'If you see this video IDF pirates have taken us prisoner'
The passengers aboard the Marianne av Göteborg urge viewers to act to free them.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: JUNE 29, 2015 12:22'If you see this video IDF pirates have taken us prisoner'
The social media wing of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on Monday released a series of pre-recorded videos showing passengers aboard the ship, Marianne av Göteborg, condemning Israel in advance for the eventual interception of the vessel as it was attempting to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip.The videos show each passengers making addresses in which they say that if the footage is being seen, then the ship has been boarded by IDF forces.One passenger, Dror Feiler, a veteran of previous flotillas and the only Israeli aboard the Marianne told viewers that the release of the video means "that Israelis have broken international law again."Feiler explained that Israeli forces, who were yet to have interacted with the passengers, are "acting like pirates" for not allowing them to reach Gaza.The Israel-born activist, who now resides in Sweden and has been banned from entering Israel until 2022 due to his participation in past flotillas, further calls on viewers to involve themselves in his cause."We are waiting [for] you to act. We are waiting [for] our governments to act. We are waiting [for] the international bodies to act."In another video from aboard the Marianne, Swedish activist Charlie Andreasson, echoed Feiler's call to action."Do whatever you can to raise this issue, to release us, to open the borders of Gaza, to open the borders of Palestine, because this is a criminal action that has just been committed."Feiler, in an interview to The Jerusalem Post, had painted the cause of the flotilla as one for Israelis and Palestinians.“The siege hurts Israel. The siege hurts the Palestinians,” he said, adding that “we are doing this also for the people that live in Israel. They deserve a better future than the future that this government and this policy is promising them because...this government is leading the Israeli people into the abyss.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement commending the Navy for their handling of the maritime mission that stopped the ship."This flotilla is nothing but a display of hypocrisy which only helps Hamas while ignoring other atrocities in the region," Netanyahu said.Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon expressed similar sentiments, calling the flotilla "part of a spectacle of lies and hypocrisy...only strengthening and offering support to terrorist organizations such as Hamas, which ignores the welfare of the people of the Gaza Strip so it can smuggle in weapons to use against the citizens of Israel."