Eduardo González
Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares warned this Wednesday from New York that those responsible for any attack on the Sumud Global Flotilla must “answer before the international courts of justice.”
“The attacks on the Sumud Global Flotilla are totally unacceptable; I categorically reject them and demand that they cease,” the minister declared from the North American city, where he is participating in the United Nations General Assembly’s Ministerial Week.
“We are talking about a humanitarian, peaceful flotilla, whose sole objective is humanitarian: to deliver basic items to the people of Gaza, who should be able to enter by land if Israel were not subjecting the strip to this blockade,” he recalled.
“I am closely following events. I have spoken throughout the day with several foreign ministers from other countries who also have citizens on the Flotilla,” Albares explained.
The minister also recalled the recent signing by “17 countries at the initiative of Spain” of “a statement making it clear that we will hold accountable anyone who attacks and damages the Flotilla, who will be held accountable before the international courts of justice.”
“Of course, the Spanish citizens who are on this Flotilla—peaceful citizens, with a strictly humanitarian purpose and objective, who are not a threat to Israel or anyone else, and the State of Israel knows this—have full diplomatic and consular protection from the Spanish State,” he concluded.
Since the Flotilla’s departure from Barcelona, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been in contact with participants in the initiative, as well as with the Foreign Ministries of countries whose nationals also participate, in order to analyze the situation and offer them all necessary consular and diplomatic protection.
After learning of the drone attack in Tunisian waters, as reported by the Foreign Ministry in a press release this past Monday, Albares instructed the ambassador in Tunis to contact the Flotilla participants, investigate the events, and determine how to provide assistance. Separately, the minister has demanded an investigation from the Tunisian authorities into the drone attack and has intensified his coordination with the foreign ministers of countries whose nationals also participate in the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Three drone attacks
Activists traveling aboard the flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip have denounced a new attack in recent hours. “Multiple drones and unidentified objects have been launched, communications have been interfered with, and explosions have been heard from several vessels,” the Global Sumud Flotilla wrote in a statement that did not specifically mention Israel. “It’s an intimidating attempt to scare us, but they won’t succeed,” former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, who is traveling aboard one of the boats, told “La Hora de la 1.”
The flotilla, made up of 51 boats, set sail from Barcelona in early September, with activists from 45 countries, including Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg. Their goal is to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, for which they must break the Israeli blockade. Two attempts failed in June and July, and in August, the UN declared a state of famine in the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli blockade.
So far, the flotilla has suffered at least three attacks. The first occurred on September 9, when several drones hit boats off the coast of Tunisia, and the second took place the following day in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said. The flotilla has requested “maritime escort and diplomatic observers” from the United Nations in response to the “alarmingly dangerous escalation” of recent hours.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has expressed his “strong condemnation” of the “attack suffered in recent hours by the vessels of the ‘Sumud’ Flotilla, which also includes Italian citizens, and carried out with drones by as yet unidentified perpetrators” and has authorized the dispatch of a Navy frigate (with the authorization of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni) to rescue the vessels. “In a democracy, even demonstrations and protests must be protected when they are carried out in accordance with international law and without resorting to violence,” he said in a statement.
The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid spokesperson, Eva Hrncirova, condemned the “unacceptable” attacks on the flotilla on Wednesday. “We fully understand that the people traveling in the flotilla, given the situation in Gaza, want to raise public awareness,” she said in Brussels.
