Israeli forces used “excessive force,” say Gaza boat activists
Activists detained on the Estelle report Israeli forces used tasers and aggressive interrogation methods
By Natasha LennardTopics: Estelle, Activism, Gaza, Israel-Palestine, Palestine, Israel Flotilla Attack, Israel, IDF, News
As Salon reported Sunday, Israeli forces this weekend blocked and rerouted the ship Estelle, carrying activists aiming to break to Gaza blockade and deliver humanitarian goods to Palestinians. Israeli activists traveling on board the Estelle have since reported harsh treatment by the marines who boarded their vessel to intercept its course.
“They used a completely disproportional amount of force against us,” said Elik Elhanan, an Israeli peace activist who had sailed aboard the European ship Estelle. Via a press release, Elhanan described that naval ships surrounded their boat before marines boarded the Estelle. The activist said that the soldiers “used the taser to give me electric shocks.” He added, “Even after they completed their takeover of the boat, they continued to use the taser and administer more shocks. But if they think they could deter me and those who sailed with me, they are mistaken.”
Elhanan, along with two other Israeli activists detained during the boat raid, was released with no charges by an Israeli court on Monday. Other Estelle passengers, including activists from Canada and Europe and leftist European parliamentarians, were held at Israel’s Port of Ashdod immigration facility, but have since been released and have left Israel. One of the detainees, Spanish journalist Laura Arau, told Spanish news agency Efe that she and other Estelle passengers faced “aggressive” interrogation.
Ricardo Sixto, a left-wing Spanish politician who had sailed on the Estelle, told Efe: “[The Israeli government] has again assaulted a European-flagged vessel, and in international waters, breaching international law.” Israel’s tight naval blockade of Gaza has stopped a series of aid ships reaching the besieged region. The naval blockade tightened in 2007 when Hamas came to power and Israel claimed it needed to prevent any arms smuggling to Palestinian militants by sea.
The Estelle incident hearkens back to the fatal Israeli raid of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010, when naval commandos boarded a Gaza-bound aid ship, killing nine Turkish activists.
Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com. More Natasha Lennard.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
If Alex Pareene was a cable news executive...
-
El Salvador court delays ruling on abortion case while woman's life hangs in the balance
-
UK officials: Radical Islam behind London attack
-
Pa. governor "can't find" any Latinos to work in his administration
-
London machete attack could be linked to terrorism
-
Conservative group blames military sexual assault on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal
-
Lois Lerner, IRS disaster
-
Donald Rumsfeld worried that marriage equality will lead to polygamy
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
-
San Francisco Giant Jeremy Affeldt apologizes for homophobic past
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
-
Stockholm riots rage for third day
-
Wall Street firm's "Golden Pitchbook" is totally sexist, full of lies
-
Must-see morning clip: Toronto's eccentric and allegedly crack-smoking mayor
-
Federal court strikes down Arizona abortion ban
-
Jodi Arias: I deserve a second chance
-
Oklahoma residents return home to pick up the pieces
-
Florida man with connection to Tsarnaev killed by FBI
-
FBI identifies 5 Benghazi suspects
-
Here come the tornado truthers. Already
-
Peace Corps to allow gay couples to volunteer together
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid "totally different" from Sandy aid
Jillian Rayfield
-
Tornado survivor to Wolf Blitzer: Sorry, I'm an atheist. I don't have to thank the Lord
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
Inhofe and Coburn: Red state hypocrites
Joan Walsh
-
Facebook's hate speech problem
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools
Natasha Lennard
-
Brad Pitt keeps breaking his silence on how boring marriage to Jennifer Aniston was
Daniel D'Addario
-
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer
Natasha Lennard
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
Did a Salon excerpt ruin Penn Jillette's chance to win "Celebrity Apprentice"?
Daniel D'Addario
-
Beltway scandal machine breaks, knows nothing about America
Joan Walsh
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

41 points42 points43 points | 1 comment

7 points8 points9 points | comment
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
- America: What's more harmful, pot use or incarceration?
- Mt Everest: Octogenarians compete for title of oldest man to reach summit
- Chinua Achebe's body arrives in Nigeria ahead of burial
- Polish surgeons complete life-saving face transplant
- Obama to visit tornado-ravaged Moore, Oklahoma on Sunday (VIDEO)
- Is Greek yogurt hurting the environment?
- 4 burning questions Obama must answer about drones and terrorism
- 8 things I'd like to hear from Obama's counterterrorism speech
- The daily gossip: Paris Hilton is releasing another album, and more
- WATCH: Suspect defends brutal beheading of London man in broad daylight



Comments
6 Comments