People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has said he had an “obligation” to join an international flotilla of aid-carrying boats hoping to break Israel’s long-standing naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The flotilla is heading to the region in an attempt to deliver food and other humanitarian supplies to a starving population.
The first wave of the Samud Flotilla including Swedish environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham left Barcelona on Sunday with thousands of supporters gathering at the city’s port to see off the boats with many waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine” and “It’s not a war, it’s a genocide”.
Mr Murphy is leaving Ireland later this week and travelling to the Tunisian capital of Tunis where he will join the humanitarian fleet.
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“The purpose of this flotilla is to end the Israeli created famine in Gaza to open a humanitarian corridor to bring vital food and medical supplies,” he said.
“We know over 60,000 people have been killed and over 200 journalists have been assassinated to stop the truth getting out,” he continued.
He added that another goal of the flotilla was to “highlight our own western governments’ complicity. And while you have an Irish Government that correctly calls it a genocide, it refuses to act, tries to water down the Occupied Territories Bill and has refused to act in relation to the Central Bank, authorising the sale of Israeli war bonds, which are due to be extended on September 2nd.”
This is the second flotilla Mr Murphy has joined having been previously on one in 2011 when he was an MEP. He was detained earlier this summer by the Egyptian authorities close to the Rafah crossing while on the Global March to Gaza.
He told The Irish Times that he and all those taking part in the flotilla are “facing an equal risk” on this occasion.
He said it was unclear how the days ahead would unfold but noted that the first boats had been able to leave Barcelona without being sabotaged by the IDF, something he said had been considered a potential threat.
“There’s the possibility of attack at sea,” he added. “We’ve seen drone attacks on boats just a few months ago.”
He also suggested that there was the “possibility of being kidnapped in international waters and brought into Israel and detained, which is what has happened to most people participating in the flotillas.”
He acknowledged there was “a personal risk but compared to the horror in Gaza, it’s nothing. It’s absolutely nothing. I just think all of us have an obligation to do whatever we can with our positions to draw attention to what’s happening and to build pressure on our own governments to act.”
Organisers of the flotilla have blamed global leaders for failing to put pressure on Israel to allow aid to pass after a global hunger monitor said part of Gaza was suffering from famine.
Israel claims the blockade in place since 2007 is needed to halt the flow of weapons to Hamas and has described attempts to break it as a propaganda stunt”.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 63,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, and it has plunged the region into a humanitarian crisis with much if it left in ruins.
