Up Sh*t Creek
A new bunch of “activists” on the way to Gaza are in a spot of bother.
They are stuck on the ship with no food nor water, either because they tried to hijack it or because they have been kidnapped after a dispute over money.
One of several activists hoping to take aid to Gaza onboard a Greek ship denied Saturday they had tried to hijack the vessel and said they had been trapped onboard without food and water for several days.
Irish filmmaker David Callander, 35, said the activists had paid $82,000 through an agent to hire the Strofades IV to take aid to Gaza, but the ship’s captain “went mental” as they tried to set off earlier this week.
The owners of the ship, Ionian Bridge Shipping Management, said activists had tried to storm the ferry as it left the Libyan port of Derna on Thursday, and denied that anyone had been detained against their will.
“We were taking some aid onto the ship and the captain decided, for whatever reason, to start bringing the back of the ship up,” Callander told AFP from the ship, which is now docked at the Greek port of Piraeus.
“Subsequently about 10 of us were left on the ship with seven Libyan police officers (apparently called to help by the ship’s owners in Derna).
“We were stuck on the ship, we had no access to food, no access to water, the toilets are minimal — they’re that full that you can’t really use them.”
Asked whether he was free to leave now the ship was in port, Callander said the Libyans were freed earlier Saturday but he was told to stay.
“They were released today, seven of them. We tried to go with them and then we were physically dragged back onto the ship and a soldier said if I tried to get off the ship then he’d shoot me,” he said.
Callander said he understood the price to hire the ship was “$82,000 … that was paid through an agent. We’ve got confirmation.”
Sounding tired and upset, Callander was unsure how long he had been on the ship but said it was several days, adding that he had only had “one meal and a Pepsi” since getting on board, and had been sleeping on the floor.
Ellie Merton, London liaison for the British group Road to Hope which organized the trip, said Thursday she thought the activists were being held by the ship’s Greek captain after a dispute over money.
Greek police have said they are investigating what happened.
Callander said the Irish consulate had been in touch with him and the other Irishman on board, while the British Foreign Office also said it was aware of the situation of the six Britons on board. The 10th activist is Algerian.
One of the “activists” is Ken “K’OK” O’Keefe, the thug who was on board the Mavi Marmara who bragged of bashing IDF commandos.
Here he is with his version of events.
Notice how he makes a point mentioning that the commandos he encountered this time were decent, as opposed to those nasty Zionist ones. He truly hates Israel.
But more telling, he claims the “activists” paid $75,000 to charter the ship, as opposed to the $82,000 claimed by David Callander above.
Something smells fishy. Besides the “activists” who haven’t showered in days, that is.
About the Author
An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.Filed Under: General
our old pal, el kapo dickstein has touched upon the shyne issue
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2010…
note his hatred towards hareidim…which is funny, as most do not support the concept of the state of israel
note his attempt to generalize that all hareidim hate non jews
note that were such generalizations made about muslims by a commentor, that person would be immediately banned from his illustrious site
kudos to dickie, for proving once again to be one of the biggest jew haters on the internets
If not an outright falsehood, your statement is extremely misleading and almost places you in the SAME BOAT xD as Silverstein.
Hareidim may want a religious Jewish state but only a drop in the bucket of them would want to hand the country back to the British or to the Muslims.
my apologies for not being more precise
i hope you get the gist though
Are they still held on board? I hope so and I hope they die in horrible thirst hunger pain.
This is getting worse…
Greece arrests two over Gaza aid ship drama: police
Greek port police on Sunday arrested the captain and owner of a ship for holding a group of pro-Palestinian activists who were attempting to deliver aid to Gaza, authorities said.The captain and owner will be charged on Monday, and the activists were released and have disembarked, a police spokeswoman said.Greek authorities launched an enquiry on Friday into events on the Strofades IV, which arrived in the port of Piraeus with a dozen activists on board.The activists, who included seven Britons, said they had been held for several days without food or water. Read more: http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-d…
so the commandos didnt do the world a favor and shoot that anarchist in the head?
too bad
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Joel, I'm Irish and I think I can shed some light on this. Most people think the Irish have a love for drinking, fighting, and spuds in that order. While largely true it does not tell the whole story. We Irish have always had a love for the sea first and foremost. We are a seafaring people. If I'm not mistaken it was an American of Irish descent, Gavin McLeod who captained "The Love Boat" through several stormy seasons on ABC. So you see, it's in our blood. Shiver me timbers ye bilge rat. I've got a good mind to hoist yer skurvy hide onto the mizzen mast ye land lubber. Arrgh.
Actually I think the problem is that the Irish tend to see every world issue through their Irish problems with Britain. Since Israel is far militarily stronger then "Palestine", ipso facto Israel must be the villain.
When you really think about it, Joel, aren't the Brits pretty much responsible for everything bad in the world? Now I don't want to generalize, but over vast stretches of time, the Brits have been none to kind to my kinfolk back in County Mayo. And they don't exactly get a prize for the way they handled Israel's struggle for independence, if you catch my drift. I don't have to tell you who threw the overalls in Mrs. Murphy's chowder. It's the Brits!
The way Britain ruled Ireland and Israel did them no credit at all.