The 2020 Freedom Flotilla will sail against the Blockade of Gaza later than planned

In light of global health restrictions on travel and public gatherings, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has decided to delay our planned departure towards Gaza. We had initially planned to visit several southern European ports in April and May of this year, and head for Gaza at the end of May, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara and other Freedom Flotilla vessels in 2010, that killed 10 peace activists. We will of course stand with our IHH partners as they commemorate those deaths and press for justice at the International Criminal Court.

With the help of supporters like you, we recently purchased a boat for this year’s voyage. We will still need more donations to help equip this boat with vital safety, communications and other materials, as well as to buy fuel and other supplies for our next challenge to the inhuman and illegal blockade of Gaza. Visit our updated website for updates about this boat and our preparations over the coming months. We will decide when our next voyage will begin based on ongoing reviews of public health conditions worldwide and in the ports we are planning to visit.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created new challenges for our Coalition members in each of our countries, especially as our grassroots civil society organizations depend on public support. We also know that conditions in Gaza are immeasurably more difficult, and that Palestinians there are particularly vulnerable now that the first Covid-19 cases have arrived there. The crowded conditions in Gaza, with a healthcare system which is already stretched, and extremely limited access to outside medical aid, all mean that we must keep the Palestinian people of Gaza in mind as we adapt to new realities worldwide.

We join organizations like the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza in calling on the international community and the World Health Organization to pressure Israeli authorities to allow entry of medical supplies and equipment necessary for Corona virus medical examination. While access to international medical aid will be vital to surviving the current crisis, we know that the only lasting peaceful solution for Gaza will be a permanent end to the 13 year blockade, with full freedom of movement for all Palestinians.

Ultimately, we must hold our governments responsible: their political complicity allows Israel to maintain the blockade of Gaza and prevent Palestinian refugees from exercising their right of return to their homeland. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated: please do what you can to stay healthy and engaged with solidarity campaigns. Together we can help end the blockade.

In solidarity,

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition

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U.S. Boats To Gaza Efforts During The Corona Virus Epidemic

As the world faces the Covid-19 epidemic our hearts go out to the people of Gaza where the virus has now appeared.  Gaza is an even more dangerous place for the Corona virus outbreak with a health care system that is hampered by the illegal blockade, with a population forced to live in close quarters due to restricted movement and being denied their right to return home, and the water being unfit for consumption.  In solidarity with the people of Gaza, we are organizing events:

And please remember to donate to the various organizations that are helping Gaza through the Corona crisis and in the long term including the UN Works and Relief Agency, Rebuilding Alliance, and Middle East Children’s Alliance.

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2020 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza Set For May

                      

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is moving ahead with planning for the 2020 attempt to sail to Gaza in May to break the illegal and inhumane Israeli blockade.  
 
There are many ways to  these efforts, including donating financially and, for those in Texas, coming out to hear Herman Reksten, who captained the Al Awda in the  2018 flotilla. Here’s a video of the 2018 flotilla.  
 
Al Awda Captain Herman Reksten

Captain Herman will be traveling across the U.S. with speaking events along the way. He  will talk about his experience in 2018, when he was beaten and imprisoned by Israeli commandos who illegally boarded the Freedom Flotilla ship attempting to reach Gaza. He will also discuss his work in the Mediterranean rescuing migrants fleeing violence and famine in the Middle East and Africa.

 
Herman will be speaking in Texas between February 4 and 11. Here is his schedule.  
 
Col. Ann Wright (ret.) will be doing presentations in California later in February. Details will be posted here when they become available.

In 2020, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition will sail again to break the illegal and inhuman blockade of Gaza. During this mission we will be focusing on children and youth struggling to survive in the wreckage of Gaza.

In 2012, the UN declared that Gaza would be uninhabitable by 2020. Over the years, the international community has watched that prediction become truth. Palestinians in Gaza live among bombed-out hospitals, schools, and homes. There are water, food and electricity shortages throughout the beleaguered strip, making basic survival a serious challenge. The desperate economic situation also means that children have taken on adult responsibilities, working to help support their families.


The most vulnerable of the innocent are young people, many of whom have been deliberately targeted by Israeli snipers since the 2018 beginning of the Great March of Return, when Palestinians demand their right to return to the homeland from which their families were expelled by Israel. IOF snipers have murdered at least 256 Palestinians in these protests, and tens of thousands have been wounded, many maimed for life. Please watch and share this award-winning short video about one of them, Dreams in the Crosshairs, created by one of our Palestinian partner organizations in Gaza, We Are Not Numbers, with funding from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

The world expresses outrage and yet the slaughter and deliberate destruction of Gaza continues with impunity. It seems clear that Israel is systematically targeting Gaza’s future, its children and youth.

Will you help us sail this year? Together we can help end the blockade!

You have heard about the “Steal of the Century” proposed by President Donald Trump. We remind everyone that without justice, there can be no peace, and so we encourage you to read, share and amplify Palestinian responses in your communities and around the world, including this “Appeal of the Century”  from We Are Not Numbers.

A critical way to help our campaign is to contribute financially.  

 
You can donate online or make out checks to our fiscal sponsor, Nonviolence International, and put 2020 Boats to Gaza on the subject line.  
 
Mail checks to: 
2020 Boats to Gaza
c/o Nonviolence International 
4000 Albemarle Street, NW, Suite 401 
Washington, DC 20016

 

Follow our campaigns: 
Twitter @GazaFFlotilla
Instagram: gazafreedomflotilla
 

 


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U.S. Events for the 2020 Gaza Freedom Flotilla

 

Join Norwegian Herman Reksten as he shares his experiences as captain of the fishing vessHermanel Al-Awda (The Return) which was intercepted and boarded in international waters and taken to Israel on July 29, 2018.  He is touring the United States:

  • Houston, Texas: Feb. 4, 7pm
    • Live Oak Friends Meeting • 1318 W. 26th Street Houston, TX  77008
  • Dallas, Texas: Feb. 6: 6:00 pm reception & refreshments • 7:00 pm program
    • Park Plaza Tower • 13111 N Central Expy
      (NW quadrant, LBJ & Central)
      Dallas, TX 75243
      Video of the event
  • Austin, Texas: Feb. 11: 6:30 pm reception & refreshments • 7:00 pm program
    • Friends Meeting of Austin • 3701 E. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
      Austin, TX  78721
      Sponsored by JVP, ICPR among others

Join Col. Ann Wright as she tours the United States Fundraising for the 2020 Freedom Flotilla:

U.S. Events for the 2020 Gaza Freedom Flotilla Read More »

May 2020 Freedom Flotilla Will Sail to Gaza

                      

Our fiscal sponsor is Nonviolence International, 501(c)(3), tax ID 52-164578. 
Donations can be made here or checks can be mailed to: 

2020 Boats to Gaza
c/o Nonviolence International 
4000 Albemarle Street, NW, Suite 401 
Washington, DC 20016

Follow our campaigns: 


May 2020 Freedom Flotilla Will Sail to Gaza Read More »

Freedom Flotilla 2020: For the Children of Gaza

#GazaKids #FreedomFlotilla #EndGazaBlockade

After joining other civil society organizations in The Hague on Friday November 29 calling on the International Criminal Court to take action and prosecute Israeli crimes against Palestinians, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition met in Rotterdam this weekend to plan our May 2020 sailing towards Gaza with these important goals:

  • To challenge and end the illegal and inhuman Israeli blockade of Gaza

  • To restore the Rights of children and youth in Gaza, for life, security and freedom of movement.

For more than five years the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has been warning the world that Gaza will become uninhabitable by 2020 if the blockade does not end. Basic human rights of Palestinians in Gaza are violated daily by the Israeli-imposed blockade, including the right to adequate housing, the right to education, the right to healthcare, the right to clean water and food, and in particular the right to freedom of movement.

Civil society organizations from around the world have combined to challenge the blockade since 2008, when Free Gaza boats managed to arrive in Gaza and leave again peacefully. In all, more than 35 boats have sailed to challenge the blockade in all. Since 2010 we have sailed as the Freedom Flotilla Coalition: international civil society organizations united for human rights and dedicated to challenging the blockade of Gaza through nonviolent direct action. May 2020 will mark 10 years since the attack by Israeli forces on boats including the Mavi Marmara, where they killed 10 people and seriously wounded 56 others.

“The children of Gaza deserve the same rights as children in every other country of the world,” comments Ann Wright of the US Boat to Gaza. “They are more than a million, more than half of the population of Gaza, and they are being deprived of the right to a just future because of the illegal blockade and ongoing military attacks on occupied Gaza by Israel, with the complicity of our governments.”

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition calls on people of conscience from around the world to support our May 2020 mission for the children of Gaza.

December 1, 2019. Rotterdam.

For further background information, see: jfp.freedomflotilla.org

For media comment, contact our campaign spokespeople:
jfp.freedomflotilla.org/media-room-2
—————————————————————————————————

Freedom Flotilla Coalition members also held protests in front of the International Criminal Court to highlight the case in front of the court about the killing of civilians by the Israeli military in international waters in 2010.  At that time the Israeli military boarded the Mavi Marmara and other ships in the flotilla and commandeered them to Israel.  They also killed and wounded passengers.

Freedom Flotilla 2020: For the Children of Gaza Read More »

2020 Freedom Flotilla

Israeli Military Continues Its Killing Spree in Gaza as Freedom Flotilla Gears Up for 2020 Actions

As the Great Return March moves into its 84th week, Israeli snipers continue to fire on participants and people located nearby, killing and maiming civilians. According to the Palestinian news site We Are Not Numbers, “It’s not just their bodies they kill or maim, it’s their dreams. [The video below tells] the story of Alaa al-Dali. Thank you to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition for its support and funding.”

We Are Not Numbers is one of the many projects that benefit from your support of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. And we need your support again as we gear up for another flotilla to Gaza next year. Please see the links below for how you can help.
* * * * *
October 25, 2019 
 
During the 80th Great Return March in Gaza on October 25, Israeli snipers shot 95 Palestinian civilians, including 43 children, a woman, two paramedics and a journalist.
Israeli forces continued to use excessive force against peaceful protesters, wounding 36 civilians with live bullets and shrapnel in addition to other injuries in the upper body due to direct targeting with rubber bullets and tear gas canisters. Thousands of civilians took part in this week’s peaceful protests entitled: “For our Prisoners in Israeli Jails and al-Aqsa Mosque,” raising the Palestinian flag and chanting national slogans.
 
For more than a decade, Israel and Egypt have blockaded the Gaza Strip, by land, air and sea. For most of that decade, the US Boat to Gaza Campaign has been sailing with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in solidarity with Palestine to break the illegal blockade of Gaza. During Gaza’s Great March of Return, Israeli forces have killed at least 267 people and wounded nearly 15,000 more. Gaza will very soon be uninhabitable. Innocent women, children and men will soon have even less access to clean drinking water, food and other essentials of life. Our governments remain complicit in this crime.
 
*  *  *  *  *
 
We Need Your Support
 
The situation in Gaza is unimaginable to most North Americans. Lack of clean drinking water affects almost two million people. The effects of trauma on this population, including those who have been protesting during the Great March of Return, are immeasurable.
 
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla will sail again in the summer of 2020 to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and bring international attention to the bravery of the Palestinians who participate in the Great Return March.

This year, as we plan for our 2020 Flotilla, we are focusing on children and youth in Gaza. We will be reaching out to individuals and organizations who can help us raise awareness about this human-made humanitarian crisis and our responsibility for it. And, as always, we will be holding our government accountable for their complicity in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians.

 
Our work is not finished and we all need to continue until Palestine is free. 
Together, we can help end the blockade!
 
 * * * * *
 
TSHIRTS!!

Contact Kit Kittredge at marnykit@gmail.com: $20 + $5 postage.

Men’s M-L-XL crew neck, regular  Heather grey
Women’s S-M-L  V-neck, shorter sleeves, lighter weight, ash grey
 

* * * * *

2020 will be the  tenth anniversary of the brutal Israeli attack on the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla where Israeli commandos executed ten passengers and wounded fifty on the Mavi Marmara and attacked passengers on the five other boats in the Flotilla which were sailing together to break the illegal blockade of Gaza.
 
Please donate
 
Our fiscal sponsor is Nonviolence International, 501(c)(3), tax ID 52-164578. Donations can be made here or checks can be mailed to:
2020 Boats to Gaza
c/o Nonviolence International
4000 Albemarle Street, NW, Suite 401
Washington, DC 20016
Follow our campaigns:
Twitter @GazaFFlotilla
Facebook: Freedom Flotilla Coalition
Instagram: gazafreedomflotilla

2020 Freedom Flotilla Read More »

2020 Freedom Flotilla

                      

Our fiscal sponsor is Nonviolence International, 501(c)(3), tax ID 52-164578. Donations can be made here or checks can be mailed to: 
2020 Boats to Gaza
c/o Nonviolence International 
4000 Albemarle Street, NW, Suite 401 
Washington, DC 20016

Follow our campaigns: 
Twitter @GazaFFlotilla
Instagram: gazafreedomflotilla


2020 Freedom Flotilla Read More »

Summer Flotilla Events – U.S. and Spain

                      

Flotilla events in the U.S. and in Spain this summer 
are raising awareness, inspiring action 
and giving hope to people in Gaza 

 
St. Louis, MO: June 16                                 Chicago, IL: July 18-20
Palestine Heritage Festival                            Voices for Creative Nonviolence 
 

    

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Seville, Spain July 19                                 Madison, WI: July 24-25
                                                                     Madison-Rafah Sister City Project 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Coming up in August 

San Francisco, CA: August 3
Participate on the Freedom Flotilla event starting at the ferry to Sausalito. Flotilla to Gaza Plan for August 3, 2019, San Francisco
 
 
Avalon, Catalina Island, CA: August 17: 9am 
(from Newport Beach) through the day
Join Free Gaza on the island or take the Catalina Flyer from Newport Beach.  Demonstrate on the beach in Avalon.
   
Spokane, WA: August 17: 3-5pm.
Meet at the lobby of the Doubletree Hotel at 3PM to walk to a location on the Spokane River.
 
Plans are developing for events in:
 
Detroit
Honolulu
Hudson River
Miami
Washington D.C.
 
If you would like to help with one of the events above or want to have an event in your town contact us. We can work together to make it a success!
 

NEW TSHIRTS!

Contact Kit Kittredge at marnykit@gmail.com: $20 + $5 postage.

Men’s M-L-XL crew neck, regular  Heather grey
Women’s S-M-L  V-neck, shorter sleeves, lighter weight, ash grey

Our fiscal sponsor is Nonviolence International, 501(c)(3), tax ID 52-164578. Donations can be made here, or checks can be mailed to: 
2020 Boats to Gaza
c/o Nonviolence International 
4000 Albemarle Street, NW, Suite 401 
Washington, DC 20016

Follow our campaigns: 
Twitter @GazaFFlotilla
Instagram: gazafreedomflotilla


Summer Flotilla Events – U.S. and Spain Read More »

Summer 2019 Freedom Flotilla

                      

Our fiscal sponsor is Nonviolence International, 501(c)(3), tax ID 52-164578. Donations can be made here or checks can be mailed to: 
2020 Boats to Gaza
c/o Nonviolence International 
4000 Albemarle Street, NW, Suite 401 
Washington, DC 20016

Follow our campaigns: 
Twitter @GazaFFlotilla
Instagram: gazafreedomflotilla
Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved.


Summer 2019 Freedom Flotilla Read More »