Approximately 1,000 boats will gather in Turkey on Wednesday before heading toward Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade and disrupt maritime trade coming into Israel during the war with Hamas, in an apparent repeat of similar attempts from over a decade ago.
In an interview with Turkish news website Haber7, Volkan Okçu, one of the organizers of the protest, indicated the boats will carry 4,500 people from 40 countries, “including anti-Zionist Jews.”
Among the 1,000 vessels would be 313 boats filled with Russian activists, and 104 filled with Spanish activists, he said. Only 12 Turkish vessels will join the flotilla, he told Haber7.
However, Okçu said in a later tweet that he expected the number of Turkish vessels to be much higher, at least 1,000, and insisted that the initiative is not associated with the Turkish government. He did not explain the discrepancy in numbers.
The activist indicated to Haber7 that the flotilla is scheduled to leave Turkish coasts on Thursday. The maritime convoy is set to make a first stop in Cyprus before continuing toward the Israeli port of Ashdod. Some participants in the flotilla will also reportedly take their spouses and children on board.
…indeed, like the Cypriot plan to bring aid to Gazans, it is a dust-off of plans from 10 years ago.
(Needless to say that Israel’s leadership finds itself in a much more difficult position this time and much more dangerous, having to confront an issue, blockade, that they have ignored for decades.)
Indeed, where Cyprus goes so does Turkey. There are many examples of this, the East Med. Gas Forum comes to mind.
…Netanyahu i think will choose to have a trade corridor created between Cyprus and Gaza, rather than the Mavi Marmara a thousand times bigger Erdogan may provoke.
…ultimately it is a great sign that he weakens, what choice(s) does he have? Israelis are not prepared for such a forever war with days-off for Holidays and special occasions; this being “Peace”.
…speaking of “swarming”, thousand(s) of little crafts; it is a Modern Warfare tactic which as yet has not been demonstrated to any scale, except by China (with their fishing fleets).