Freedom Flotilla

[Badh]

Thought this might be worth its own thread. The freedom flotilla The Madleen was getting close to Gaza but seems to have made a diversion, as it was the closest boat to answer a distress call. They seem to also have four Sudanese asylum seekers on board who were trying to escape the Libyan coast patrol.

The UK and France are asking Israel for its safe passage.

The tracker is here but is in and out of action.
https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-tracker/

More details here, although the latest detour is not covered in the article.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-navy-gears-up-to-block-high-profile-protest-ship-headed-for-gaza/amp/

Pretty sure it wasn’t flying the UK flag when it left Italy,

It’s pretty obvious what these imbeciles are doing.

No it’s a formal process. You can’t just pop up a UK flag. You need to apply for one.

The UK I would hazard a guess wants nothing to do with this and will in now way protect the vessel should it need protecting. They are on their own but they would have known that before they set out. As alleged "terrorist" supporters they will be well versed with the concept of martyrdom !

No I don’t believe everything Netanyahu or the IDF say.

But you don’t answer the question about whether or not you believe all the information coming out of Gaza.

No it doesn’t all come from Hamas but a lot of it does, or from Hamas supporters.

Jeremy Bowen touches on this in his latest article for the BBC.

Getting information from Gaza is difficult. It is a lethal warzone. At least 181 journalists and media workers have been killed since the war started, almost all Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel won't let international news teams into Gaza.

Since the best way to check controversial and difficult stories is first hand, that means the fog of war, always hard to penetrate, is as thick as I have ever experienced in a lifetime of war reporting.

It is clear that Israel wants it to be that way. A few days into the war I was part of a convoy of journalists escorted by the army into the border communities that Hamas had attacked, while rescue workers were recovering the bodies of Israelis from smoking ruins of their homes, and Israeli paratroopers were still clearing buildings with bursts of gunfire.

Israel wanted us to see what Hamas had done. The conclusion has to be that it does not want foreign reporters to see what it is doing in Gaza.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0r1xl5wgnko

Theres no news re Starmer or the Government contradicting what they are doing.
So I’m comfortable assuming they have the right to fly the Union Jack.

This might help: https://ukshipregister.co.uk/registration

In a nutshell: typically you need to either be British or the owner of some British registered legal entity to qualify. That pertains to the owner of the vessel, not necessarily the operator.

On a complete "fun fact" side note: all of Mongolia, Bolivia, and Switzerland maintain shipping registers and hence fleets depsite being completely landlocked.

Source: I inherited a small boat once (no longer own it)

I didn’t say they didn’t (or rather the vessel owner hasn’t).

Why do you think they changed the flag they were flying mid voyage though?

The UK Govn is monitoring the situation and has reportedly asked the Israeli Govn to ensure its safety

They were flying the flag on June 1st. They haven’t changed anything

Thank you @SomeWomanSomewhere . For the imbeciles who walk among us, you need to apply for this and it was indeed uk flagged on leaving.

I found this article about the legalities around the flotilla. In short it’s in a grey legal area attempting to break the blockade. The Uk won’t have to act militarily but any violence would likely cause a diplomatic spat. I think between Greta, the six French citizens and the UK registeration, they are unlikely to face a violent reaction from Israel despite their tough words.
www.irishlegal.com/articles/activists-in-gaza-flotilla-are-acting-where-states-have-failed

Here’s another image taken 6 days ago where the flag is even more visible

Read Jeremy Bowens piece on the BBC website. A very reliable and experienced war reporter. I believe what he's saying.

I listened to a British doctor on sky news today, can't remember her full name but her first name is Rose. She's been there working in a hospital, I believe her. Plenty of reliable information if you are interested but there would be more if reporters like Bowen were allowed to do their job.

I don't believe the IDF as they are proven liars.

They are not supporting terrorism
They have claimed no allegiance to terrorism.
They are making a stand against the Israeli Givenment not providing aid to the Palestinian people including baby formula! which they have on board.

Oh ok.

Lawful interference is allowed then. cool. I guess it's up to lawyers and diplomats to fight it out. Nothing to get excited about.

Bit risky to ask for safety from a ‘genocidal, baby killing, child starving, apartheid’ government isn’t it?

Surely the UK government has a humanitarian responsibility to stop these people risking their own lives against such a government?

Excited ? Hardly!

Id say very concerned

Check out the Brazilian activist and his supporter of Hezbollah, which are surprisingly a proscribed terrorist organisation, despite a lot of them having no bollaz left.

The UK can’t stop them but they do have a responsibility towards them as they come under UK jurisdiction.
Thats not unlawful either Quantum thats the UKs responsibility

The Freedom Flotilla is just that, they make no claims to support terrorism.
They are a humanitarian vessel.

Tracking the boat and assuming it continues at the same speed and trajectory they could be at their destination in approx 5 hours.

I really like Tadhg Hickey the Irish comedian and activist. He's genuinely funny and clearly cares a lot about justice and human rights. But recently he went to the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike. It was a huge event in Beirut in February apparently up to a million people were there, along with delegates from dozens of countries.

From what I understand, Hickey and a bunch of other Western activists and influencers were invited as part of some big “Global Awakening and Palestine” conference. I’m guessing he got caught up in the emotion and drama of the whole thing which, to be fair, would be easy to do in that setting.

Does that mean he’s suddenly a terrorist sympathiser? I don’t think so. People can make misjudged choices without meaning harm. You can attend something politically charged without backing everything it represents. Context matters and while I might not agree with where he ended up, I don’t think it makes him a bad person.

https://honestreporting.com/bbc-bowens-insidious-analysis-of-israels-media-battlefield/

https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/bbcs-bowen-says-hamas-is-good-source-of-gaza-casualty-figures-b7r3l80t

Just because he’s an experienced war reporter does not mean he doesn’t have bias.

You may not like the sources but are the reports false?

On what evidence are the IDF proven liars as opposed to Palestinians who voted in a terrorist organisation with a charter to destroy Israel?

No army in the midst of war would be expected to immediately investigate and respond to propaganda claims by their enemy. I’m sure there will be years of investigations afterwards.

That UK flag is not being flown is it?

I'll take the BBC over a pro-Israel so called media watchdog anyday. Have they ever done one on Israeli media I wonder ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HonestReporting?utm_source=chatgpt.com

During the Gaza war, HonestReporting said that the journalists who had photographed the October 7 Hamas attack were "part of the plan" and involved in "coordination with the terrorists"; later, the group's executive director said he had no evidence for the allegation. The report led two Israeli politicians to threaten that these journalists be killed,[36] while the Israeli Prime Minister's office said the journalists were "accomplices in crimes against humanity".[37] The Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times and CNN strongly refuted allegations that they had prior knowledge of the Hamas attack.