fabricated the Wailing Wall .
8. Walid Al-Pattabay, Member of Parliament of Kuwait . Islamist. He opposed the participation of women in the elections and against the construction of Christian churches in Kuwait. He stated on this occasion that the permission to build churches in Kuwait was "illegal and contrary to Islamic law." He demanded to ban YouTube, as "blasphemy and pornography" spreads through it .
9. Hilarion Cappucci, former Uniate Bishop of Caesarea. In 1974, they were sentenced by an Israeli court to 12 years in prison for transferring weapons of the Palestine Liberation Army under the guise of diplomatic immunity. In 1976, Palestinian terrorists hijacking an Air France plane demanded his release .
10. Henning Mankel , famous Swedish writer, screenwriter and playwright. ^[39] He stood out as an ardent opponent of the Vietnam War, South African apartheid, and the Portuguese colonial war in Africa. ^[40] In the 70s. lived in Norway with a Norwegian, who was a member of the Maoist Communist Workers' Party of Norway, Mankel participated in the activities of the party, but was never a member of it. ^[41] Later in an interview with the British Guardian, Mankel said that after the Israeli soldiers landed on the ship Sofia, they began to search, after some time a soldier approached Menkell and said that he had found weapons. Mankel said, “I have 24 witnesses, he [the soldier] pointed me to my razor, a disposable razor ...” ^[39]
11. Dror Feiler [1] , a Swedish-Israeli musician and artist. Chairman of the Swedish organization "Jews for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace" and the European organization "European Jews for a just peace." The author of the controversial installation “White Snow and the Madness of Truth” [2] , which is a pool with red liquid, in which a boat sailed with a photo of Hanadi Jaradat, a suicide bomber who blew herself up in the Maxim restaurant, on October 4, 2003, which was inserted instead of a sail in which 22 Israelis were killed, including several children. According to Feiler, he was trying to "clearly explain that Jaradat killed innocent people, that this is terrible." ^{[42] [43]}
12. Matthias Gardell [3] , a Swedish historian and scholar, specializes in religious extremism and racism. In 2003, he published a book on separatism, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism. Since 2006, he has been Chairman of Comparative Religious Studies at Uppsala University. ^[44] He was an adherent of anarchism, now he prefers to use the term socialist-libertarian. ^[45]
13. Ibrahim Bilgen (b.1949), Turkish engineer and political activist from the city of Siirt . Killed during the assault ^[46] with four shots (in the forehead, back, leg and chest ^[47] ).
14. Dennis Holliday, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations. Irishman. Collaborates in the peace organization "Perdana" - under the auspices of the former president of Malaysia, Mahathir .

One of the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla was the Istanbul Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid, known as IHH (Insani Yardim Vakfi). The fund acquired three of the nine ships of the flotilla, including the Mavi Marmara. According to former French investigative judge Jean-Louis Bruzhiere, this foundation has long-standing ties to terror and global jihad. ^[48] He stated this in a telephone interview with the AP . IHH does not hide its ties with Hamas and pays pensions to the families of suicide bombers who committed terrorist attacks in Israeli cities. ^[49] Payments go through the Union of Good organization, which, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (CSS), is an “umbrella” for 50 organizations and foundations sponsoring Hamas in Gaza and on the East Bank of Jordan. ^[50] In June 2012, IHH President Bulent Yıldırım was interrogated by Turkish police on suspicion of having ties to al-Qaida and secretly transferring funds from this organization ^[51] .

Several ships plan to sail to Gaza. It is known that the ship under the Cambodian flag " Rachel Corrie " belongs to a registered in Israel Freedom of Gaza Movement . The crew and activists on board are mostly Irish. ^[52] The ship is ready to intercept. ^{[53] [54]} Details of the ship. ^[55]

•   Cambodia Rachel Corrie

According to a statement by the IDF press service, the military intercepted the Rachel Corrie cargo ship and it was heading to the port of Ashdod . There were no conflicts during the interception of the ship. The crew and passengers of the vessel did not resist the inspection team that boarded the ship. ^[56]

It is reported that a new flotilla, at least three of them, has been formed to attempt to break the blockade of Gaza in September-October ^[57] On the eve, Iran announced its intention to send its freedom flotilla. In addition, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan expressed his desire to personally participate in the next flotilla.

On June 28, 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the governments of the Mediterranean countries to “prevent pro-Palestinian activists from organizing new aid fleets in the Gaza Strip”, in particular, scheduled for late June, noting that “all aid for the Gaza Strip blocked by Israeli forces, must pass through “legal border crossings and through established channels” ”. ^{[58] [59]}

In August 2010, four IDF soldiers and an officer were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in computers stolen from the Freedom Flotilla. According to Ynet, the soldier-seller did not hide the origin of his “goods”. ^[60] These are not the first accusations by IDF soldiers of stealing property from activists from flotilla ships. ^{[61] [62]}

• The conflict off the coast of Gaza (2010)
• Gaza blockade

• UN appoints experts to investigate the Freedom Flotilla incident
• The Myth of the Siege of Gaza, Jonathan D. Halevi, No. 577 May-June 2010
• In a speech given by IHH leader Bulent Yildirim two months prior to the Marmara flotilla, he presented a radical Islamic ideology with anti-Western and anti-Israeli motifs. September 5, 2010 Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
• Information Bulletins :: Flotillas Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
• Israel warns UN: Free Gaza peacekeepers linked to terrorists, April 21, 2011