israel’s Racism on the High Seas: israel Inventing ‘Turkish Boat’ Pretext to Justify Brutal Assault on Civilian Fleet [multilingual pdf]

MEDITERRANEAN SEA – As israeli occupation warships actively encircle and intercept the civilian vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, more than 250 nautical miles from Gaza, the israeli regime has begun leaking a highly calculated, deeply racist operational plan to the media, once again, based on lies, race-baiting and misinformation.

So far, in this second attempt to stop the flotilla, they have intercepted 16 ships, boarding them with a superior number of armed soldiers against a crew of unarmed activists.

According to military sources, as reported on israel’s Channel 12, israeli occupation forces plan to segment the flotilla by nationality, stating they will first seize "European boats" before moving to "Turkish boats," explicitly warning that their tactics this time will be "more attackful" and that they will not be providing emergency aid to participants.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is calling out this depraved, racist playbook and calling on global leaders to condemn this racism urgently and take action.

The reality:

The flotilla has no Turkish-Flagged vessels. The israeli military is fabricating an outright lie to isolate specific vessels and invoke past incidents—specifically the 2010 lethal assault on the Mavi Marmara, with which GSF has no affiliation. There are zero Turkish-flagged vessels in this flotilla. The entire 52-vessel humanitarian fleet sails exclusively under the following sovereign European and international flags:

• Poland: 24 vessels
• Italy: 11 vessels
• San Marino: 7 vessels
• United Kingdom: 4 vessels
• Spain: 4 vessels
• France: 3 vessel
• Portugal (Madeira): 1 vessel

Calculated Racism and Dehumanization: By declaring an intent to use "more attackful" methods against what they perceive to be Turkish participants, the israeli regime is once again engaging in blatant racism and dehumanization, just as they have against the Palestinian people for nearly 80 years.

A Global Matrix of Solidarity: Every single vessel in this flotilla is an international civilian space. Citizens from the United States, the European Union, and over 40 other nations are spread across every single boat in the fleet. An attack on one vessel is a violent assault on citizens of the entire global community.

GSF remains and has always been a non-violent, civilian mission carrying doctors, journalists, advocates and human rights defenders. We will not be divided by the regime's racist propaganda.

We sail together, as a lawful humanitarian initiative, to break the genocidal siege of Gaza and do all we can to stand with the Palestinian people in their pursuit of sovereignty and liberation.

We are calling on citizens from all the flagged governments to:

1. contact their leaders and demand the immediate and safe release of all GSF participants and their safe passage to Gaza to deliver aid
2. Call for an end to the illegal blockade and the genocide on Gaza.
3. Implement immediate sanctions on israel.
4. Demand reparations for the Palestinian people for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity being perpetrated against them by israel since the Nakra of 1948.

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