2025-07-29T12:31:58+00:00
font
Enable Reading Mode
A-
A
A+
Shafaq News – Gaza
The Head of the International Committee to
Break the Siege on Gaza, Zaher Birawi, on Tuesday blamed Arab and Islamic
countries for their silence over the Israeli seizure of the Handala ship and
accused Western governments of enabling Israeli actions.
In an exclusive statement to
Shafaq News, Birawi disclosed that Israeli forces had detained the ship and its
21 passengers—comprising international activists, politicians, human rights
advocates, doctors, technical crew, and officials from the Freedom Flotilla
Coalition.
He denounced the raid as “an act
of piracy in the high seas and international waters,” insisting that “the
occupying state has no right to carry out such action, and we hold it fully
responsible for the safety of all activists.”
Drawing from previous incidents,
Birawi explained that those detained are undergoing initial arrest procedures
and will likely be brought before an Israeli court on charges of “attempting to
enter the occupying state without a permit or prior approval.” The court, he
noted, typically pressures detainees to sign a pledge not to repeat the
attempt. “They will not sign these Israeli documents,” he asserted, adding that
courts usually try to persuade them, and if they refuse, issue deportation
orders.
“These activists are not
attempting to enter Israel,” he clarified. “They are trying to break the
blockade imposed on Palestinians,” which he described as “illegal and immoral,
and not within the rights of the occupying state.”
He noted that several activists,
due to political considerations and in coordination with the Freedom Flotilla
Coalition, signed the documents over the past two days to leave custody and
share their accounts with the media. The remaining detainees are still being
held at Ashdod Port and are expected to be released within the next two days.
Birawi underscored that the core
of the mission lies in the message of defiance and resolve these activists
embody—individuals who, he said, represent the “free people of the world” and
refuse to remain silent in the face of what he described as Israeli crimes. He
confirmed that efforts to break the blockade would continue.
He pointed out that governments,
including those in the Arab and Islamic world, possess the means to pressure
Israel but fail to use them effectively. “We hold these governments accountable
and clear our conscience before the world and history,” he stated, “by doing
all we can to end the war on our people in Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to
those being starved as a method of pressure.”
Birawi further accused Western
governments of active complicity in “the crimes committed by the occupying
state against our people in Gaza,” and in actions against blockade-breaking
vessels and international activists. He questioned France’s silence despite the
presence of French nationals aboard the ship, including a member of the French
National Assembly and a representative in the European Parliament.
“Legally, Israel has no right to
assault civilians in international waters,” he emphasized, noting that the Handala
was intercepted more than 50 nautical miles from Gaza’s coast—clearly within
international waters.
He concluded that the position of
Western governments toward their citizens comes as no surprise,
“because—unfortunately—they are already actively supporting Israel, whether
through arms deals, silence over its crimes, or political cover in
international forums.”
Handala ship had been en route to
challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to
Palestinians in the enclave before it was intercepted by Israeli forces last
Saturday.
