One hundred protesters gathered outside the Greek embassy in Tel Aviv yesterday (Saturday evening) and shouted slogans during a demonstration against the Greek authorities' ban on Gaza-bound ships. Among the protesters: Hadash and Communist Party of Israel members.
Greek authorities said on Friday that ships destined for Gaza -- which involves transit through international waters -- were prohibited from leaving Greek ports, and the organizers of the flotilla are considering legal action to cancel the Greek ban on the departure of the ships. They are also trying to rally members of leftist and communists parties in various countries and the European Parliament to convince the Greek government to change the orders.
Most of the approximately 300 activists are still in the ports where the ships are anchored, in the hope that they may be able to set sail for the Gaza Strip. On Friday, the Hellenic Coast Guard headquarters ordered all local coast guard stations to employ the necessary measures to enforce the orders of the PASOK (the Socialist Party) Minister for Citizen Protection, Christos Papoutsis, including the use of electronic identification to locate the vessels.
A copy of the written order was delivered on Friday afternoon to the organizers of the flotilla on the Canadian vessel Tahrir. The orders apply to eight vessels in Greek ports: two cargo vessels (carrying almost 3,000 tons of aid, medicine, a fully equipped ambulance and cement to Gaza ), and those of the Spanish, Dutch-Italian, Canadian, French, American and Swedish-Greek-Norwegian delegations. In addition to the eight vessels in port, there is one French ship that has been at sea for a week. An Irish ship canceled its participation after a malfunction was discovered, which the activists say was due to an Israeli sabotage.
Mihail Kritsotakis, a Greek parliamentarian who is part of the leftist coalition Syriza, and a resident of Heraklion in Crete, visited Tahrir at the marina of Agios Nicolaos yesterday. "The Greek government is obeying the orders of Israel and that is why the ship is anchored here. Were Greece a genuine democracy, the ship would have already set sail," he claimed. Kritsotakis added that the pressure on the Greek government was clear by the thanks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed to Papandreou last week.
Related:
http://maki.org.il/en/political/133-news/11148-journalists-serious-questions-regarding-israels-commitment-to-the-freedom-of-the-press
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