http://www.presstv.ir/

Thu Jul 2, 2015

 

Israel can’t discourage pro-Gaza aid groups: Analyst

 

Press TV has interviewed Mary Hughes Thompson, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement, in Washington, to discuss the Israeli takeover of a Gaza aid ship, dubbed Marianne of Guthenburg.

Following is a rough transcription.

Press TV: It has been a few days now obviously since this ship has been seized by Israel. How are you reflecting on what has happened, once again, in international waters?

Thompson: Well, of course we are very anxious to know that the fifteen passengers who remain imprisoned, we are very anxious to know that they are well. There was apparently brutality, there was violence, notwithstanding the fact Israel said that they were taken without incident.

There was violence, they were tased, anytime you board a ship on international waters and you terrorize and brutalize passengers, you rob them, you panic off them usually, then you force them to go against their will to a place they don’t want to go to, all done at gun point; this is definitely violence by any standards.

So yes, of course, we are very anxious to hear what they have to say about it and we are outraged of course that this was done at all not that we can be terribly surprised.

Press TV: So obviously you know that this sort of ships are led by brave activists like yourself, does this deter you?

Thompson: Oh absolutely not! Our first boats went to Gaza in 2008 where the Free Gaza Movement got two small boats and we went to Gaza. The Israelis said they wouldn’t let us pass at the time for whatever reason. I think the Foreign Office wanted to let us pass but the navy wanted to stop us. They thought that it was a one-time thing, that if they let us go nobody would know anything about it, it would never happen again, we would disappear and that would be the end of it.

Unfortunately, for Israel, that is not what happened. From that point on we have had thousands and thousands of people begging to go on every boat. We sailed five times in 2008, we landed at Gaza five times in 2008. Once the Cast Lead started, they began to stop the boats. They rammed our boat, it sank ultimately. We got another boat, they took that boat, they stopped the boat again, and they kidnapped the passengers.

They have done this several times several times since then, so each time this happens, even after what happened on the Mavi Marmara where 10 people were assassinated, more and more people wanted to go. I think this is part of the problem for Israel. They think that they are going to discourage people by brutalizing them, this does not work.

The people who are committed to helping the Palestinians and stand beside them, do not get deterred. We are not intimidated by threats of violence. We all know that we very well might die in this effort but that doesn’t stop anybody and Israel doesn’t get it.