Copyright independent
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail on August 31 from Spain, is made up of more than 50 boats heading towards Gaza in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade and deliver supplies to Palestinians. Among the hundreds of activists on board are Greta Thunberg and Cork’s Tadhg Hickey. On Tuesday night, the boat Mr Hickey is aboard, Alma, was subjected to a drone attack while off the coast of Greece. The week before this, part of his boat caught fire in a drone attack while off the coast of Tunisia. In total, 11 boats as part of the flotilla were targeted in the latest incident. Speaking to the Sunday Independent from the flotilla, the Cork comedian said: “I felt for the first time in my life I got a small sense of what it feels like to be a Palestinian, where there’s bombs and drones and violence over your head and no-one is coming to help…The drone attack lasted three hours. It was a mix of flash bang devices and sulphur chemical attacks. They were targeting the sails of the smaller boats, I would imagine they were trying to get one of the smaller boats to capsize or put them out of commission. For someone to be mildly injured, to make the whole flotilla decide that it’s safer to go back and decommission the whole mission. The types of devises they are using, it would be fair to say, are deterrents at this point...They are not set out to kill.” He continued that it was “damn scary” to be subjected to three hours of explosions, following a previous attack the week before while off the coast of Tunisia. “My overall impression of the whole thing was just disbelief. A bunch of people on a humanitarian mission whose cargo is made up of baby formula, biscuits, medical supplies and other vital sustenance, we’re going to be bombed in international waters and that’s just the way it is? We’re 500 nautical miles from so-called Israel, from Gaza, you start to wonder, does Israel just own the ocean now? We’re off the coast of Greece, it's important to remember that.” Mr Hickey added that he feels the “dangers are increasing”. Today's News in 90 Seconds - September 27th He described the request by the Israelis for the flotilla to drop their supplies for the Gazan people to a port in Israel as “nonsense, ridiculous…The reason we are taking this measure is because the Israeli government are actively starving the population of Gaza to death. They are asking us to trust them to deliver the aid to the people they are currently starving. As a satirist, I’ve nothing to add there. They are satirising themselves at this point.” The Cork comedian said he’s “preparing himself for the worst” as he gets closer to Gaza, adding: “But to be worried would be to give into a bully that’s running out of ideas.” He continued that his view is that the Irish government is “making lots of pretty speeches” but are not doing enough to help the people of Gaza. In terms of his own family’s concerns, he said: “They are worried, on a human level. But I still have their backing, I still have their support that I am doing the right thing, that all the people here are doing the right thing. We’re doing the bare minimum. I would urge the Irish government and any of the western leaders to step up and sanction Israel and demand safe passage for us.” It is expected that the flotilla should reach Gaza, if not intercepted, in the coming days.
