The Sumud Flotilla was intercepted October 2 — International Day of Nonviolence — at 12:51am Palestine Time, sparking protests across Europe.
As people of faith, we are called to challenge violence in all forms, engage in nonviolent resistance wherever possible, and resist complicity with injustice; we see this same calling echoed in the mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The people of Gaza have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel for decades, a form of collective punishment both illegal under international law and antithetical to the inherent human dignity of all people. This blockade has resulted in an entirely man-made famine currently spreading across northern Gaza, conditions of medical apartheid barring Palestinians from accessing much-needed healthcare, and what has become known as the largest open-air prison in the world. The Global Sumud Flotilla sailed to Gaza with desperately needed food and medical supplies, as a nonviolent civilian-led mission to break the blockade.
Pax Christi USA condemns the violence against nonviolent Freedom Flotilla members in previous years by the Israeli military, including the killings of nine passengers in 2010 during the first delegation. Fifteen years later, our hearts continue to be with the people of Gaza and with the Sumud Flotilla as they approached the Gaza coastline, were intercepted this morning, and face increasing levels of violence in Israeli detention.
Pax Christi USA prays for the members of the Flotilla, an end to the unconscionable and genocidal blockade of Gaza, and a just peace in Palestine. We call for nonviolent resistance in the US and abroad, and hear the call from our Palestinian brothers and sisters to sow the seeds of solidarity in our words and in our actions.
Peace for Palestine! Peace for Israel! One inseparable peace for both!
Continue to support by:
Contacting your representatives to demand the safe passage of the flotilla and establishment of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Our collective outrage at the interdiction of the Sumud flotilla, while understandable, is myopic. Bluntly stated, no one in their right mind ever expected that the rogue state of Israel would allow the flotilla to offload its humanitarian cargo. Instead our outrage should be directed at our own nauseating leaders and the beyond hypocritical European Union whose disgusting acceptance of the bondage, discipline, dominance and submission required by our Israeli masters is making possible not only the pirating of a flotilla but, more importantly, the sick participation in the murder spree in Gaza.
David-Ross Gerling, PhD