Firebrand MK: ‘Any normal person’ would sail in Gaza flotilla

The controversial Joint (Arab) List parliamentarian Hanin Zoabi on Monday defended a member of her party for his decision to join a flotilla seeking to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

She told Army Radio that “any normal person” would try break the blockade, and that, if not for circumstances, she too would have joined MK Basel Ghattas in the flotilla, which is expected to sail from Greece to Gaza in the coming days.

The IDF indicated it will block any attempt to reach the Hamas-controlled enclave.

“I think that any normal person would participate in the struggle against the blockade, against the jailing of two million people,” Zoabi said.

“I was elected in order to uphold freedom and justice. I was elected as a Palestinian. I [consider myself] a member of the Palestinian people, before [I consider myself] an Israeli Knesset member,” she said.

The firebrand MK also intimated that she would like to see Israel’s political and military leaders hauled off to the International Criminal Court, and that nobody in Israel should expect to live “a normal life” while the blockade continues.

Zoabi participated in the 2010 Gaza flotilla that saw 10 Turkish activists killed on the Mavi Marmara after they violently confronted IDF naval commandos who boarded and attempted to commandeer the ship.

As a punitive measure for her involvement, she was stripped of a number of parliamentary privileges by the Knesset.

Ghattas told Hebrew media from Greece that he will press ahead with his plans to join this latest convoy.

“We have no weapons on board. If the IDF alights the ship we won’t resist and we will try and convince the soldiers to let us continue,” he told Army Radio Monday.

“I see this as a non-violent, legitimate political act,” he said.

Ghattas has been widely panned by members of most of the major Jewish parties, with one lawmaker calling the move a “political act that gives legitimacy to Hamas rule.”

Pro-Palestinian activists aboard the vessels noted that they were carrying humanitarian supplies destined for residents of the beleaguered Strip and appealed to the Israeli government to let them through.

One of them, Israeli-born Dror Feiler, now based in Sweden, told the Walla new site that Israel “must understand that the blockade on Gaza is neither constructive nor effective,” and that journalists from Al-Jazeera were on-board to document the IDF’s response to the flotilla and to combat Israeli “disinformation.”

“We’re against violence. I call on the IDF to board the ship and check that we’re not bringing anything bad to Gaza that may harm Israel. We have medicine, artificial hearts and hundreds of soccer balls for kids,” Feiler said.

Despite a ban on some construction materials that Israel fears may be appropriated by Hamas for military purposes, the Jewish state routinely transfers foodstuffs, goods and medical supplies to the coastal enclave via a number of land border crossings.

Together with Egypt, Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza in 2007 when the Islamist Hamas group took control of the Strip in a bloody coup, ousting the Palestinian Authority leadership. Israel, along with many Western countries, considers Hamas a terror organization.

Both countries say the blockade is meant to prevent Hamas from importing weaponry into Gaza to use against Israel.

The IDF has intercepted a number of civilian ships carrying weapons headed for Gaza in recent years. It has also turned away attempts by activists to break the blockade.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.