Israeli Boarding of Blockade Busting Ship Was Legal
Israel has been maintaining a blockade of arms and support material to Hamas due to the terrorist organizations continued rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.
“Hamas forces violated the laws of war both by firing rockets deliberately or indiscriminately at Israeli cities and by launching them from populated areas and endangering Gazan civilians,” according to Iain Levine, program director at Human Rights Watch. Under the laws of war, those who willfully authorize or execute deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are committing war crimes. Hamas has an official policy which states that Israel has no right to exist and does not accept that any act perpetrated on a Jew can be considered wrong.
Iran continues to supply Hamas with rockets and other weapons to murder Israeli citizens — both Jew and Arabs. Israel maintains a naval blockade to reduce those shipments.
As part of this blockage, sailors from the Israeli Navy boarded the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara. The sailors were expecting peace protesters and were instead ambushed by armed thugs.
Israel’s actions in boarding the ship are in full compliance with International law as set down in paragraphs 5.2.1 and 5.2.10 of the Helsinki Principles on the Law of Maritime Neutrality:
5.2.1 Visit and search
As an exception to Principle 5.1.2. paragraph 1 and in accordance with Principle 1.3 (2nd sentence), belligerent warships have a right to visit and search vis-à-vis neutral commercial ships in order to ascertain the character and destination of their cargo. If a ship tries to evade this control or offers resistance, measures of coercion necessary to exercise this right are permissible. This includes the right to divert a ship where visit and search at the place where the ship is encountered are not practical.
5.2.10 Blockade
Blockade, i.e. the interdiction of all or certain maritime traffic coming from or going to a port or coast of a belligerent, is a legitimate method of naval warfare. In order to be valid, the blockade must be declared, notified to belligerent and neutral States, effective and applied impartially to ships of all States. A blockade may not bar access to neutral ports or coasts. Neutral vessels believed on reasonable and probable grounds to be breaching a blockade may be stopped and captured. If they, after prior warning, clearly resist capture, they may be attacked.
The “peace protesters” responsible for the bloody attack are currently being held awaiting criminal charges or deportation to their home countries.
This is concise and excellent info.
It should be spread far and wide with quotes and links to this site wherever the islamists and their leftist allies are squatting with their lies and propaganda.
5.3 Relief
A blockade may not be used to prevent the passage of relief consignments which has to be free according to the applicable rules of international humanitarian law, in particular those contained in Articles 23, 59 and 61 of the Fourth Geneva Convention or Articles 69 and 70 of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.
There has not been any attempt to block relief consignments. In fact, the Israeli’s were boarding the ships in order to lead them to the port of Ashdod where the relief goods would be unloaded, inspected for weapons and contraband, and forwarded to Hamas. It was during this boarding that the Israeli’s were attacked.
As “floatilla” organizer Greta Berlin stated: “This mission is not about delivering humanitarian supplies.”