Jewish Boat to Gaza
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| Blockade of the Gaza Strip |
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The Jewish Boat to Gaza was an initiative in an attempt to break the blockade of Gaza in late 2010 organized by Jews for Justice for Palestinians, a pro-Palestinian group based in London.[1] The boat, a catamaran named the MV Irene, had eight activists on board, all of them either Israelis or Jews, including Holocaust survivors, from the United States, United Kingdom, or Germany, as well as two journalists, a total of ten passengers.[2][3] It received support by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD).[4] The boat set sail from Northern Cyprus on September 26, 2010.[5]
Allegations of mistreatment
The boat was stopped by the Israeli Navy on September 28, 2010,[6][7] after being warned to change course. The Irene had approached within 20 miles of the coast,[8] and was confronted by at least 10 Israeli warships and boarded from speedboats by Shayetet 13 naval commandos. According to the activists, Israeli forces opened fire at them as soon as they landed on the vessel.[9]
The vessel and activists were taken to Ashdod port[2], where foreign activists were handed over to members of the Interior Ministry's Oz Unit, while the Israelis were taken to the Ashdod police station for questioning. A group of 20 Israelis staged a protest near Ashdod port. Activists and family members followed the Israeli passengers as they were taken in for police interrogation and protested.[10][11] All of the activists were later deported and released without charge.[12]
According to one of the activists, Yonatan Shapira, an Israeli activist and former pilot of the Israeli Air Force, said on Democracy Now!, that he was brutally beaten and shocked with a taser gun, stating, "The soldiers were very brutal to us. They didn’t kill us like they kill the other Palestinians and Muslims, but they were very brutal. I got shot with a taser shock gun, electric, and was brutally treated, just like my brother Itamar."[13]