'We have reason to believe that this is psychological warfare and they have planned this,' says Yasemin Acar, referring to surrounding of ship by Israeli vessels near Gaza
An activist from Germany on board the Madleen vessel, which aims to break an Israeli blockade and deliver humanitarian supplies to Gaza, said late Sunday that the volunteers are there because their countries continue to support Israel's genocidal acts against the enclave.
"Bombing hospitals, bombing children, these war crimes we have been watching for 20 months, and this is why we are here. We are here because our governments are not doing this. We are here because our governments are continuing to uphold this genocide, the illegal blockade on Gaza," said Yasemin Acar in a video posted on her Instagram account.
“We are very close to Gaza, and I have taken down the videos that I've posted previously (about sounding an alarm). We all did that due to the fact that we are safe…the interception has not taken place.”
Noting that the aid ship is very close to Gaza, Acar said that four Israeli vessels surrounded the ship and two of them came 200 meters close to the Madleen.
"This has never happened before in the past eight days, so this was why we sounded the alarm again," she added.
"There are many lights around us, and two vessels I'm looking at right now, I will try to show you these two. The other two have left, but these two, one of them has a platform.
"They stopped, they stopped their engine, and they're not moving. We have reason to believe that this is psychological warfare and they have planned this," she said.
Acar said the mission is not about saving Palestinians but standing in solidarity with them.
“Palestinians will free themselves,” she said.
“We are just here in solidarity—to tell them they are not alone, that we will use our bodies, our solidarity and everything we have to challenge this illegal blockade and end the starvation," she added.
Calling the ship “a small fraction of the global uprising,” she urged everyone to “pressure your governments” to stop arms transfers to Israel.
“This cannot go on,” she said.
“This is not a world we should want to live in, and it's not the world we should leave behind to our children.
“We are doing this because of Gaza,” she added.
“Children there have the same rights as yours—to live, to be free, to grow up with dignity. We can't stay silent," she said.
"The real work" is to stop the governments from sending weapons to Israel "to commit these war crimes," she added.
A total of 12 people are on board the Madleen, including 11 activists and one journalist.
Among them are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi and Reva Viard from France, Thiago Avila from Brazil, Suayb Ordu from Türkiye, Sergio Toribio from Spain, Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.
As part of the latest mission organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a civil society initiative aiming to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, the 18-meter-long Madleen departed from Porto di San Giovanni li Cuti in Catania, Italy on June 1.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had previously threatened the Freedom Flotilla, announcing that he instructed the Israeli military to “do whatever is necessary” to prevent the Madleen from reaching the shores of Gaza.
Israeli military spokesperson Effie Defrin also said in a press briefing that preparations were underway to take action against the aid boat headed for famine-stricken Palestinians in Gaza under Israeli bombardment.
The Conscience ship, organized by the Freedom Flotilla Foundation (FFF)—an initiative formed by campaigns and movements from around the world aiming to end Israel's attacks on Gaza and kept secret due to potential threats—was attacked by unmanned aerial vehicles off the coast of Malta on May 2.
