Countries look for MPs who might have been on ships

3 German Bundestag members, 1 Irish, 1 Swedish and a Kuwaiti MP – unaccounted for.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
reuven rivlin 248.88 (photo credit: Yossi Zamir)
reuven rivlin 248.88
(photo credit: Yossi Zamir)
As several nations tried to assess the status of citizens involved in the Free Gaza Flotilla on Monday, the well-being of a number of foreign MPs who had planned on joining the voyage remained unclear.
Among the lawmakers believed to have been on the six ships were three members of the German Bundestag, Irish senator Mark Daly, Swedish MP Mehmet Kaplan and Kuwaiti MP Waleed al-Tabtabaie.
Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) told The Jerusalem Post that a number of his colleagues from other legislatures had contacted him regarding the morning’s events. Even Turkey contacted him through an intermediary following rumors that a Turkish MP was among the day’s casualties. Rivlin said that in all cases – other than that of MK Haneen Zoabi (Balad) – he deferred to the defense establishment, which has yet to publish information regarding the wounded and killed.
“MPs who went on those boats intended to harm the State of Israel, believing that we do not have a right to be in Gaza, and some think that we have no right to be in Israel at all,” said Rivlin.
He added that he did not think that there would be questions regarding the foreign legislators’ rights to parliamentary immunity. Those who were not involved in violent acts will simply be deported to their home countries.
In the short term, Rivlin continued, the international standing ofthe flotilla’s participants – and maybe even of some of the casualties– could cause Israel damage.
“It could be that among thosekilled or wounded are parliamentarians, which will raise more than abit of discussion. But after the initial clouds pass, there will beattempts to explain that this activity was an action designed to serveterrorists. Everyone understands that Gaza has become a front forterror and that Israel is trying to defend its security.”
Theforeign MPs were far from the only internationally recognized figuresbelieved to be involved in the voyage. According to the Free GazaMovement, the Irish delegation on the flotilla included Nobel Peacelaureate Mairead Maguire, a frequent visitor to the West Bank and theGaza Strip who participated in previous attempts to break the blockadeand was deported from Israel. Former UN assistant-secretary-generalDenis Halliday was also listed by the Free Gaza Movement asparticipating in the flotilla.
International Solidarity Movementco-founder Huwaida Arraf, the wife of ISM activist Adam Shapiro, wasalso reported to be part of the flotilla, and, like the other membersof the initiative, remains unaccounted-for.