 The U.S.-flagged ship "The Audacity of Hope" left a Greek port today bound for Gaza, but the status of the 10-boat flotilla remains uncertain. At least one boat has already pulled out due to sabotage, another is still being repaired. All 10 ships were supposed to set sail earlier this week but the Greek government — already facing a financial crisis and public uproar over austerity measures — blocked the ships' departure under international pressure. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is entitled to stop the flotilla as part of its "full right to operate against efforts to smuggle" weapons into Gaza. Democracy Now! Producer Aaron Maté and videographer Hany Massoud are in Greece covering the journey of "The Audacity of Hope." They were there Thursday as it was publicly unveiled. They spoke with novelist Alice Walker, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein and others.  Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Israel in New York, defends the Israeli government's campaign against the flotilla claiming there is no need for humanitarian aid to be shipped to Gaza now that Egypt has opened the Rafah border crossing. Aharoni also refuses to deny Israel played a role in the sabotage of two boats in the flotilla and refuses to promise that Israeli officials will not arrest the Democracy Now! journalists on board the flotilla if Israeli intercepts the ship. "I can tell you the whole idea of the flotilla is unnecessary, and we have no interest in dealing with it, and hopefully the flotilla will not be on its way to Israel," Aharoni said.  As the 400 international activists wait to set sail from Greece to Gaza on the Freedom Flotilla, Israeli media has been full of reports speculating about the activists' character and motivations for participating in the humanitarian aid mission. Israeli newspapers have charged that the flotilla is carrying sacks of chemicals on board because passengers plan to kill IDF soldiers. The reports come after Foreign Ministry officials informed Israeli cabinet ministers that there was no information about members of "terrorist groups" planning to take part in the flotilla. "Israel is trying to present the flotilla as a military threat, whereas nobody in the world believes that," says our guest, Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, "not even Israeli cabinet ministers." |
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