The Israeli attack on the Madleen vessel, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, is another episode of the policy of extermination against the Palestinian people, according to Ualid Rabah, president of the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (Fepal, in Portuguese), in an interview to “Conexão BdF” program on Rádio Brasil de Fato. The boat was intercepted by Israeli forces this Monday (9), while sailing in international waters towards the Gaza Strip, carrying humanitarian aid. Among the activists on board were Brazilian Thiago Ávila and the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
“Attacking this completely unarmed ship, with civilians carrying exclusively food and medical supplies necessary to keep a human being alive, shows that Israel is, at all costs, pursuing the use of hunger as a weapon of war to destroy the entire population of the Gaza Strip,” reported Rabah.
According to him, the attack violated international law once it happened outside Israeli territory and was headed to a coast recognized as part of sovereign Palestinian territory by 151 countries, including Brazil. “The Freedom Flotilla is now of critical importance, due to the illegal kidnapping, illegal approach, and illegal attack on civilians from around the world who navigate in international waters,” stated the president of the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (Fepal, in Portuguese).
The leader remembered that the Gaza Strip has been under blockade since 1967. “Israel promotes a blockade on Gaza […] and creates a state order to prevent any food or other supplies that exceed the bare minimum of calories required to keep a person alive from being accessed by the Palestinian people. This policy persists in the current genocidal moment, with the use of hunger as a weapon of war and an instrument of ethnic cleansing,” he emphasized.
For Rabah, the attack on the Freedom Flotilla Coalition repeats what has already happened in 2010, when ten boats were targeted by Israel and left nine activists dead and more than 50 injured. Until now, the whereabouts of the activists aboard the Madleen remain uncertain, and international organizations put pressure for the freedom of the crew members detained. According to the Israeli Army, they are “all safe” and will be repatriated to their countries of origin after being interrogated.
Impacts of Imperialism
During the interview, Ualid Rabah remembered that attacks on Gaza and violations of law committed against the Palestinian people are a result of imperialism in the Middle East. “It must be made clear that these crimes against humanity around the world, especially in Palestine, are American. What needs to be stopped is the extermination machine of the United States of America,” he stated.
“Israel is just another ‘kapo’ at work. Just as there were Zionist ‘kapos’ in concentration camps serving the Nazis, today Israel, [Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu, the Zionist elite, including Zionist organizations in Brazil, are nothing more than ‘kapos’ of imperialism carrying out the extermination of the Palestinian people,” he compared.
The president of Fepal (Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil) also criticized the inefficiency of the United Nations (UN) in the sight of war crimes committed in different parts of the world. “The UN has failed to fulfill its fundamental goals.” In spite of that, Rabah believes the organization “will surely make a statement [in defense of the activists], as will the countries from which these activists come, I hope they will speak out.”
