by consensus of the Action Apartheid Assembly

written by John Urquhart

We utterly and completely condemn the unlawful hijacking of the Madleen and subsequent kidnapping & detention of the 12 civilians on board by the “State*” widely referred to as “Israel”. The Madleen was sailing under a British flag in international waters. The ship is a member of the “Freedom Flotilla”, which is seeking to end the illegal genocidal blockade of Gaza by “Israel”. 

Their symbolic attempt to breach the blockade sought to open the door for more sizeable amounts of aid to reach the besieged Gaza Strip by sea - and it cannot be clearer that the deployment of so-called “elite special forces” by “Israel” against civilians is unacceptable. That those civilians were aboard a British flagged ship makes this especially egregious from our point of view, as a British political party. We have nothing but praise for the Freedom Flotilla activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, but equally many others whose names are not widely known, who felt compelled to act – and have done so with great courage.

Harmony Party UK general secretary and acting party envoy John Urquhart insisted: “We demand that the British Government act to secure the safety of British shipping in the future by issuing the most severe rebuke possible to the ‘State’ of ‘Israel’ in response to this utterly unacceptable incident – which creates uncertainty around the sanctity and safety of civilians travelling freely in international waters. Piracy cannot be tolerated, regardless of whether that piracy is carried out by an entity feigning statehood while perpetrating genocide.

“We demand this as a secondary to our demand that the British Government, led by Labour, immediately cease its participation in the genocide being perpetrated by the ‘State’ of ‘Israel’ against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories – not least by ending overflights from Cyprus and by immediately embargoing all arms and military technology transfers to ‘Israel’.”

We as a Party insist that:

• The blockade must end and aid – foodstuffs and shelter and medicine all – must freely flow into Gaza, uninterrupted by “Israel”
• The Israeli ambassador should be ejected in protest at this action against a British flagged vessel, as well as in protest against said ambassador’s deeply reprehensible and regular genocidal rhetoric in public
• All weapons sales to or from, and military tech transfers to or from “Israel” should be banned
• All UK businesses should be banned from purchasing from any Israeli business operating on occupied territory under international law
• The UK Government must further exert all pressure and influence possible to force an end to the pursuit of genocide by the “State” of “Israel”.

* Throughout this statement the "State" of "Israel" is referred to in quotes, in that fashion. The reasoning for this is that we do not as a party as a direct consequence of the ongoing genocide (and as a consequence of Apartheid) recognise the "state of Israel". We do, however, recognise the State of Palestine.