PM asks Foreign Ministry, Navy to stop new flotilla

Netanyahu meets with Security Cabinet, tells Foreign Ministry to continue efforts to stop IHH ships headed for Gaza.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
flotilla 311 (photo credit: Creative Commons)
flotilla 311
(photo credit: Creative Commons)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu instructed the Foreign Ministry and Navy on Wednesday to continue efforts to stop a new flotilla from smuggling weapons to Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu met with the security cabinet earlier Wednesday to discuss the upcoming flotilla from Turkey and the possibility of Nakba Day protests.
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Earlier this month, Jerusalem’s envoy to the UN, Meron Reuben, sent a letter on Thursday to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urging him to make public statements against participation in the next IHH flotilla.
"In the past year, the United Nations, under your leadership, played an important role in preventing the launch of provocative flotillas by extremist elements in Lebanon,” the letter read.
“A clear message from you and other leaders in the international community on the subject of the anticipated flotilla can have a positive influence in preventing the unnecessary escalation of tension in our troubled region.”
Both Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres have made similar appeals to Ban in recent weeks, as Israel is stepping up its diplomatic efforts to try and keep the flotilla from setting sail.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report