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Australian activist Surya McEwan is waiting in Istanbul, thinking about the sea voyage he is about to join.
His journey from Turkiye to Gaza is a desperate attempt to bring more than 5000 tonnes of aid to Palestinians in the besieged enclave who are on the verge of famine.
“Of course I’m afraid – and we all are. We understand the dangers, but the situation is so horrific and a lack of solidarity stains the entirety of humanity. It feels like it’s important that we do this anyway. We have a philosophy with the flotilla that ‘when our governments fail, we sail’. So we’re sailing.”
Joining him on the Freedom Flotilla are fellow Australians Daniel Coward and Helen O’Sullivan, as well as hundreds of aid workers and activists from around the world.
The initial fleet of ships will consist of three vessels, two of which will hold humanitarian aid while the third will carry what the Times of Israel has reported as both aid workers and members of the press.
The flotilla says it will not cooperate with Israel and will reject any inspection of its cargo – instead having it inspected by third parties to ensure no weapons are brought on board.
Donald Rothwell is an international law professor at the Australian National University.
He says contradictory assessments of the legality of Israel’s naval blockade from bodies like the U-N have made the issue a controversial one.
“The blockade is very contentious and there issues at the moment before the International Court of Justice about the legality of the blockade. We know that of course Israel has been very insistent on enforcing the blockade and most famously in 2010 there was a significant incident.”
The incident Professor Rothwell refers to is an Israeli raid on a similar flotilla voyage in 2010.
Israeli commandos killed 10 activists aboard the Turkish ‘Mavi Marmara’ ship, with dozens also injured on both sides.
Some of the survivors from that 2010 trip will be on this mission, including Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf.
She says she’s calling on governments around the world to demand their safe passage.
“We, the people of conscience of the world, will not sit by as Israel deliberately starves over 2,000,000 civilians. Our governments have thus far done nothing but we call on them to start now, to demand that Israel allows the flotilla safe passage to Gaza.”
S-B-S News has contacted the Israeli Defence Forces for comment on the upcoming mission, with no response.
But Israeli media this week reported that ‘Israeli officials hope the flotilla… will be postponed indefinitely.’
In relation to aid, the I-D-F has said it continues its efforts “to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea in accordance with international law.”
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says they’ve attempted to contact the activists to urge them not to go, and to understand that “previous attempts to break the naval blockade along the coast of Gaza have resulted in injury, death, arrest and the deportation of foreigners.”
But Surya McEwen and Daniel Coward say they believe the Australian government owes them their support.
McEWEN: “I would demand the government to make sure we have safe passage because we’re doing their work for them – because they’re not doing it for some reason.”
COWARD: “I think they have a duty to help us in any way that they can, prior to, during and after this mission, no matter how it goes.”
Helen O’Sullivan says the Australian government’s lack of action has forced her to put her own life at risk.
“We are watching what’s happening every day on the news and no one seems to be speaking up loud enough. We all have children; I have grandchildren the age of those 12-thousand plus children who have been killed already. I want our Australian government to step up. If a grandmother like me can step up a little, I would like them to raise their voice a bit louder in protest. This is genocide and it’s not ok.”
