Another "aid" ship without aid intercepted near Gaza

The Free gaza movement lies again....

Once again, the "Free Gaza" movement is claiming that Israeli naval vessels are threatening their lives, and once again they are lying.

It will be recalled that last December a Free Gaza boat tried to get to Gaza. The Israeli Navy intercepted them and stopped them. They claimed that they were fired upon, that they were surrounded by six boats, that they were rammed by the Israeli boats and lots of other things. Yet the journalists on board and all the terror supporters with cameras and video could never show any video that corroborated any of their outlandish claims.

Today's edition follows the same script. From the Free Gaza mailing list:

We just spoke to the passengers. Everyone is OK, but the situation is still very tense. They continue to be surrounded by Israeli warships which are threatening to open fire. The Israeli Navy is actively jamming all navigation systems in violation of international maritime law, endangering the people on board.
Huwaida Arraf, one of the delegation leaders, was on the phone with the Israeli gunboats, and we could hear her saying, "You Cannot Open Fire on Unarmed Civilians" several times.
Of course they are now choosing claims that could never be disproven - and of course we will never hear any recording of the radio or loudspeakers threatening to open fire on them.

From Reuters:


Overnight, the activists -- in a small ferry boat sailing from Cyprus to Gaza -- said they had received threats they would be fired upon unless they turned back.

Yigal Palmor, Israel's foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters no such threats had been made. He said the boat's declared destination was Port Said in Egypt and that the boat appeared to be heading in that direction.

"If it changes course and tries to go to Gaza or declares that it intends to do so, the navy can take action, although they would definitely not fire at the boat," Palmor said.

The activists from U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement have publicly said their destination was Gaza, which is under an Israeli blockade, and activists on board the boat earlier told Reuters an Israeli patrol boat had approached them.

"We were told that if we did not turn back they would open fire," said Derek Graham, an Irish activist.

"We are continuing our course to Gaza," he said.


Keep in mind that Free Gaza is not interested in humanitarian aid - they are only interested in publicity. They want confrontation. They define themselves as a "resistance group," not an aid group. They support and encourage Palestinian Arab violence. They came out publicly against any humanitarian aid to Gaza going through Israel. They've shown reckless disregard for Gazan lives (if you believe their statements.)

Oh, and all that cement that they tell journalists they are bringing to Gaza? From their Twitter account:
We left this morning, one boat, 21 passengers, 20 olive trees, one symbolic bag of cement.
Sounds like last time, when they claimed to be bringing "60 tons" of aid - and it was all a lie.

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The latest "aid" ship had no aid


Last night, Israel intercepted a freighter that was supposedly filled with 60 tons of aid for Gaza, that originated in Tripoli.

Predictably, the moonbats have been hysterical over this, saying that Israel was shooting at the people on the ship and then beating them.

Free Gaza's update on the ship last night was telling: its 8 PM (Central European Time) report said

The Israelis said the boat can not go to Gaza, and it appears they will try to force it to Arish, but the captain intends to push forward. (And having been aboard the TALI I think it will take more than a ramming to sink it)
In other words, the "peace activists" were really hoping for a fight.

From the times of the reports, it is clear that Israel warned the ship for several hours before boarding it.

The only reporter who is saying that Israel beat and threatened them is the embedded Al Jazeera reporter.

Israel took the ship to Ashdod to examine the contents and question the passengers. According to Haaretz, the "60 tons" of aid was imaginary:
The Israel Defense Forces said that troops found about 150 bottles of mineral water and a few dozen kilograms of food and medicine on board, despite earlier claims that it was carrying dozens of tons of humanitarian aid.

The Tali, a cargo vessel flying the flag of the West African state of Togo, was sent by the Palestinian National Committee Against the Siege in cooperation with the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement. Its cargo was claimed to have included about 60 tons of medicine, food and toys, plus 10,000 units of human blood plasma which requires constant refrigeration.
So these pro-terror "peace activists" are caught lying. Again.

And one of the "human rights" activists on the ship has a bit of a checkered history:
Military sources said that on board the vessel - dubbed the "Brotherhood Ship" - were nine people, including Greek-Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who was arrested in 1974 after being caught smuggling weapons from Lebanon to activists in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Which is exactly what one would expect a "peace activist" to do, right?

For context, here are the amounts of aid that Israel shipped into Gaza over the past few days:

February 1 - 4,656 tons of supplies
February 2 - 5,354 tons of supplies
February 3 - 6,106 tons of supplies
February 4 - 5,367 tons of supplies

So even though they were lying about the "60 tons," it is about what three trucks carry. This is hardly an efficient way to get aid to Gazans. (I have not heard about any shortage of blood plasma in Gaza, either.)