Gaza boat raid survivors blast Israel NGO interference

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – A group of survivors of Israel’s deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla has blasted an Israeli NGO’s attempt to sway a case the International Criminal Court (ICC) is hearing on the raid.

“We are victims from 37 different nationalities who had a simple humanitarian mission and did not deserve to suffer the way we did,” Alexandra Lort Phillips, the group’s spokeswoman, told a press conference in east London on Wednesday.

“Some of us suffered life-changing injuries, others died” in the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla, she added, speaking alongside three other survivors of the deadly raid.

The group vowed, she said, “to renew our fight for justice in all necessary legal channels,” protesting the NGO’s attempt to influence the court’s deliberation.

The Israeli commando attack on the Mavi Marmara flotilla in May 2010 resulted in the death of eight Turkish nationals and an American of Turkish origin, and the wounding of some 30 others, including one who died after nearly four years in a coma.

The case began in 2013 when the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros, whose flag the Mavi Marmara sailed under, asked an ICC prosecutor to investigate the deadly raid.

Last month a Israel Law Centre submission to the ICC claimed the flotilla's “expressed desire to deliver humanitarian aid was a lie” and “the sole purpose of the flotilla was to break the naval blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel.”

It urged the court to “no longer deliberate on the Mavi Marmara incident,” accusing the flotilla organizers, Turkey’s Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), of “interfering in the politics of the region” and “spoiling for a fight” planned in advance.

- Survivors of a 'barrage of bullets'

But, speaking on behalf of the raid’s victims, Phillips denounced the NGO’s “intervention” in the ongoing case and attempts to “paint us as radicals with nefarious and hostile intent.”

She said: “As a witness to those that suffered under a barrage of Israeli bullets, it is painful that an organization would choose to slander and defame us in this way. It is even more concerning that this is part of an official legal submission to the ICC, with a public document that bears the most extraordinary and unfounded accusations.”

“Interest of justice will begin with the commencement of a fair trial,” said a statement by the group, which includes Laura Mcdonald Stuart, Osama Qashoo, and Paveen Yaqub.

The group also objected to attempted interference in the court proceedings from top U.S. officials.

"As victims, we have always respected the need for the ICC’s pre-trial chamber, and its prosecutor, to go about its work diligently and impartially," the statement said.

It added: "Yet last week’s submission shows a clear attempt to undermine that process.

"This comes amidst further threats from the political leadership in Washington and likes of John Bolton, who is a national security advisor to President Trump, that if certain cases go against its interests – and that of its Israeli ally – that there will be severe repercussions for the court."

Last September, Bolton called the ICC "illegitimate" and vowed his country would do everything "to protect our citizens." The U.S. is among dozens of nations not to have joined the court.