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Israeli gov’t officials convince activists to cancel Cyprus flotilla
The Jerusalem Post reported on June 5 about the planned flotilla, which was to be led by Alex Goldfarb, former member of Knesset, and Modi’in Meretz activist Pinhas Har-Zahav. According to spiked-online.com, as many as 400 Israeli yacht owners volunteered their yachts for the reverse flotilla. As the story made headlines in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece, as well as other countries in Europe and some 800 supporters of the flotilla joined its Facebook group.
The Cyprus Mail reported on June 16 that the Israeli flotilla could play into Turkey’s hands.
“As Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s chief negotiator to the EU, pointed out, the flotilla would effectively break what Turkey deems an embargo of the Republic of Cyprus. He said, ‘They will pay the fees, they use their ports and on the other hand they will lift the embargo imposed by the Greek Cypriot sector’,” it stated.
Meanwhile, Israeli government officials persuaded the activists to cancel the voyage because they were worried that the attention would remind the international media of the Gaza flotilla when most of the world’s attention has shifted to other issues, such as the BP oil spill and the World Cup, wrote The Jerusalem Post on June 16.
The flotilla was to include 23 yachts of six people each. The yachts were donated to the cause by their owners.
The Mavi Marmara, carrying 500 supporters and $20 million in humanitarian aid, began its journey from İstanbul to Gaza on May 22 in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people and in a bid to break Israel’s years-long blockade of the Gaza Strip. However, the ship was stormed by Israeli forces in the early morning of May 31, 2010, with marines boarding from dinghies and rappelling from helicopters. At least nine peace activists were killed and dozens were injured during the attack.
There is another group of Israeli students who were planning to go to Turkey to remind the world about the Armenian “genocide” and what they labeled the ongoing Turkish oppression of the Kurdish minority. They may also cancel their plans.
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