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Dublin: 13 °C Wednesday 19 June, 2013

Activists on intercepted Gaza-bound boat claim Israel used tasers

The Israeli army has denied the claim, by lawyers representing passengers on a boat that included five international MPs.

Noam Chomsky participates in a press conference held by the passengers of the 'Estelle' after their boat was intercepted by the Israeli navy.
Noam Chomsky participates in a press conference held by the passengers of the 'Estelle' after their boat was intercepted by the Israeli navy.
Image: Hatem Moussa/AP

LAWYERS FOR THE PASSENGERS of a boat carrying international activists, which was intercepted and taken over by the Israeli navy yesterday, have claimed Israeli troops used tasers on them during the takeover.

Lawyers for the group – which included five parliamentarians from various countries, though not including Ireland – told AFP the army had used “electric shocker device”, “to the extent of what we call ‘electro torture’” on some of the passengers.

The lawyer added that at least one of the people tasered was an MP. The boat was carrying two members of the Greek parliament, and one each from Spain, Sweden and Norway.

A former Canadian MP was also on board the ‘Estelle’, which was carrying 30 passengers on a humanitarian mission to Gaza when the boat was intercepted and taken over by Israeli forces yesterday.

An Israeli military spokeswoman denied that the country’s troops had exercised any kind of violence while intercepting the boat.

“No force was used when taking over the ship,” Avital Leibovich said.

The boat was led to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, where three Israeli nationals who were on board the ship were arrested for incitement. This morning a judge extended the period for which they can be detained by three days.

19 of the activists on the boat – including individuals from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain and Canada – are being held at a prison outside Tel Aviv. They will appear in court in the coming days ahead of their expected deportation.

Organisers of the flotilla – the latest to attempt to break a naval embargo imposed by Israel around the Palestinian-controlled Gaza region – said the boat was carrying humanitarian aid and 30 doves, which they had hope to release upon arrival.

Academic and political author Noam Chomsky, who is currently visiting Gaza, joined a press conference held by the passengers yesterday, openly promoting a two-state solution in the Middle East.

With the embargo around maritime traffic, and Gaza city’s airport having been destroyed about ten years ago, land border crossings are effectively the only way to travel in and out of the Gaza Strip.

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Comments (32 Comments)

  • What exactly were they expecting? A red carpet?

  • And the rest of the World just stand by and allow The Israeli’s carry on as if what they were doing was legal ?
    Shocking how the Palestinian People are effectively being corralled in a giant Concentration Camp in Gaza!

    • I can’t definitely see the similarities of Auschwitz and Palestine. Auschwitz had supermarkets, malls, mansions, IPhones, weapons, and terrorized non-Jews. Smart analogy.

  • B Lowe 21/10/12 #

    Wait until the Israeli propaganda machine kicks in. The Israelis killed 9 unarmed people when they boarded the previous night news flotilla and made it sound as if they were in mortality fear of their lives.

    • Reg 21/10/12 #

      Unarmed? Not with firearms maybe. Had plenty of other weapons though.

    • Same old manure from these so called “activists”. Pity they weren’t blown off course and into Tartus in Syria, A taser would have been the least of their worries…it would be more in these morons (activists) line to offer assistance to the people of Gaza by forging business links and helping to create jobs so these people can gain some self esteem and do something for themselves and create employment. But that will never happen as these same morons have nothing constructive to offer even in their native countries. Protesting about Zionist grapes for sale in Aldi and pissing ordinary shoppers off as they try to go about their daily lives confronted by these “protesters” with loudspeakers and general aggression. Going to Gaza on a boat that was always going to he intercepted with a few bags of cement, some band aids and a sad understanding face is never the answer. These apes are more concerned about themselves feeling important and newspaper headlines than the people of Gaza

  • Brian 21/10/12 #

    I would seriously question a lot of what the Israelis have done over the years but the safety of their citizens will always be a priority especially when they are under attack from terrorists just across the border. These flotillas are less about concern for the Palestinians and more about self-publicity for the respective groups involved.

  • People have a short memory. I watched the movie Munich last night when these Muslim nutters killed Israeli athletes at the Olympics.

  • @ William Grogan. Palestinians had nothing to do with 9/11!

  • I have so much respect for Noam Chomsky. Everyone should read the book he wrote with Israeli historian Ilan Pape ‘Gaza In Crisis’. Or read anything from Ilan Pape

  • Rubbish and one sided. What about the rockets being fired from Gaza

    • the reason rockets are fired from gaza is because Israel is a illegally growing country. What if the boarder from northern Ireland start growing? taking dundalk etc are just kept growing? Now take all of the people out of the north and replace them with non English speaking people.. well its the same for Palestine and Gaza mate. So i wouldn’t call it one sided.

    • That’s a terribly inaccurate and simplistic analogy. Also, there’s never justification for murder, whether you’re a Palestinian militant or in the Israeli armed forces.

    • MrKnow…may I suggest knowing the English language..its difficult to interpret what you are saying

  • How dare Israel tell the rest of us who can and cannot enter and leave the West Bank and Gaza.
    Thats like us telling those in NI who can and cannot leave. It has nothing to do with us. Get out of land that isnt yours and stop treating people like theyre in a concentration camp.

  • So who are the people across the border then? Would that be Hamas? The democratically elected representatives of the palistinion people

  • Brian the Israeli government are the terrorists.Backed by the largest terrorist organization on the planet the U.S government.
    It could be argued that Hamas have a duty to the people who elected them to fight back against Israeli aggression.

    • By calling one of the world’s most important democracies terrorists you show us how warped your logic is. You’d be speaking German if it wasn’t for the sacrifice of US soldiers during WWII or maybe Russian if the Communists weren’t defeated and Eastern Europe freed from their evil rule.

    • Brian 21/10/12 #

      So this duty involves blowing up buses and cafes packed with people, indiscriminately firing rockets across the border into a civilised country where these same rockets kill innocent men, women and children? Or do you not believe that there is such a thing as an innocent Israeli?

  • Brian I would hardly call Isreal a civilized country. Packing people into a tiny piece of land after you have stripped every last piece of dignity from them and then using them as target practice is hardly civilized

  • Your thinking of a different photo there fella. The one I use is the American bombing world tour.